Dyson Airwrap review

Dyson Airwrap: two-minute review

The Dyson Airwrap is a high-end multi-styler that can be used to create curls, waves, and bouncy blow drys. Tapping into the current vogue for 'healthy' hair styling, the Airwrap avoids extreme heat, instead employing something called the Coanda effect to bend and shape the hair as it dries it into place.

The Airwrap blew the beauty world away when it launched in 2018, and combined with the success of the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer (now updated to become the Dyson Supersonic Nural) to cement this brand as a force to be reckoned with in the haircare world.

The original Airwrap had a few flaws, but most of these were addressed in a revised version released in 2022. The current Airwrap comes bundled with more accessories to enable it to create a wider range of hairstyles, as well as new bi-directional barrels. The original Airwrap was good, but this now feels like a fully realized product – albeit still a frighteningly expensive one. If you can afford it, we rate this the best hair styling tool on the market.

I've been using mine for a year now, and, as someone who doesn't take much joy in hairstyling, it's been a real game-changer. It's not quite perfect, but overall it delivers on what it promises: a swift, less damaging and easier way to achieve salon results from the comfort of your home. Its more recent attachments have diversified the range of hair types it can effectively work with, but there's still room for improvement if you've got Type 4 hair.

Using traditional curling tongs can be time-consuming and damaging to your hair, but the Dyson Airwrap makes curling your hair a breeze (literally), and over time has left my hair looking far healthier than when I've previously used ceramic stylers. It dries your hair quickly (although not quite as fast as the best hair dryers on the market) it's incredibly light, and the design looks and feels luxurious.

But (and it's a big but), the Airwrap styler is incredibly expensive, at around five times the price of many other hair curlers on the market. If you want the best of the best, you'll have to spend big, and it's a testament to how good it is that the Airwrap remains incredibly popular despite its exorbitant price tag. Since its release, many Airwrap dupes have popped up on the market, but none quite compete in terms of build quality, design and raw power. That's the short version; read on for my full Dyson Airwrap review.

Dyson Airwrap review: price & availability

• Dyson Airwrap Complete: $599.99 / £479.99 / AU$849.99
• Dyson Airwrap Origin: £399.99 / AU$749.99
• Launched: Original 2018; updated version 2022

There are two main configurations in which you can buy the Dyson Airwrap; the Complete (which comes with a broader array of attachments) or the Origin (which comes with fewer and isn't available in the US.)

The Dyson Airwrap Complete is available to buy for $599.99 / £479.99 / AU$849.99, and offers a selection of variants depending on your hair type. In the US, the variants are Straight+Wavy or Curly+Coily, in the UK it's Long Volumise and Short and Coarse, and Australia simply has the Long Complete and the Origin in circulation as of writing.

Such a lofty list price is going to put it out of the reach of many, and even the cheaper variants are an investment. For comparison, most other hair curlers on the market cost between $50 / £30 / AU$75 and $200 / £150 / AU$300.

You can also buy further attachments through Dyson, priced at $40 / £30 / AU$99 each, and these will all be backwards-compatible with the original Airwrap as well as existing models in circulation.

• Value for money score: 3 out of 5

Dyson Airwrap review: design

As you would expect from a device of this price, the design and presentation of the Airwrap is pretty much impeccable. It comes in a leather-effect storage case in a variety of colors, depending on which model you choose, and looks attractive enough to make you want to leave it out instead of tucking it away in your cupboard when not in use.

The Styler itself consists of a cylinder, around 10 inches long, with a band around the top where the different attachments slot in. At the bottom you have a removable filter and a power cable to connect it to the mains. Towards the top of the Styler you'll find the control buttons; an on/off button, heat controls, and buttons that control the speed of the airflow. On the rear is the lock switch, which you'll toggle to release attachments.

The Dyson Airwrap Complete package comes with a number of different attachments, which vary depending on which configuration you get. My review model has a soft smoothing brush, firm smoothing brush, round volumizing brush, Coanda smoothing dryer and both the 30mm and 40mm barrels.

(A quick aside here – for some styling tasks, a Dyson Supersonic and its various attachments might actually be a better fit. See exactly how these two tools compare in our Dyson Supersonic vs Airwrap face-off.)

Now onto the Airwrap barrels themselves. The first iteration of the Airwrap came with four of these, and you'd have to manually swap over barrels to create curls going in different directions. The 2022 Airwrap was engineered so that the same barrel can be used to create clockwise or counterclockwise curls – a significant upgrade that drastically improves the user experience and has storage benefits too. On each of the barrels, you'll find an arrow that indicates which direction the hair will wrap around it when the styler is on.

