We Tested Dyson's Airsmooth on 4 Different Hair Types
The blow-dry brush has gotten mixed reviews, especially among those with curly and coily hair. We spoke to pros about who this device is really for.
Earlier this month, Dyson dropped one of its latest innovations: the Airsmooth Styling Dryer Brush, which is designed to transform wet hair into a bouncy, supermodel-worthy blowout with a flick of the wrist. Early reactions online were mixed. (After a demo dropped ahead of the device’s launch, showing it being used on tight curls, let’s just say the crowd went mild.) But also, why release a dedicated blow-dry brush when the Airwrap is already equipped with not one, but two attachment brush heads?
According to Kavya Nair, a Dyson designer based in Singapore, the brand sought to create a more travel-friendly, stand-alone solution for wet-to-dry styling. Going with a brush, specifically, made sense for several reasons, including the popularity of the category (she says blow-dry brushes have one of the largest user bases among all hot tools); the Smoothing Brush and Round Brush being among the most popular Airwrap attachments; and the simple fact that the brand didn’t offer a blow-dry brush yet.
Most interesting, perhaps, given the early feedback, Nair says Dyson also saw the Airsmooth as an opportunity to show up for folks who have historically felt underserved by the company’s offerings—the textured hair community. “I think one of the key things that we wanted to solve, or attempt to solve,” she explains, “is the fact that our products essentially weren't giving the performance that a lot of 3T [curly-haired] and 4T [coily-haired] users” desired. And despite that bumpy pre-launch, reception among those with tighter curl patterns has shifted significantly, including some emphatic endorsements.
So what gives? Is the Airsmooth really a one-stop shop for every hair type—one worth purchasing even if you’ve got a perfectly fine Airwrap at home? We at Allure dove deep into this product experience to find out what it’s actually supposed to do and put it to the test on different hair types. Read on for our honest thoughts.
Dyson
Airsmooth
Meet the experts
- Matt Collins is a hairstylist and global styling ambassador for Dyson, based in Los Angeles
- Carlyn Griscti is a hairstylist based in New York City.
- Cataanda James is a hairstylist based in New York City.
- Kavya Nair is a Dyson design manager based in Singapore.
The design
I once heard someone say of high school proms, “If you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all,” and that’s how I would generally describe blow-dryer brushes. That was my initial reaction to the Airsmooth too. It’s lightweight and easy to hold, but the only obvious difference between it and competitors is the teardrop-shaped brush head. Or so I thought. As I used it, another key difference quickly became apparent: the bristles. Slim and hyper-flexible, they lack the ball-tipped ends found on most brushes and combs.
Says Nair, as the team began researching hot brushes already on the market, two user complaints consistently emerged, particularly among those with finer, thinner hair and coily hair types: breakage and discomfort. Digging deeper, they discovered that those ball-tipped bristles were a major culprit. The bristles tend to catch knots and tear them, as opposed to working through them.
Despite shared concerns, however, these hair types have some drastically different needs. “If you design something very high in tension that gives you a lot of control, the curly/coily community loves it. The minute you do that, though, users [with] finer hair—like Asian hair or European hair—are like, ‘It’s painful for me, I need this to be a bit more flexible,’” says Nair. “So a lot of work went into the development of the bristles and understanding how the product can be robust in terms of taking very high tension, but also being very comfortable on the scalp.”
In response to all the above, the Airsmooth features two distinct types of bristles: AntiSnag (also found on the Anti-Snag Loop Brush attachment for the Airwrap) and PivotFlex. The AntiSnag bristles, with their looped structure, are designed “to flex and release knots around the bristles,” Nair explains, as opposed to catching and breaking them. The Eiffel Tower-shaped PivotFlex bristles are thinner and more flexible (bending up to 90 degrees), “adapt[ing] to the type of hair you have to release tangles without actually putting a lot of force on your hair to release them,” she continues. These bristles also feature an open-base design, helping to diffuse airflow and, by extension, minimize frizz.
These high-tech bristles are situated around that aforementioned teardrop-shaped brush. The narrower edge is designed to improve access to the roots, while the flat sides are for styling and straightening.
Why isn’t it an Airwrap attachment?
