Me and hair tools are not natural friends – I’m pretty useless at anything to do with my hair but I do love my Dyson hair dryer and it’s been a stalwart for the past five years without a hint of trouble. If it broke, I’d the same one immediately. I’ve seen so much hype about the Dyson Airwrap™ so when Very.co.uk sent me the ultimate set to trial I felt a bit the same as I would in the face of a complicated Lego set! There are lots of parts because it’s a comprehensive set. You get the Dyson Airwrap™ Complete Long Hair Multi-Styler which is the body onto which all the other ‘limbs’ are attached. Those include the 40mm Airwrap Airwrap™ Barrel, the 30mm Airwrap Airwrap™ Barrel, a Firm Smoothing Brush, a Soft Smoothing Brush, the Coanda smoothing dryer, the round volumizing brush, a filter cleaning brush and of course, the hard case to keep it all in.
To start with, I’ll be honest, it isn’t easy at the beginning. The pictures chart my progress and the best one to date is the main picture! I was SO happy! I spent quite some time watching videos of how everything worked (Dyson has their own but I preferred to watch You Tubers and bloggers) and even then, had to refer back many times just to make sure I was getting it right. But, let me tell you, once you get the knack of the Airwrap™ it’s a huge achievement – I was smiling away when finally, my hair started to wrap around the barrel with the air moving through and when I pulled it away, little waves appeared. I made the mistake of trying it on dry hair to start with and the waves were harder to hold and fell out quite quickly, but after I damped it down, put a styling product in, everything held better. It’s better to use it when your hair is slightly damp – the brand suggests 90% dry but I’d suggest more like 70-80% – obviously, you can use the styler to start the drying process.
There’s no way I want those massive, voluminous waves or curls because it’s not my style at all so I kept mine gentle and really liked them. I think the thing to focus on initially is getting to grips with the tools before you attempt a ‘style’ as such – the wrapping doesn’t come straightaway – you’ll need to have a few goes but when it clicks, it’s a great sense of accomplishment!
This is an expensive tool so it comes with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos so that you can get the most from it. The easiest to get to grips with is the volumizing brush – that’s perfect for getting my fringe right very quickly. Most mornings I have to sort it out as I wake up like Medusa and I’ll literally use that part every day. The smoothing brushes are excellent – just pull through your hair and you get a smooth and volumized finish. I prefer the firm so I can get some movement at the ends of my hair but I’d be just as happy using the soft I think. If I have one comment, it’s that I don’t truly think the set needs both.
Now, onto the Coanda attachment. This is supposed to smooth out your hair and reduce fly-aways – it’s probably the most tricky attachment to use as you need to play about with the settings and it has two stages. I think the effectiveness of this entirely depends upon your hair type – if you have very thick hair, you won’t get quite the thorough smoothing result you would if you have thinner hair. You’d need to do many sections to get the very most of this and you might well feel that running some straighteners through would be easier. Sectioning is something you need to get to grips with so do ensure you have some reliable hair clips ready. The smaller the chunks of hair you style the better the result and that would be the same for all the tool.
I definitely have the impression that if you love styling your hair, you will find absolutely nothing like this in terms of versatility and comprehensiveness. For someone like me, who is clumsy with hair tools, it will take a little longer to get to grips with but the point is, I managed and will get better with practice. Watch all the YouTubes you can find on it and don’t take too much notice of the ones where the hair is perfect immediately – that’s next level ability at play. I think maybe I can take you the riding a bike analogy – wobbly at first, but quite soon, heading downhill with no hands! I’m actually pretty pleased with what I’ve been able to achieve – I think the finished result looks bouncy and ‘done’. The more I’ve practiced the better I’ve got – the pictures show my (many) attempts and this morning (kitchen shot) I just dampened my hair, took the Multi-Styler and the 30mm Barrel and here we are! I feel like I should have a certificate or something to mark the occasion 😊. You can find the Dyson Airwrap™ Complete Long Hair Multi-Styler at Very.co.uk HERE for £479 – I know, I said it was a lot, but it does everything. I did a quick calculation for buying different tools and gadgets to do all the things the Airwrap™ does and on that basis, it feels more appropriate. If it doesn’t feel like the right thing for you, Very.co.uk have loads of stylers to choose from – right from the basic to the degree level (aka the Dyson Airwrap™ Complete Long Hair Multi-Styler) and I’ve noticed there are some bargains to be had. The styling tool page is HERE.
Leave a Reply