Dyson Airstrait review: wet-to-dry straightener delivers frizz-free shine in minutes, at a price

Since its US launch in 2023, the Dyson Airstrait has created a perfect storm in the hair and beauty industry. The brand, largely known for its innovative vacuum and home products, dipped its toes into the haircare space with the Dyson Supersonic hairdryer — and it's not backtracking any time soon.

The Dyson Airstrait isn't the first straightening product created by the brand, with the Dyson Corrale paving the way for cordless and rechargeable hair tools. And, after the success of the Dyson Airwrap, creating a fresh take on a straightener was its next logical move, and it has seemingly paid off.

Touted as a wet-to-dry straightener, the Dyson Airstrait combines precise, high-velocity air blades and temperature-controlled settings to quicken the styling process. In rave reviews online and on social media, the Dyson Airstrait has proven itself worthy of attention, but is it actually worth the price? Read on to find out.

Dyson Airstrait review: Price and availability

Debuting with a not-so-nice price of $499 / £399 / AU$749, the Airstrait costs a touch more than the Corrale but houses different forms of Dyson engineering. For starters, the Corrale uses manganese copper alloy heat plates to gather hair when straightening or curling, while the Airstrait uses directional airflow to create a naturally straight style without the use of extreme heat.

We'll go more into depth about the design of the Airstrait later, but like the Airwrap, the hair tool capitalises on airflow to create frizz-free and shiny hair. The presentation box includes the straightener and a specialised non-slip heat mat for your counter or surface to place the tool between sections.

We have seen a few discounts for the tool already, with some seriously good discounts occurring over Black Friday 2024. We saw it come down to just $336 / £266 / AU$529 over the major sales period, and we have seen it for as low as $349 / £276 / AU$549 during non-sales too.

The Dyson Airstrait comes in the standard colorway — Iron / Rich Copper — on the Dyson website and at other retailers.

Dyson Airstrait review: Specifications

Dyson Airstrait review: Design

The Dyson Airstrait was specifically designed to create a 45° angled high-pressure blade of air through the device's arms, which is forced downwards to simultaneously dry and style hair. Along the arms of the machine are two 1.5mm apertures that converge to release the air and help align strands for a shiny finish.

The most interesting feature of the Airstrait is the wet and dry styling modes, which quicken the styling process by allowing users to straighten their tresses from wet to naturally straight and dry in no time. Thanks to Dyson engineering, the styler comes with three optimized modes — wet, dry and cool — each with different temperature settings, and two airflow settings — high and low. The wet and dry settings are pre-set with specific heat and airflow combinations for best results, however, these settings are completely customizable.

In 'wet' mode, you can choose between three heat settings: low heat (80°C), medium heat (110°C), and high heat (140°C). Whereas in 'dry' mode, you can choose between medium (120°C) or high heat (140°C) or a top-up 'boost' of air. You can also use a 'cool' shot to set your style. Plus, you can seal the arms together using the auto-lock button to activate a root drying mode, making it easier to blowdry your scalp before tackling your ends.

In case you forget which mode you're currently using, the Airstrait has a handy LCD screen alongside the five temperature and airflow buttons. The screen itself is visually bright and has some fun animations depicting each mode. For 'wet' mode, the screen shows blue-centric animations and for 'dry' mode, the animations are predominantly white or red. As someone who wears glasses 24/7, these cute hints of each setting were really nice, as I could easily tell what mode was in use.

The Airstrait features intelligent heat control using Glass bead thermistors to regulate airflow temperature and prevent heat damage. However, this smart heat control is not to be confused with the heat settings found in the Supersonic Nural, which uses a time-of-flight sensor to keep the dryer at an optimal temperature when the dryer is close to the scalp.

Notably, a flaw found in the Airstrait's design comes from a rather unusual place — the PRCD power plug. This plug is bulky, taking up more room than the average plug for any hair tool, including the others in Dyson's range. The Australian AC plug on the model we reviewed measures H 71mm x L 150mm x W 41mm and 310g (without the cable), and Dyson notes this is due to the wet-to-dry function.

As per Dyson, the company amounts this to keeping users safe when using the machine, as "the PRCD plug not only tests your electrical current, it also houses other crucial electronic elements which would otherwise have to sit in the machine itself".

You do need to "test" the outlet via the plug every time you use the device by clicking and resetting the plug before each use — which is simple enough but even easier to forget. All you need to do is click on the test button, clearly labelled on the plug, followed by the reset button, which is a larger button situated just underneath. It was fiddly at first to reset the device, but it became second nature after plugging in the machine.

