There’s a new Dyson hair straightener in town that promises to straighten your hair and take it from wet to dry without hot plates – here’s everything you need to know about the styler in our hands-on Dyson Airstrait review

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For many people, Dyson is synonymous with vacuums.

Yet in recent years the UK-born brand has made huge gains in the beauty market thanks to its growing collection of haircare tools and stylers.

In fact, the Dyson Airwrap is the most viral product on TikTok, while in China more people know Dyson for its hair dryers and stylers than its legacy in floor care.

Since the launch of the Dyson Supersonic hairdryer in 2016 – notable for the way it completely revolutionised how a hairdryer should look and work –  the brand has more recently ventured into the realms of curling, with the launch of the Dyson Airwrap in 2018, and cordless straighteners, with 2020’s Dyson Corrale.

Then, in a statement last year, Sir James Dyson announced the company would be doubling down on beauty tools.

He pledged to spend more than half a million pounds on new innovations and promised to be launching 20 new products over the next four years. Quite a ramping up of activity – a 550% increase in fact – considering that the firm has only released three products in the last six years.

Now, true to its word Dyson has released the next major styling tool in its hair care range – the new Dyson Airstrait.

We were given a chance to experience the Dyson Airstrait for ourselves at a preview event in London and get an early hands-on with the wet-to-dry styler. Here’s everything you need to know about the Dyson Airstrait including how it works, why Dyson is launching it, its price and where you can buy it from launch.

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Dyson Airstrait UK

Before we dive into our hands-on Dyson Airstrait review and explainer, here’s how the new Dyson hair straightener fits into the wider Dyson hair care range, as well as the wider hair market.

Dyson Airstrait is the fourth hair styler to be released from Dyson since 2016. The other products, in order of release, are:

• Dyson Supersonic: The Dyson Supersonic is a hair dryer that uses the company’s V9 motor with its Air Multiplier technology to dry hair quickly and quietly. As you can read in our Dyson Supersonic review, it remains one of the best hair dryers we’ve ever used.
• Dyson Airwrap: The most versatile of the Dyson haircare products, the Airwrap is also its most popular. The main draw of the Airwrap for many people is the curling function that uses something called the Coanda effect to pull the hair towards the barrel and curl it in seconds. However, it comes with a range of attachments including smoothing brushes, and volumising brushes to suit different hair types and needs.
• Dyson Corrale: Instead of using Dyson’s motor technology, the Dyson Corrale leans on its other market-leading technology – batteries. In our Dyson Corrale review, we explain how it uses floating hot plates to help straighten the hair while minimising damage.

The biggest competitor to Dyson, both generally speaking and when it comes to the Dyson Airstrait UK is GHD and its Duet Style.

• GHD Duet style: The GHD Duet Style works in a similar way to the Dyson Airstrait. It looks like a pair of large hair straighteners and it uses hot air to take the hair from wet to dry. You can stop there, or you can switch to Shine Shot mode which switches the heat to low-temperature plates to smooth the finished look.

Read our Dyson Airstrait vs GHD Duet Style head-to-head here

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Dyson Airstrait: At a Glance

What is the new Dyson hair straightener, the Dyson Airstrait? The new Dyson hair straightener is called the Dyson Airstrait – not the Dyson Airstraight as we first thought! It creates straight styles by taking your hair from wet to dry and, despite the fact it looks like a pair of straighteners, it does all of this using just hot air – no hot plates in sight.

How does the Dyson Airstrait work? The Dyson Airstrait looks like a pair of straighteners but it takes your hair from wet to dry only using hot air.

How is it different? There are hot brushes – like the Revlon One-Step Dryer and Volumizer Brush – that resemble hair dryers and are used to dry and style at the same time. Then there is the relatively new category of wet-to-dry stylers, including the GHD Duet. The GHD Duet uses hot air to remove moisture from the hair before hot plates help straighten and smooth the style. It should be noted that the hot plates don’t help dry the hair; they just help finish the style. The Dyson Airstrait manages to combine the best of both worlds by providing enough hot air directed at very specific angles, coupled with tension rods and pressure, to create straight and bouncy styles.

How much does the Dyson Airstrait cost? $499 (US/Canada/Mexico). UK price TBC.

Where can I buy the Dyson Airstrait? The Dyson Airstrait is currently on sale in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

When will the Dyson Airstrait UK version launch? Dyson wouldn’t confirm when the Dyson Airstrait UK model would go on sale but, if previous launches are anything to go by, it won’t take long to arrive in the UK. We’d expect it to be live by the Summer (if not before). There is no doubt a UK version of the Dyson Airstrait is coming, it’s just a matter of when.

