Let me put this out there, nobody wakes up with beautifully tamed, wavy hair that looks glossy and just perfect. Long hair or not, if you want your hair to look well-kept, you will have to work towards it. I have long, luscious hair (I do, deal with it), but is it ever camera-ready? N(ever)ope!
I reach office at 7 am, I am lazy AF, and so I almost never style my hair. But whenever I have to shoot a video, which is very often, I get my hair fixed at the office studio, where they use flat irons and tongs to quick-style my hair, and each day of this intense styling pushes my hair towards its journey of turning into grass.
On the rare occasion that I do get my curling iron out, it’s usually on a Friday night, when I have at least an hour to spare (because that’s a minimum time needed to properly curl the length of hair I have). Again, the styling does make my hair (and me) look like a knockout, but that steam evaporating with each section of hair I curl breaks my heart a little every time. And I can’t even begin to explain the damage it does to the fingers (BURNS!), forehead (BURNS! BURNS!) and my hair (MORE BURNS!).
The Dyson Airwrap. Image: Tech2/Nandini Yadav
But, how and why did this review turn into a sob story about my hair? Well, hair styling, as fun as it is, is always a low-key sob story. You may not admit it yet, but we all have a toxic relationship with our hair-styling irons — on the inside, we know the damage it’s causing us, but we keep hoping that the bad stuff doesn’t happen that day.
How is Airwrap any different?
A few weeks ago, Dyson reached out to me for a review of the Airwrap. I hadn’t ever reviewed a hair styling gadget before, but when the Airwrap was demonstrated to me, their pitch just immediately hit the spot. They promised:
- that it does no damage to the hair (because instead of a hot rod, it uses hot air on your hair)
- NO BURNS on the skin!
- that your hair won’t look like fried noodles.
- takes it less than half the time an iron does.
If you are thinking I am messing with you, it’s fine, because I thought so too. I especially didn’t believe the no damage bit. Until I studied that a regular tong heats up to about 250 degrees, which causes your hair to look a little stiff, but with the Airwrap, even at the maximum setting, the temperature does not go beyond 150 degrees. So there is almost a difference of 100 degrees. So that’s one way it reduces the damage done to your hair.
Even while using it, you can comfortably touch the Airwrap, without fear of getting burnt on your hands, neck or forehead. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav
The other is the mechanism of Coanda (more like Wakanda) effect in the Airwrap, which helps the device style your hair to keep it natural and do that magical little trick of automatically wrapping your hair around it.
The Dyson Airwrap uses the Coanda effect.
But what is the Coanda effect? We actually see the Coanda effect around us quite often. It’s the reason we need to be extra careful when we are pouring a mug of coffee into another mug. It’s also why you can blow out a candle by keeping it behind a curved bottle. Now whether it is the cold breeze outdoors or air from a hairdryer, air will bend around the shape of a curved surface and then moves in a completely different direction after that.
In the case of the Airwrap, that’s exactly what happens, the air gets deflected, bent, and instead of sending your hair flying all over the place, it using this mechanism to attract and wrap your hair (hence, Airwrap) around the curler.
Now, if you see my point, here’s what it can do
The Dyson Airwrap comes in three choices of sets. There is a volume and shape set, which costs Rs 34,900, and is meant for anybody with limp and flat hair. It comes with two curling barrels, a volumiser for the hair on your crown and for shaping the ends, a soft bristle brush that adds volume to your hair, and a pre-styling hair dryer.
A soft bristle brush attached to the gun of the device. Image” tech2/Nandini Yadav
Then there is a smooth and control set for hair like mine, which is also thick, unruly and prone to getting frizzy. This comes with a hard bristle brush that will quickly get your hair under control and get rid of the frizziness. It will also have two 30 mm curling barrels for in and out curls, and two 40 mm barrels for the same. This set also includes a pre-styling hair dryer and costs the same at Rs 34,900.
The complete Airwarap kit. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav
And then there is the complete set (which I reviewed), with all these attachments, which comprises a pre-styling hair dryer, hair bristle brush, a soft bristle brush, two sets of curling barrels, and a volumiser. This costs Rs 40,900.
The Airwrap comes with two 30mm and two 40mm curling barrels. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav
Basically, depending on your requirement and the attachments you buy, you can use the Airwrap to curl, straighten, and volumise your hair. During the review period, except for the volumiser, I was using all other attachments. My go-to attachments were the hard bristle brush to flatten the hair on top, and curling barrels to add the pretty in them. All of this took me a grand total of 20 min, which by the way, is record hair styling time for me.
How long does its styling last? How easy is it to use? Should you really buy it?
I was also using the Airwrap every day for over four weeks, and I see no evident damage to my hair. I wasn’t using any hair products, and the curls would last at least 4-5 hours in my hair, whereas the hair straightening would last until I washed my hair.
A before and after picture of styling my hair with the 30mm curling barrel. Image: tech2
I would though like to point out that while the Airwrap is pretty convenient and easy to use, there is a bit of a learning curve and it’ll take you a bit of time to adapt to this new style of curling your hair. But don’t worry, it won’t take more than a couple of sessions to figure it out.
So, enters the big question: Is it worth the big bucks? Well, to be honest, Airwrap is not aimed at college-going boys and girls who are living away from home, paying rent, and can barely manage their daily meals. The Airwrap is meant for people who have big bucks to shell out (in one go or in installments). It’s for people who have to style their hair on a daily basis and aren’t ready to trade their hair for hay yet. Me? I’ll just shut up and give Dyson my money.
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