Dyson has added another haircare device to its excellent portfolio in the form of the Airstrait, joining the fabulous Airwrap, the Corrale cordless straightener and the Supersonic hair dryer.
You might be able to guess what the Airstrait is from the name, but if not, here’s everything you need to know about the new addition to the company’s haircare line, including what it is. Airstrait, where it’s available, how it works and what it’s like.
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Dyson Air Strait
The Dyson Airstrait is the company’s latest hair care product, designed to straighten your wet-to-dry hair with air rather than hot plates. There are some great features on board and great technology.
What is Dyson Airstrait?
The Dyson Airstrait could be described as a hair dryer and straightener in one, but that might not do it the justice it deserves. This gives you an idea of ​​what the device was designed to do – straighten your hair from wet to dry with air rather than hot plates. Dyson first got into haircare in 2016 with its hair dryer and from the start it paid close attention to the damage heat can cause to hair and tried to minimize it using various sensors and techniques to control and reduce heat.
The Airstrait follows the same principles, with Dyson claiming it can straighten your hair from wet to dry without any heat damage. The device – which will compete with GHD’s recently launched Duet Style – has been designed for a variety of hair types and aims to “achieve a natural smooth style, with body and movement, while maintaining strength”.
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How does the Dyson Airstrait work?
Rather than the hot air from a hair dryer and then the extreme heat from the ceramic plates, the Airstrait contains the braid of hair between two arms, each having a 1.5mm opening along them to create a high speed air blade inclined at 45 degrees. These blades come together to form a jet of air that creates a downward force in the hair to dry and straighten it at the same time.
In order to change the style of your hair – and to maintain it, the hydrogen bonds in each strand must be broken and reset. You can do this with heat or humidity, but when the hair is wet, the bonds are naturally weakened, providing a good opportunity to restyle. Bonds reset when dry and straight, maintaining that style. This is the same reason the Airwrap has a cold burst button, like if you change a style using heat to break the bonds, the bonds need to be cold to set.
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Features of the Dyson Airstrait
The Dyson Airstrait is powered by the company’s Hyperdymium motor, which is the same motor you’ll find in the Airwrap and Dyson Supersonic hair dryer and it sits in the handle. Going geeky for a second, the engine features a 13-blade impeller that spins up to 106,000 rpm to propel over 11.9 liters of air through the air strait per second. This generates up to 3.5 kPa of air pressure, which is supposed to be enough to straighten hair as it dries – and it is, we tried it.
Like the Supersonic hair dryer, Airwrap and Corrale straightener, the Airstrait features intelligent heat control. This sees glass bead thermistors measuring the temperature of the airflow 30 times per second from eight separate points to send the information to the microprocessor, which then regulates the heating element and shuts down the temperature exceeding a set quota. This means the base of your neck won’t get too hot either.
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There are two styling modes on board the Airstrait: Wet and Dry. There’s also a Cool mode to set the style. In moist mode, you’ll find three heat settings of 80 degrees Celsius (175 degrees Fahrenheit), 110 degrees Celsius (230 degrees Fahrenheit), and 140 degrees Celsius (285 degrees Fahrenheit). Dry mode has two heat settings of 120 degrees Celsius (250 degrees Fahrenheit) or 140 degrees Celsius (285 degrees Fahrenheit). There is also a Boost function in Dry mode for recharging. There are also two speed settings, consisting of low and high flow, and there is also a cold shot and root drying mode, so plenty of options.
Elsewhere there’s a built-in pause function in the air strait, so when you part your hair to get a new section for example, and place the air strait while you do it, it will pause then will reboot when you pick it up. It also delivers a different airflow depending on whether it is open or closed. When open there is low airflow, while when you join the arms you get high flow. Finally, on the functionality front, the Airstrait will clean itself before you start to get rid of any residue from hair serums or hair oils you may have used, although you can also easily remove the edges if you wish to to wipe.
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What does the Dyson Airstrait look like?
I had a demo of the Dyson Airstrait at the London office and although I still need to see how it performs when my hair is completely wet I have been very impressed with what I have experienced so far . I have quite long hair, it’s very thick, and also wiry so while it holds a style well once you’re in, it takes a long time to style it in the first place.
I’ve long maintained that the Dyson Airwrap is one of the best products I’ve tried – it’s always worked wonders on my hair, and I’m pretty obsessed with the Flyaway attachment for the Supersonic hair dryer too. The Airstrait really surprised me.
I’m not going to lie, I was skeptical of its ability to create the same softness and smoothness you get from straightening your hair or blow-drying it professionally. The Airstrait handled it though.
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The stylist had to use the higher speed setting on my hair, and they had to go through each section multiple times – just like you would with a straightener, but the result was the same airy feeling I get after my hair has been blown-dried. When I straighten it with straightening irons, it still carries a lot of weight. It’s heavy and dense. After the Airstrait, there was volume but it was light. Similar to the feeling you get when you’ve just had your hair cut and the hairdresser has removed some of the weight by lightening the hair, for example.
I’ll have to try the Airstrait properly to see how long it takes to do all my hair, as well as if I can get the same effect as the stylist and what it’s like to use, weight wise. and what heat setting works for me, but so far it has definitely caught my eye.
Where is the Dyson Airstrait available?
The Dyson Airstrait launched in the US, Canada and Mexico on May 11, 2023. It will be coming to the UK and other countries in the future, although dates have yet to be finalized.
The reason the Dyson Airstrait won’t be launching in the UK at the same time as the US is because Dyson discovered that an element in the air strait didn’t work as well as the company thought it would. the should on UK voltage compared to how it worked on US voltage and so it is slightly redesigned for the UK to deliver the expected performance.
As soon as a UK launch date is announced, this feature will be updated.
How much does the Dyson Airstrait cost?
The Dyson Airstrait will retail for $499 in the US. It comes in a Prussian blue and copper color.
