Since hitting the shelves in 2018, Dyson’s Airwrap has won both awards and hearts for its airflow tech, called the Coanda effect, which creates a flow of air to curl and defrizz hair without the damaging effects of extreme heat.
Now, the brand has dropped a new version, the Airwrap Multi-Styler, that’s outfitted with a slew of new attachment options alongside enhanced Coanda technology and controlled heat. According to Dyson, it also now caters to more hair types and styles.
And for current owners of the original Airwrap, the good news is that the latest attachments are compatible with the first version. Think it sounds all too complicated? You can book a complimentary appointment with a Dyson Stylist to glean tips and advice on using the gadget to create your favourite styles at one of its demo stores.
Retailing at $849, it comes at a heftier price tag than the original. But Dyson promises a radical redesign and a more personalised experience. Here’s a look.
The Coanda Smoothing Dryer is a nifty attachment that can be used both before and after styling. Turn it onto the pre-style mode to get your hair from wet to damp. And once you’ve nailed your perfect style (with the other attachments) you can switch it to the smoothing mode to tame any flyaways.
How it works: The Coanda airflow tech attracts and lifts longer strands while pushing shorter flyaways back so you’ll get a smoother and healthier-looking mane. You’ll also want to use the Cold Shot button (the cool setting) to set the style.
It’s one of the most user-friendly attachments of the lot, and requires no more than tapping it against your scalp to align it and run it down the hair’s surface. I used it on my bleached (read: dry and damaged) and layered locks, and the flyaways became visibly more tamed. My hair felt smoother to the touch too.
Instead of two separate barrels for clockwise and anti-clockwise curls, Dyson has streamlined the process and created a single bi-directional barrel that can do both. No need for switching barrels in the midst of styling — there’s also an arrow on the barrel that points you in the right direction. A cool-touch tip located at the top enables you to switch the attachments quickly.
Thanks to the Coanda airflow tech, there’s no need to manually wrap your hair around the barrel, making it rather easy even for novices (that’s me) to create voluminous and immaculate curls that you can loosen to create luscious waves in a relatively short time. A tip we got from Cara Wong, Dyson’s regional training specialist: For better control and to curl hair more evenly, do it with smaller sections of hair.
Available in 30mm, 40mm, 30mm long, 40mm-long, and 20mm-long barrels for a range of styles.
This comes in various brush types to cater to different types of hair, including a soft brush for those with finer hair strands and sensitive scalps, as well as a firm brush for those with thicker and coarser hair. The enhanced Coanda airflow attracts and aligns hair with increased control to help achieve a straighter and smoother style.
While it didn’t give me an ultra-sleek pin-straight hairstyle that salon ads flaunt (there’s always the Corrale hair straightener for that), I was impressed that it did a decent job of straightening the natural and stubborn kinks in my mane in just a few quick strokes. The use of the abovementioned Smoothing Dryer afterwards also helped keep flyaways in check, and maintained throughout the rest of my dinner date.
For those with finer or straighter locks and who want to create volume and shape, there are round volumising brushes (second and third from left). These can be used to lift the crown or create S and C curls. However, this doesn’t come equipped with the Coander tech, and requires a slightly more practised hand to manoeuvre it properly.
In Singapore’s hot and humid climate, how can you maximise the longevity of your curls or desired style? Cara says to remember these three golden rules:
1. Style with damp hair. A rough guide would be to start with hair that’s 80 per cent dry and 20 per cent damp.
2. Use the cool setting (Cold Shot button) to set the style and shape.
3. Use a setting spray to hold your style in place.
The Dyson Airwrap Multistyler is priced at $849 and available in two colours. Visit Dyson’s website for more information.
This article was first published in The Singapore Women’s Weekly.