Dyson is at it again. The British company, best known for its vacuum cleaners, has also carved out a niche in the hair care industry with an already-beloved line of hair styling tools. Its newest addition is the Airstrait, which claims to instantly straighten your hair from wet to dry?— without using extreme heat. Eschewing the usual uber-damaging hot plates found in traditional hair straighteners, the Airstrait uses high-velocity air blades amid two tension arms to blow powerful jets of (not too hot) air at a 45-degree angle. This creates what the company calls a “natural straight finish.”
Because I have spent most of my adult life searching for an simpler way to straighten and style my massive amount of curly, unruly hair, I was eager to find out if the Airstrait could make my life easier. The question being, can a blast of well-placed, moderately hot air really dry and straighten my hair, from towel-dried to straight and sleek? Already a convert to Dyson’s pricey, cult-favorite Airwrap, a more complex tool which also promises non-damaging styling using removable brushes and curling rods, I was skeptical about whether this more straightforward (pun intended) product would live up to its name.
To put it to the test, we not only used it on my curly locks, but on two other types of hair: long and straight, and shoulder-length and wavy. Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking about splurging on the $500 Dyson Airstrait.
The Dyson Airstrait uses massive blasts of air to transform hair from air dried to straight — without damaging your locks with extreme heat.
What we like about it
It’s plug and play
If you’re going to spend $500 on a hair styling product, you may expect it to be complicated. But the Airstrait is so easy to use out of the box, you can pretty much plug it in and go. As mentioned, there are no hotplates to switch out or even heat up. It comes with a small LCD screen below its arms and five small buttons for power: Temperature Control (five settings), Airflow Control (Low and High), a Cool Mode to set your style and a Mode Select (Wet or Dry). The only other thing in the box is a rubber mat for resting the machine on.
Just slide the lock button down to spring the tension arms open and hit the power button at the bottom to get started. Every time you turn it on, the Airwrap will blow a brief gust of air to clean itself and give you a check mark on the LCD when it’s done. If your hair is wet, you’ll need to dry the roots before you start, and that too will come up on the LCD as a Wet icon immediately after it is cleaned. Then, just choose the mode you want, depending on your styling preferences, and away you go.
Less heat damage
With Dyson, the name of the game is eliminating extreme heat to help keep your hair healthier. The Airstrait uses a powerful motor embedded in its handle to converge two high-velocity downblades of air into one super-strong jet — which in turn forces your hair to straighten as it dries. As the tagline says: “No heated plates. No heat damage.” And, just so you can be sure, it’s important to note that the Airstrait does not go above a 285-degree Fahrenheit heat setting (though I always make sure to use a heat protectant spray before I straighten).
Straightening in seconds
We came to the test with combed-through, towel-dried hair — and spent a few minutes drying the roots before we began straightening. Because I have SO MUCH hair, I clipped mine up in three sections and started with the bottom third. I used the maximum airflow and highest temperature and was delighted by how easy it was to clamp the arms shut and pull down the straightener. Like magic, my hair went from air-dried frizz to straight, though because I have so much to work through, it took about 30 minutes to get it all done.
Sophie Shaw, our intrepid beauty editor, started on a section of her already-straight, nearly waist-length hair. She appreciated that she could rough dry her hair with the tool (just hold those arms together and it also works as a blow dryer) and that would simultaneously help cut down on the number of tools she needed to pack when she traveled.
Hannah Lausen, our senior digital content strategist, thought it worked extremely well to quickly straighten her wavy, shoulder-length hair.
I also tried straightening from an already-dried head, and that was even easier. Here, I ramped up the temperature and switched it to Dry mode, and in less than 10 minutes, I was able to straighten my whole head.
The one problem we all had, even with all our different hair styles, textures and lengths, was that none of us felt we would walk out of the house without some extra styling (more on that below).
What we didn’t like about it
Needs extra styling tools, less efficient
Look, you can’t have it all. And without extreme heat over 375 degrees Fahrenheit, a lot of types of hair are not going to be as straight or as shiny without that hard-core, traditional straightener. To wit: though my hair was definitely straight after a full styling session with the Airstrait, I had to go over it at least three to four times to get it there. Plus, it wasn’t glossy. In order for me to add that silky shine, I had to plug in a ceramic curling iron at high heat and go over it again. I also used the Airwrap curling barrels to add body. For sure, the Airwrap did not do as much damage as it would have if I used extreme heat for the entire styling session, but it’s not a one-and-done product for me.
Sophie was less worried about the straight results with her already straight hair, and more concerned with the time it took to use the Airstrait.?“It wasn’t the most efficient, and I would probably just use a regular hairdryer to dry my hair 50% and then finish with the Airstrait. It also required three or more passes on my thick hair, so that would be pretty time-consuming to go from wet to dry with only the Airstrait,” she says. “Since I have naturally straight hair, the results weren’t super dramatic on me but I did notice that my hair looked sleeker overall and I feel like my flyaways near my roots were tamed more.”
Hannah, on the other hand, felt that although she was impressed with the straightening results, she would still use an additional tool after the Airstrait to give her hair extra volume and movement.
The price
There’s no getting past the $500 price tag. The Airstrait is, simply, an investment. For those looking for an easier, less damaging way to straighten their hair on a regular basis with no muss and no fuss, it may be worth it. But for anyone on a budget, the Airstrait may not even be a consideration. It’s also worth mentioning that for about $100 more, you can snag the Airwrap, which lets you blow dry, curl and straighten using a multitude of attachments.
How it compares
This isn’t Dyson’s first rodeo when it comes to straightening. Back in 2020, the company launched its more traditional Corrale straightener, which, though it claims will it cause 50% less damage, still goes up to 410 degrees Fahrenheit using copper alloy plates to straighten your hair. And you won’t get a bargain either, because it will also set you back $500.
On a more apples to apples level, the GHD Duet Style ($399) also straightens hair from wet to dry but uses styling plates paired with high-velocity hot air to do so. The company claims the product will monitor the heat (which goes up to 302 degrees Fahrenheit) to prevent damage, but it does cost $100 less than the Airstrait.
Bottom line
The Dyson Airstrait is a game changer for anyone who consistently uses a damaging flat iron to straighten their hair. Not only does its revolutionary high pressure airflow offer a speedier style from wet to dry, but you can rest assured that it will not fry your hair in the process.
However, for those of use with thicker, curlier hair, the Airstrait may only be the first step in the process of getting that shiny, straight ‘do we’re hoping to attain. And for that, the $500 price tag may become the barrier between us and our search for the perfect styler.
