We Put the Dyson Airwrap Curler to the Test on Long, Limp Hair

Dyson’s Airwrap needs little introduction. The device promises no heat damage to your hair, and comes with a number of attachments to curl, wave, straighten and remove flyaways on short, medium and long hair. But it also comes with an $899 price tag.

As someone with long hair that absolutely refuses to hold curls, even with a litre of hairspray, I had to see how the Dyson Airwrap, and its almost $1,000 investment, holds up.

Dyson Airwrap

The Dyson Airwrap was the company’s first foray into hair care. On the surface, it appeared like a strange departure from vacuum cleaners to hair styling, but the messaging across all its products (including its purifier range) is airflow. Now it kind of makes sense.

For your $899, you’ll get the Airwrap wand, but you can mix and match the attachments based on what you’ll use it for. This can be curling, waving, straightening, reducing flyaways – whatever.

While the Dyson Airwrap isn’t new, what’s new is the ability to test it out before you buy.

The Dyson Demo Store

In March, Dyson opened a Demo Store in Sydney. Australia’s first-ever Dyson Demo Store can really only be described as an immersive demo space – you can play with the company’s cordless vac tech on actual mess; test its purifiers, as well as have your hair analysed under a damn microscope as part of (wait for it) Dyson Hair Science.

So, the other day, that’s where I went. And I went with one question in mind: Can the Dyson Airwrap curl my very long hair? What I got was more than I expected. But I also got the answer to my question, don’t worry.

How to use the Dyson Airwrap

It looks intimidating, but it’s actually really easy. At the Demo Store, Dyson hair specialists will show you how to use the Airwrap, but then let you play around yourself.

It works best on wet hair, and they do offer a washing service, but I went with hair that had been naturally dried (except for my fringe) about 15 hours prior. This meant the Dyson hair stylist had to wet my hair with a spray bottle, as the Airwrap works best on wet hair.

Firstly, you run over your hair with the dryer attachment. Then you can start curling (if that’s what you want to use it for). After curling, you can move onto the flyaway tool, which yielded wildly good results on my hair.

Does the Airwrap curl long hair?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes and no.

A few things that need highlighting are: I don’t have layers, so the curls don’t look as good as they would on shorter hair or hair with layers. I also went over the curls one (1) time, not two, which you probably should. My hair was not wet – it was sprayed with water. There was absolutely no product in my hair. It was very humid out. And a final reminder, 91 cms is a lot of weight.

The Dyson Airwrap curled my hair, and it wasn’t until hour five that the curls were looking more like waves.

Does the Dyson Airwrap damage hair?

Dyson reckons no. As we mentioned above, in the Demo Store, Dyson also provides a Hair Science service, which is essentially an analysis of the damage in your hair. They take a sample from close to the scalp, one about halfway and another at the end. They pop it under a microscope and analyse the strands.

As you can see, the hair closest to my scalp has no damage (top), the hair in the middle is a little less good, and the ends? Well, they’re suffering years of black box dye, straighteners and hair dryers that are just too hot and, of course, yanking at the ends with a brush.

The underlying message Dyson gives here is that the Airwrap uses air, rather than extreme heat, to dry and style your hair, thus reducing the damage to the follicle. In theory, using the Dyson Airwrap on hair that’s in as good condition as the first sample will save your hair from looking like the bottom sample, even when it gets long.

Is the Dyson Airwrap worth it?

I must admit I was sceptical. Although my curls dropped within a few hours, the Airwrap managed to curl it to begin with. If I washed my hair immediately before using the tool, and ran it through the curler tool a second time, added product, had layers, etc, I’d have had a drastically different experience. While the intention of this adventure was to see if the Dyson Airwrap could curl my long hair, I walked away very impressed with the way it dries the hair and tames flyaways, all without burning my scalp like a hair dryer does, or scorching the strands as a straightener does.

Is the Dyson Airwrap worth it? I have to say yes. And if you use it twice a week, the $899 becomes a lot less intimidating.

Where to buy the Dyson Airwrap

Dyson $899 | Sephora $899 | Myer $899