According to Dyson, it took seven years to perfect but from what we saw, that time was well used. Dyson’s new Corrale hair straightener comes feature-packed and it’s unlike anything you can currently get on the market. Although that's no real surprise, considering the Dyson Supersonic, its first foray into hair care, is one of the best hair dryers we've tested.
It’s headline feature is its manganese-copper alloy plates that do all the hard work. Each plate is only 65 microns thick – the width of a human hair – and is slightly flexible. This ensures a lock of hair stays within the plates without splaying, meaning the tension applied is spread evenly through each strand within the lock, reducing the number of times you'll need to work the hair to straighten or curl it into waves.
Moreover, each plate is coated with tourmaline, which has ionising properties that reduce static. So once you’re done styling your hair, you won’t have the odd strands standing out at odd angles, something that can happen with other straighteners on shorter strands. It will leave your hair shiny and straight, or in beachy waves.
If you're worried about copper oxidizing and leaving green patches on the plates over time, Dyson assures us that will not happen as the engineers have rigorously tested the product for durability.
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Keeping it in control
The Dyson Corrale inherits the Intelligent Heat Control technology found in the company’s Supersonic hair dryer and the Airwrap styler, but with a bit of an improvement. Where the older Dyson beauty products can measure temperature 40 and 60 times a second, respectively, the new straightener uses a platinum sensor that can do so 100 times a second. If there’s any change in temperature, the information is communicated to a microprocessor that regulates the heat, thus ensuring steady, accurate heat throughout the styling process.
Talking about heat, there are three temperature settings to choose from – 165°C/330°F, 185°C/365°F and 210°C/410°F. Many users would think that the lowest temperature setting wouldn’t be sufficient to straighten hair quickly, but we did try it and, having thick, wavy hair, that was more than enough to style our tresses, leaving it looking shiny as well.
When styling hair into waves, you'll need to hold both ends of the iron to twist the lock of hair, which can be difficult to do with many hair straighteners. The back of the plates become too hot to hold, making styling difficult. That is not the case with the Corrale. The tips of the plates only become warm and, despite the heat build-up at the back of the plates, it's not too difficult to hold the device.
That also means that the sides of the straightener aren't as hot, making it easier for people with layered, short haircuts to use the device without burning their scalp each time they need to pull locks of hair from the roots.
Cut the cord
There are some cordless hair straighteners available on the market but Dyson's Corrale comes with four lithium-ion batteries that offer up to 30 minutes of wireless use. It also ships with a power cable that attaches magnetically, as well as a charging dock that tops up the batteries in about 70 minutes.
There is no reduction in heat or power when using the straightener in cordless mode, but Dyson suggests that you can get more out of the batteries by placing the device onto its dock intermittently while styling.
True to Dyson's aesthetics, the Corrale has a very sleek, futuristic design. When not in use, it can be clipped closed and, in fact, if you forget to switch it off, it does so automatically after a few minutes of not being in use. So the chances of starting a fire accidentally are minimized.
When clipped closed, the device turns off automatically, and the power button gets hidden under the outer casing, so accidental switch-ons aren't possible even when it's in a bag.
If you plan to travel with it, you'll need to pack it in carry-on luggage as airlines don't allow lithium-ion batteries in checked baggage. Dyson has thought about that as well and has installed an 'airplane mode' which carries the universal icon that is available on every smartphone these days and easily recognizable.
The Corrale also keeps to Dyson's color palette, and will be available in dark nickel/fuchsia and purple/black globally from April 2020 with a rather steep price tag of AU$699 in Australia – or $499 in the US and £399 in the UK.