The Airsmooth is kind of like an eye shadow single compared to the Airwrap’s nine-pan palette: It’s designed to be a stand-alone product that’s more convenient, cheaper, and travel-friendly, albeit less versatile. The goal, says Nair, was to bring “wet-to-dry styling capability to a hot brush that people can take with them on the go.”
I wouldn’t say the Airsmooth is substantially lighter than the Airwrap (or, at $250, particularly cheap), but one group of people might find this new device especially appealing: frequent international travelers. As “the flagship product [for] wet-to-dry styling,” according to Nair, “I like to call [the Airwrap] a ‘salon in a box.'” The Airwrap requires a lot of power, and because of that, each one has a voltage specific to the region where it was purchased, meaning that your North American Airwrap won’t work in your Italian hotel room. By comparison, the much less powerful Airsmooth works anywhere in the world, provided you have an adapter for the plug.
Who is the Dyson Airsmooth for?
This is a dryer brush for anybody, but not everybody. As one might expect from a tool designed to reach the widest possible audience, there’s a bit of a “bell curve” when it comes to performance: Those in the middle—think type 2 waves and type 3 curls—with thicker hair are the most likely to achieve the bouncy, shiny blowouts found all over Instagram (and Airsmooth marketing materials). When working on these hair types, Matt Collins, Los Angeles-based professional hairstylist and global styling ambassador for Dyson, says he “really noticed the super-smooth blowout with not much work, and [they were] getting this beautiful flip and bounciness.”
That said, those on the tail ends of that curve can still benefit from using it, depending on their goals. While coily hair types are “not going to get a silk press out of it,” as Collins says, results somewhere between “fluffy blowout” and “stretched length” are achievable. New York City-based hairstylist Cataanda James says that those with type 4 hair “could be successful in using this brush and getting a nice fluffy blowout,” especially if they work in small sections and use the right products. (Indeed, every pro I spoke to emphasizes the importance of using products best suited to your specific hair.) “If you’re a girly that likes a super-sleek, super-smooth, straight, silky blowout, this is probably not the tool for you, unless you have a relaxer. But if you are the girly that loves a fluffy blowout,” she adds, “it will cut back on drying time. Once you get the technique down, you can probably do it in a one-and-done.”
Meanwhile, finer, thinner hair types “are not going to get the most incredible blow-dry flip,” says Collins, “but they would have to work it like crazy with a round brush to get that flip anyway.” While he says Airsmooth can be used as a speedy general hair-dryer for these hair types, New York City-based hairstylist Carlyn Griscti says you might want to eschew blow-dry brushes entirely if the goal is a supermodel blowout. “The best thing to do in those situations,” she advises, “is to rough-dry your hair and/or let it air-dry, then go in with a large-barrel curling iron.”
Read on for reviews from Allure staffers and contributors across a variety of hair types and textures.
Allure Reviews
Eden Stuart, contributing writer
Hair type: Short-medium length, coily, and thick
Courtesy of subject
I have a mix of 4a–4c hair, and I went into this test drive thinking no air-dry brush is a one-stop silk press for anyone with hair like mine. (I usually have to hit it with a flatiron as a second step for it not to be frizzy with any blow-dry tool.) But this device does make a significant difference in the first step toward a sleek finish, and can even send me off with a cute little blowout.
It’s pretty intuitive. The teardrop shape is ergonomic, and Dyson gives you directions on how to position it close to your roots. I did not read those directions, but it still felt natural to use. I worked with sections that were much bigger than they should be, and was pleasantly surprised at how it still completely dried my roots—and quickly. If you have thick, textured hair like mine, you know how tedious the process can be. This is a game-changer when it comes to timely at-home drying.
Another big advantage: It never really gets too hot. I put it on the hottest temperature, and it didn’t feel like my scalp was burning with steam, which is usually the case when I’m heat styling.
I was halfway through my hair when I thought, Wow, I look like Frederick Douglass; but this really is a "trust-the-process" type of tool. After I finished my whole head, I thought, This is the smoothest my hair has maybe ever looked after just using an air-dry brush. It didn’t give me a silky, fluffy ’90s bob in one go or anything—I think that could partly be because the barrel is a bit large for my shorter hair, and again, my sections were not small—but it did give me a cute, natural blowout.
