I love doing my hair, no wait I hate doing my hair. I love having my hair done and having beautiful bouncy curls. It really makes me feel amazing and put together. However, years of colouring my hair and using heat on it has left it dry, brittle and a bit of a mess. I have had a full heads of bleach chopped inches of dead frazzled ends off and repeat. It's a mercilful war all in the name of trying to get perfectly tussled effortless locks, which more often than not, I lose. When Dyson unveiled their new hair tool last year, I was mesmerised. I'm sure you've seen the ads, but incase you haven't, you need to see this! They use a special air flow called the Coanda effect to curl hair effortlessly using a special hairdryer attachment kind of wand, it's witchcraft! I immediately wanted, neigh NEEDED one.
I did lots of research on YouTube, with mixed reviews I wasn't sure if it'd suit my thick, damaged, over processed hair. My hair struggles with anything and the only way to make it look remotely tame is to add more heat using my GHD iron. With scorching temperatures of 230°, leaving me with lifeless, dull and crispy hair. Dyson have done lots of research into heat styling hair, and what causes damage. On their website they state 'temperatures above 150° can cause extreme heat damage. Above 230°, hair melts. The Dyson Airwrap™ styler's thermistor measures airflow temperature over 40 times every second. It transmits data to the machine's microprocessor which intelligently controls the heating element, keeping the temperature under 150°C to prevent extreme heat damage.'. All in all a pretty clever piece of kit, but all for a pretty penny to boot. At £399.99 you'll be able to pick up the smooth & control or the volume and shape kits, if you wanted the complete set you're looking at £449.99.
What most people don't realise as well as the magical curling wands, each kit also comes with a straitening brush, I know this is nothing revolutionary in the hair world, but my only run in with one of these devices was with a hot round brush. I spent a good hour trying to work out how to use it in my hair and twice as long freeing my loose hair from it. Needless to say it didn't work and I didn't go on to purchase one. I was excited to see how this would fair on my hair, could I finally lay my GHDs to rest and win the war on hair damage?
Upon opening the very stylish brown leather box, I had a handful of attachments to decipher, the straightening brush (which one you get depends on the kit you opt for, I got the firm brush), two sets of curling attachments, 30mm and 40mm (you get two of each with different directional arrows on them depending on which direction you like your curls, most commonly away from your face, so you'd use one for one side and the opposite for the other) and the pre-styling dryer.
The Dyson Airwrap™ has been designed to be used on wet hair, though the curling barrels are supposed to be used on damp hair, you can use the pre styler dryer to dry the hair down for this. I have been keeping my hair wrapped in a towel while I do my makeup and have found it has been fine! My first impressions using the curling barrels honestly I was totally blown away how easy it was! As a general rule, I don't use product on my hair, even when I visit my hairdresser. I like to wash it as little as possible (usually 2/3 times a week depending on how often I work out). My curls however where not as smooth as I might like. I used two different sized barrels and started to rush through but it was fun nonetheless! The Next day I washed my hair again as I was eager to try the straightening brush. My hair looked incredibly shiny (a rarity for me) and almost glittery, but definitely had some frizz, I sent a picture to my hair dresser and she told me that was the damage in my hair not frizz, bitter sweet. This was definitely going to take some practice and potentially some products...
I took myself to my local salon supply, fortunately being a professional I have a trade card so have access to a wide array of professional products. After much deliberation and advice from the sales assistants, I bought some Morocan oil smoothing cream, some Cantu Shea Butter and a new sulphate free shampoo and matching conditioner for damaged hair. I couldn't wait to give my new regime a try.
After washing and conditioning my hair, I used my usual Moroccaon oil, sectioned my hair and rubbed in equal parts of the Morrocan oil styling cream and Cantu Shea Butter cream and began to go over it with the straightening brush. Then end result, smooth, glossy, volumised hair! Could I get it sleeker with an iron? Yes, but it wouldn't be soft and shiny and would frazzle it at the same time.
I sat down and gave the curling barrels another shot, this time sectioning my hair properly and taking my time. I was so impressed with how bouncy my hair was as I'm used to using GHD's to curly my hair leaving it flat, limp and dry. It looked better than any blow-dry I'd ever had. The curls lasted three days and looked amazing. It's super easy to use (once you get the hang of it) as the barrels have different air flows you don't have to hold the Airwrap™ upside down to get different directions, fortunate as once the attachments are on it's quite a long tool and could prove difficult to use. Overall, I adore my new Dyson Airwrap™ and would highly recommend it if you have thick, curly, damaged hair and style it often enough to justify the price tag.