How it works

While the blow dryer and brush attachments are pretty self explanatory, the Airwrap barrels and smoothing dryer use an interesting natural phenomenon called the 'Coanda' effect to curl your hair. The Coanda effect causes high speed air to follow the contours of a surface in a similar manner to a liquid – a phenomenon also used to high effect in motor racing.

This effect "attracts, wraps, and curls the hair around the barrel", which means you need only hold your hair close to the styler for the air to whip it around the barrel and create a curl. Aside from making it easier to curl your hair without having to manually wrap your hair around the barrel, it means your hair doesn't come into contact with a very hot surface like it would with a traditional curling iron.

Heat styling can often leave your hair feeling frizzy and dry, and can even lead to breakage if you use heat regularly, particularly if you have fine hair or tightly coiled Type 4 hair.

Dyson says that the Airwrap Styler "measures airflow temperature over 40 times a second and regulates heat, to ensure it always stays below 150C / 302F.” For comparison, it's not unusual for traditional curlers to reach 200C / 392F.

A quick note if you have a particularly jet-setting lifestyle: the Airwrap is not the best for travel overseas, because you can only use it in countries with the same electrical voltage as the country you purchased your device in. A particularly rude awakening for me when I lugged mine to the US from the UK and it refused to turn on.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Dyson Airwrap review: performance

It's important to note that the Airwrap will have different effects on different types of hair. My hair is thick, porous and just below shoulder length, but I've also tried it on more wiry hair as well as type 2A wavy hair. I don't generally use any styling products or hairspray, but I do shield my hair with a heat-protecting spray to help lessen any damage.

One of the first things I noticed about the Airwrap was how light it is; if you regularly use hair dryers you'll probably be well acquainted with the arm ache that occurs even after using them for short periods of time. Dyson advises that you use the Airwrap on damp rather than soaking wet locks (that's actually the 'official' advice for any hair dryer), but as I've got pretty porous hair that can take an absolute age to dry, I tend to rough-dry my hair using a combination of the round brush and the soft smoothing brush to help it along.

It takes a little practice to get the hang of using the Airwrap, but overall, I'm very impressed by how quickly it dries my hair, and I'm frequently pleased with how much volume I'm able to achieve. The process is quite simple, but the styler can feel a little unwieldy at first as it's so different from using a normal hairdryer. While working on one section of hair, the hot air can sometimes blow the rest of your hair into a frizzy mess, so it's worth taking the time to get the rest of your hair out of the way, and section properly.

When it comes to the Airwrap barrels, it's impressively easy to achieve bouncy curls thanks to the Coanda effect. As mentioned earlier, it does take a little practice to get the technique right, and Dyson has some helpful demo videos on its YouTube channel if you need some guidance.

In short, though, you simply lift up a section of your damp hair about one inch wide (and here it really must be damp, not wet, otherwise it won't work properly), and hold the Airwrap curling barrel a few inches up from the end of the strand. Then, watch in amazement as the hair begins to coil itself up and around the barrel, moving it towards your head to encourage the whole strand to curl.

From there, it's just a case of holding the curl until the hair is dry, and then pushing the temperature switch up to deliver a 'cold shot' to the hair – this helps to set the style and can make the curl look shinier.

The most difficult thing to get your head (or hair, as the case may be) around is the direction you need to curl your hair in. This arrow should be pointing away from your face when you look into your mirror, for face-framing curls.

One of the calling cards of the Airwrap is that is uses a relatively low heat to style your hair, and I definitely noticed the difference between using the styler (which Dyson says won't go over 150C / 302F) and traditional curling tongs that typically reach 200C / 392F or more. (Since the launch of the Airwrap, Dyson has tried to create lower-heat straightener options in the form of the Airstrait and Coralle.)

My hair looks shiny and healthy, and after a year of using it I've genuinely noticed an overall improvement in my hair health – and I've never encountered the burning smells that often come with using heated styler tools on the hair. Using a lower heat to style your hair also has the added benefit of preserving your hair's color if it's dyed, meaning you won't need to dye it as often to maintain a rich, vibrant hue.

Even though I've been impressed with the results, I definitely feel the Airwrap is better suited to longer hairstyles, particularly when it comes to the curling barrels – but that's why most regions now stock a version with shorter barrels, to help those with hair shorter than shoulder-length encourage their hair to wrap around effectively.

Reviews from those with tightly coiled Type 4 hair have been mixed as well, but with the release of new attachments this has improved somewhat. While some users were impressed with how quickly the Airwrap dried their hair, others noted that they would still need to use straighteners or curling tongs afterwards to achieve their desired style.

• Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Should I buy a Dyson Airwrap?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• Updated to reflect new version: September 2024
• Original review: November 2019