The plug could prove to be an issue if you try to connect it to a low-lying outlet with little space beneath it. This may not be too much of an issue for all, it could impact some users and the overall portability of the device.

The Dyson Airstrait comes in standard colorways — Iron / Rich Copper and Prussian Blue / Rich Copper — like the Dyson Corrale. We have seen several exclusive colorways, though — Jasper Plum, Ceramic Pink, Strawberry Bronze / Blush Pink and, the Valentine's Day colorway we tested, Red Velvet / Gold (which has been rightfully dubbed "Iron Man" in my house).

Dyson Airstrait review: Performance

Image 1 of 4

Before diving into the performance of the straightener, it’s worth mentioning that the Airstrait was tested on thick, wavy short-length hair (with some minimal damage from ancient hair dye on the ends).

When you first turn on the Airstrait after testing your outlet — again, somewhat painful to do each time but nice to know Dyson cares about not electrocuting you or your hair — the device will automatically release air to clean the arms. This only takes a few seconds — a maximum of three at best — before the device is ready to be switched to your preferred setting.

This is where the animations come in handy, with the device illuminating the last used settings on the LCD screen. After trying out different air and heat settings, I found my preferred wet mode settings to be high airflow and medium temperature (110°C) for everyday use. If I were in a rush, I'd bump it up to the highest temperature (140°C). As for dry mode, my preferred settings were medium temp (120°C) and low airflow, as I didn't feel as if my hair needed the extra heat when dry.

Handily, the Airstrait converts into a hairdryer for your roots when holding the arms together. The dryer is super speedy and works very much like the Supersonic, but less intense. When comparing the two, the Airstrait is much louder than the Supersonic when drying, but both are still relatively quiet hair dryers. Dyson recommends drying your roots first before drying the mid-lengths, and I consistently stuck to this routine throughout testing. I did try to straighten my ends once but quickly reverted to the Dyson-approved method as it worked best for me.

For transparency's sake, I preferred to use the straightener in wet mode as it sped up the drying process. For my short-length hair, it took on average 18.34 minutes to go from completely wet to naturally straight and dry — this was about half the time my usual hairdryer would take. I use the word "naturally" deliberately here, as I found my hair didn't always quite achieve a poker-straight finish.

Dyson does flag this wording throughout the product manual and advertising too, especially after some online backlash from an ad that showed a user with 4c hair using the device and achieving very little results. Dyson has suggested that the device was designed to "lengthen" hair in this instance, so do keep that in mind if you have curly or coily hair.

Throughout testing, I did find the styler to leave some lasting results on my wavy hair, typically staying in a naturally straight blowout and frizz-free state for a few days afterwards. Day one was my best hair day, with salon-like blowouts almost always achieved, but the results didn't falter until the day three oils took over. I found it best to section my hair in smaller chunks to pass through, as the device didn't take well to thicker sections.

Dry mode was another factor in itself, and I didn't find myself reaching for it as often. I did use dry mode a few times to freshen up my day two or three hair, and it provided very similar results to post-wash styling. However, I didn't enjoy using dry mode as much as I thought I would, as I found the heat a bit too much for my hair.

The Airstrait delivered on the pin-straight memo in dry mode, but it was difficult to add volume or touch up my roots, as the device itself is much bigger than the average straightener. It was also difficult to style smaller pieces or sections of hair around my face, and I kept needing to pass through sections over and over to get the final dry result. That can also be said for wet mode, however, I didn't need to pass through the same sections as much as the wet-to-dry function worked stupendously well.

After much trial and error, I found a workaround for the volume issue, by using the styler like a blow-dry brush and angling hair upwards. It was tricky at first, but this was the only way I could provide the much-needed volume that my bangs required.

Dyson Airstrait review: Verdict

Well, it's no surprise that the Dyson Airstrait delivers on being an excellent hair tool. It houses great Dyson-engineered tech and frankly, it's the only tool of its kind on the market right now that specializes in wet-to-dry styling functionality.

Putting the performance to the side, however, the Dyson Airstrait isn't the most versatile straightener and would be best placed with a user who wants to speed up their hair straightening process. It delivers on a naturally straight finish though, and depending on your hair type, it may only provide minimal hair "lengthening" rather than poker-straight ends.

If you're looking to invest in a long-lasting hair-straightening device and have the cash for it, then the Dyson Airstrait is worth considering.