Would I spend $250 on this? You know what? Yes. I was able to do a bouncy, natural blowout in an amount of time that is comparable to how long it takes me to do a good twist-out. The idea of being able to get a good-looking blowout when I want to switch things up, or sleeping in for an extra hour before a braiding appointment (because I know I can stretch my hair out faster than usual) makes it worth it for me.
Jessica Cruel, editor-in-chief
Hair type: Type 4 and very prone to shrinkage
Courtesy of subject
This is my first time using a blow-dry brush, and I finally understand why stylists use a round brush for a voluminous blowout. Prior to this, I was always worried about my coily hair getting tangled, but unlike boar bristles this brush has smooth tines that bend with the hair.
I started my test with freshly-washed damp hair. I sprayed small sections with my Kenra Professional Thermal Styling Spray and used my FHI Heat Unbrush to make sure everything was detangled before going in with the AirSmooth. Because I’m new to a brush tool, I used smaller sections than I normally would. I first focused on stretching the hair at the ends, then I went back to the roots. I moved the brush both on top of and below the section in order to get the best tension—I was a bit of a contortionist!
Something about this blowout is fluffier and more voluminous than my normal result with the Dyson Airwrap comb attachment, and I’m not sure if I like that. Overall, the process takes the same amount of time—45 minutes to an hour. The brush is great at getting the tension you need to smooth coily hair, so much so that I was a little worried I was pulling too hard on my fine hair. However, it was hard to get the very ends smooth.
Sophia Panych, content director
Hair type: Long, fine, and wavy
Courtesy of subject
I have long, fine, wavy hair that is highlighted and prone to knots and tangles. Because of this, I've never loved hot brushes. It is almost impossible to run a hot brush from roots to tips without the bristles getting snagged along the way. Also, they are often too cumbersome for my fine hair and prevent quick styling (for me, the quicker the better). But I was shocked when I first tried the Dyson Airsmooth at the press preview. I started using it and could not believe the ease with which it combed through my damp hair. Everyone clapped (okay, maybe not a full round of applause, but there was a gasp from the other attendees).
I've since tried it in the comfort of my own home, and I'm still impressed. I can fake a sleek blowout in under 10 minutes (no matter how hard I tried, I got zero bounce), and I love that I can use the narrow edge to get right up to the roots, and add a slight bend at the end with the larger side. The one downside, though, is that because the bristles break through knots easily and painlessly, I ended up with a lot of hair left on the brush; I don't know whether that's due to shedding or the brush itself. Either way, I'm going to beg the team to let me keep the one sample we have in the office.
Jesa Marie Calaor, senior beauty editor
Hair type: Long, thick, medium-coarse, and wavy
Courtesy of subject
My long, thick, naturally wavy hair easily takes and holds whatever shape I put it in, which makes styling pretty easy for me, especially with heat. This makes me not want to reach for hot-air brushes as often as other tools because they create an in-between effect that isn’t quite what I’m after: They don’t retain my natural waves, but they also don’t give me the super-bouncy, polished look I want. (The heads are usually too big for that.) Between the snagging, singed-scalp feeling, and time spent wielding something so cumbersome, I don’t find them worth it. My primary interest in Dyson’s iteration of the tool was the promise of “faster drying” and “healthier hair.” If a hot-air brush can give me a look I’m thrilled with and quickly, then that’s money well-spent.
To test it, I sprayed my hair with water so it was slightly wet. Then, I prepped it Cécred Moisture Sealing Lotion, working a quarter-size amount throughout the lengths of my hair and sectioning it off with a scrunchie (I ultimately created three sections). Next, I set my tool to the highest setting. The teardrop shape and bristles made it easy to grab my hair close to the root and create tension to smooth and dry my hair. (It never got too hot as I held it close to my roots.) As I became more comfortable with it, I began moving faster, grabbing bigger and bigger sections, and was still able to get the same effect as opposed to the smaller sections I started with. I had to manipulate the dried sections with my hands to get my flippy ends, but I didn’t mind that at all, as that’s usually what I do with air-dry brushes.
It took less than 15 minutes to style my whole head. All in all, this was the most seamless experience with a hot-air brush I’ve ever had. My hair is smooth and has nice shine and movement. For the price, though, I don’t know if I’d invest in it. While it gave me a very pretty result, I already have an Airwrap Co-anda2x Multi-Styler and Dryer that gives me a style I'm even happier with.
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Originally published by allure.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of Vogue British.