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How does the Dyson Airstrait work?

The Dyson Airstrait UK offers two main styling modes as well as a number of other features that help you complete your look. These include:

• Wet Mode
• Dry Mode
• Root Drying Mode
• Cool Shot

You can switch between these modes using a panel of controls found in between where the two arms meet the hinge. Above this wet-to-dry control are two buttons – one red, one blue – that let you increase or decrease the temperature when in Wet Mode. The Cool Shot button then completes the button line-up.

Above these buttons is a display that shows you, at a glance, which mode you’re in as well as the temperature you’ve selected as you move up or down the temperature settings. And within the drying modes, you can choose between low flow and high flow.

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Wet Mode

In Wet mode, a steady and controlled stream of hot air is directed onto the hair as you pass over it with the Airstrait styler. In this mode, you can set the styler to one of three different temperature settings:

• 80°C (175°F)
• 110°C (230°F)
• 140°C (285°F)

As you’d expect, Wet mode is used for drying your hair after it’s been washed (or if you’ve made it damp in order to restyle.)

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Dry Mode

In Dry mode, the flow of air works in the same way as in Wet mode but the temperature options include 120°C (250°F) or 140°C (285°F). You can also blast your hair with hotter air via a top-up “boost”.

Dry mode is used to help style day two (or three/four in our case!) hair without having to rewash it. Before the Dyson Airstrait, you’d either have to dampen your hair again or use a pair of standard straighteners to create the desired style.

In our experience, the latter can often leave the hair looking limp and flat – especially if you prefer styles with more body and movement – while the former can accentuate any grease that’s built up overnight.

Dyson promises that the Airstrait on Dry mode creates naturally straight styles without sacrificing body and movement.

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Dyson Airstrait technology

To get more technical, the Dyson Airstrait achieves all of the above thanks to a number of engineering features.

Firstly, it’s powered by Dyson’s Hyperdymium motor. This motor has been specifically engineered to be small – it measures just 27mm and fits into the handle of the Airstrait – and light, while also being powerful enough to handle what Dyson wants its hair care tools to do.

Within this motor, a 13-blade impeller spins up to 106,000rpm, propelling 11.9 litres of air through the machine every second. This is said to generate up to 3.5kPa of air pressure.

This air is then funneled across the Airstrait through two 1.5mm apertures to create two high-velocity downward blades of air that are angled at 45°. At which point the blades converge to create a single focused jet of air.

Dyson told us that this is the ideal angle because it helps create enough downward force – along with the air pressure – to straighten the hair as it dries, without causing the hair to fly up and out of the arms.

Elsewhere, the Dyson Airstrait straightener – like with the other hair care products in the Dyson range – use glass bead thermistors to measure the temperature of the airflow 30 times per second to prevent heat damage and protect hair’s natural shine. This data is sent to a microprocessor which regulates the heating element, ensuring airflow doesn’t exceed the temperature required.

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Hands-on Dyson Airstrait review

We’re calling this a hands-on Dyson Airstrait review because our experience with the styler was limited. We plan to conduct a full Airstrait review as soon as we can get hold of the styler for a straightener period of time.

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Design

The first impression of the Dyson Airstrait is that it’s a chunky piece of kit. Design-wise it looks almost identical to a pair of straighteners, with two arms and a hinged connector. However, it’s a lot larger than what we’re used to with standard straighteners.

As a result, we’d expected it to feel bulky and heavy in the hand but it’s surprisingly lightweight and easy to hold. Once you explore all the features, and learn more about the technology that’s packed inside too, the extra size also makes sense.

In fact, we’re glad it’s so big because the performance of the Dyson Airstrait seems to benefit greatly from having this extra space and heft.

Where you’d usually find hot plates on a standard pair of straighteners are air vents in which hot air is directed over the hair as the styler is passed over it.

You still need to section out the hair and clamp it gently between these chambers, but instead of hot metal, you get concentrated hot air. To create the tension needed to create a smooth style, there are two so-called tension bars – one is fixed into position, and the other floats and flexes with your hair as it moves from root to end.

Speaking of roots, the Dyson Airstrait also has a small external drying vent that allows you to blast your hair from above with the Airstrait positioned on its side. This is called the Root Styling Mode and allows you to either remove any excess moisture from the roots, add volume by drying it from below, or add shine by blasting cool air over the hair to close the follicles and reduce frizz.

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Ease-of-use

You physically hold and use the Dyson Airstrait in the same way, regardless of whether you’re hair is wet or dry.

Section a small piece of hair, clamp the Airstrait at the roots and slowly pass it over the hair to remove the moisture. It only took two passes over our hair to go from wet to dry on the highest temperature setting. If your hair is thicker, the section of hair is large, or you use a lower temperature, this will vary.

Dyson told us that the temperature settings on the Airstrait have been engineered to maximise the finish while minimising heat damage.

We should add that when we say “wet”, we actually mean towel-dried. It’s not advisable to use the Airstrait on soaking wet hair because it will take you longer to dry the hair and thus subject it to extra, unnecessary heat.

If you find that the roots still aren’t dry enough, or you can’t get the Airstrait close enough to knock out all the moisture, then you close the arms, hold the styler on its side, and select root drying mode.

You can then move it over your roots like you would a regular hair dryer.

If you then combine this drying mode with cool shot, you can set your straight style with cold air.

We imagine that you could also use the root drying feature to remove excess moisture from the hair generally, if you want to dry it more than you can with a towel.

We’ll need to confirm this though, when we carry out our full Airstrait review.

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Controls and hair types

The buttons on the control panel give you options as to how fast or hot you want the airflow.

For instance, pressing the button that has a water droplet on it switches the Dyson Airstrait between Wet mode and Dry mode.

When in Wet mode you can use the temperature buttons to increase or decrease the temperature based on your hair type, or how dry your hair already is.

• The lowest temperature of 80°C (175°F) works great if you have naturally straighter hair, if your hair is fine and prone to breakage, or if it dries quickly.
• For straight and wavy hair types, of medium thickness, you’ll likely find that 110°C (230°F) is hot enough to dry and style the hair with the Airstrait without having to pass it over your hair too many times.
• For thicker hair, and curly hair types, there is then a maximum temperature of 140°C (285°F).

That’s not to say you can’t use different settings, but these will likely be the optimal settings to combine effectiveness with protection.

When in Dry mode, the controls are similar but instead of three temperature settings you get to choose from two: 120°C (250°F) or 140°C (285°F). The lower setting worked well on our fine hair, but thicker hair may require more heat to get the same results.

Another thing to note with this new styler is that it’s quiet. Similar to how the Supersonic and Airwrap sound, it was easy to chat with Dyson’s stylist who was helping us test out the Airstrait mid-style without either of us shouting.

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Hands-on Dyson Airstrait review: Verdict

But what about the results? Our hair was noticeably straighter and smoother after using the Dyson Airstrait. It also felt softer. What’s more, it took mere minutes to achieve this.

Since putting the Dyson Airstrait to the test there have already been at least three occasions where we wished we had the Airstrait at home. We needed to style our day-two hair and ended up putting it in a ponytail to avoid subjecting it to straighteners. It’s a classic case of we didn’t realise we needed a product like this until we tried it!

Granted we only had a short amount of time with the Airstrait but on the face of it, we’re impressed. As with all Dyson products though the price is a sticking point. Our Editor-in-Chief, Victoria recently interviewed Sir James Dyson and asked him to comment on why Dyson products are so expensive.

He told her: “Our priority at Dyson is creating high-performing products that are built to last and use energy efficiently. Years of research, testing, and development go into making each Dyson machine, and our commitment to engineering pioneering products that work differently and perform better remains our focus. Dyson machines are durable, and our prototypes are engineered to withstand thousands of hours of testing – which means thousands of hours of use.

“We make massive investments in technology we believe in, and the price of Dyson products reflects this.”

We’ll be able to talk more about the Airstrait when we have some proper time with it. Plus it’s only available in the US, Canada and Mexico at launch so it’s a moot point for anyone living in the UK at the moment. Stay tuned!

Buy the Airstrait

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Dyson Airstrait vs GHD Duet Style

We detail more about the two products in our full Dyson Airstrait vs GHD Duet Style feature but to summarise:

Similarities

• Both brands describe their respective tools as wet-to-dry stylers.
• Both resemble straighteners, albeit with much larger and thicker designs.
• Both have hot air vents fitted along the inside of the chambers.

Differences

• The Dyson Airstrait offers two modes – Wet and Dry – and only relies on hot air to style your hair.
• The GHD Duet Style offers a Wet mode, in which hot air removes the moisture from the hair. Once the hair is dry – and only when it’s dry – you can switch to Shine Shot mode. This turns off the hot air and turns on two hot plates which work in the same way as the plates on previous GHD straighteners, such as the GHD Platinum Plus, to straighten the hair.

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