Dyson has added another haircare device to its excellent portfolio in the form of the Airstrait, joining the fabulous Airwrap, Corrale cordless straightener and the Supersonic hairdryer.

You might be able to guess what the Airstrait is from its name, but if not, here is everything you need to know about the new addition to the company's haircare range, including what Airstrait is, where it is available, how it works and what it's like.

Dyson Airstrait - 3
Dyson Airstrait

The Dyson Airstrait is the latest haircare product from the company, designed to straighten your hair from wet to dry with air rather than hot plates. There are some great features on board and some excellent technology.

What is Dyson Airstrait?

The Dyson Airstrait could be described as a hairdryer and straightener in one, but that maybe wouldn't do it the justice it deserves. It does give you an idea of what the device has been designed to do though - straighten your hair from wet to dry with air rather than hot plates. Dyson first launched into haircare in 2016 with its hairdryer and right from the start, it has paid particular attention to the damage heat can cause to hair and attempted to minimise this using various sensors and engineering to control and reduce heat.

The Airstrait follows the same principles, with Dyson claiming it can straighten your hair from wet to dry without any heat damage. The device - which will compete with GHD's recently launched Duet Style - has been engineered for a variety of hair types and it aims to "achieve a natural straight style, with body and movement, whilst maintaining the strength".

Dyson Airstrait - 1
Dyson

How does the Dyson Airstrait work?

Rather than hot air from a hairdryer and then extreme heat from ceramic plates, the Airstrait contains the hair tress between two arms, each of which have a 1.5mm aperture along them to create a 45-degree angled blade of high-velocity air. These blades come together in order to form one jet of air that creates the downward force into the hair to dry it and straighten it at the same time.

In order to change the style of your hair - and hold it, the hydrogen bonds within each strand have to be broken and reset. You can do it with heat or moisture, but when the hair is wet, the bonds are naturally weakened, offering a good opportunity to restyle. The bonds are reset when dry and straight, thus holding that style. It's the same reason the Airwrap has a cold burst button, as if you change a style using heat to break the bonds, the bonds have to be cold in order to set.

Dyson Airstrait - 2
Dyson

Dyson Airstrait features

The Dyson Airstrait is powered by the company's Hyperdymium motor, which is the same motor you will find in the Airwrap and Dyson Supersonic hair dryer and it sits within the handle. Getting geeky for a second, the motor features a 13-blade impeller that spins at up to 106,000rpm in order to propel over 11.9-litres of air through the Airstrait per second. This generates up to 3.5kPa of air pressure, which is said to be enough to straighten hair as it dries - and it does, we've tried it.

Like the Supersonic hairdryer, Airwrap and Corrale hair straightener, the Airstrait has intelligent heat control. This sees glass bead thermistors measuring the temperature of the airflow 30 times per second from eight separate points to send the information to the microprocessor, which then regulates the heating element and stops the temperature exceeding a set quota. It means the base of your neck won't get too hot either.

Dyson Airstrait - 7
Dyson

There are two styling modes on board the Airstrait: Wet and Dry. There's also a Cool mode to set the style. In Wet mode, you'll find three heat settings of 80-degrees celsius (175-degrees fahrenheit), 110-degrees celsius (230-degrees fahrenheit), and 140-degrees celsius (285-degrees fahrenheit). Dry mode has two heat settings of 120-degrees celsius (250-degrees fahrenheit) or 140-degrees celsius (285-degrees fahrenheit). There's also a Boost function in the Dry mode for a top up. There are also two speed settings, consisting of low and high flow, and there's a cold shot and root drying mode too, so plenty of options.

Elsewhere, there is a pause feature built into the Airstrait so when you are parting your hair to get a new section for example, and you place the Airstrait down while you do it, it will pause and then restart when you pick it back up. It also delivers different air flow depending on whether you have it open or closed. When open, there's a low air flow, whilst when you clap the arms together, you'll get the high flow. Last but not least on the feature front, the Airstrait will clean itself before you start to get rid of any residue from hair serums or oils you may have used, though you can also remove the edges easily if you want to do a wipe yourself.

Dyson Airstrait - 5
Dyson

What's the Dyson Airstrait like?

I had a demo of the Dyson Airstrait at the London office and although I still need to see how it performs when my hair is completely wet, I was very impressed with what I have experienced so far. I've got pretty long hair, that's very thick, and wirey too so while it holds a style well once one is in place, it takes a long time to get a style into it in the first place.

I have long maintained that the Dyson Airwrap is one of the best products I have tested - it has always done wonders on my hair, and I am pretty obsessed with the Flyaway attachment for the Supersonic hairdryer too. The Airstrait really surprised me though.

I won't lie, I was sceptical of its ability to create the same smoothness and sleekness you get with straightening your hair, or having it professionally blow dried. The Airstrait managed it though.

Dyson Airstrait - 6
Dyson

The stylist had to use the higher speed setting on my hair, and they had to go over each section it a few times - as you would with a straightening iron, but the result was the same airy feeling I get after my hair has been blow-dried. When I straighten it with straightening irons, it still carries a lot of weight. It's heavy and dense. After the Airstrait though, it had volume but it was lightweight. Similar to the feeling you get when you've just had a haircut and the hairdresser has removed some of the weight by thinning down the hair, for example.

I will need to try the Airstrait out properly to see how long it takes to do my entire head of hair, as well as whether I can get the same effect the stylist did and what it's like to use, in terms of how heavy it is and what heat setting is right for me, but so far, it's certainly grasped my attention.

Where is the Dyson Airstrait available?

The Dyson Airstrait launched in the US, Canada and Mexico on 11 May 2023. It will be coming to the UK and other countries in the future, though dates have yet to be finalised.

The reason the Dyson Airstrait won't launch in the UK at the same time as the US is because Dyson discovered an element within the Airstrait didn't perform as well as the company believed it should on the UK voltage compared to how it performed on the US voltage and so it is being re-engineered slightly for the UK to deliver the expected performance.

As soon as a UK launch date is announced, this feature will be updated.

How much does the Dyson Airstrait cost?

The Dyson Airstrait costs $499 in the US. It comes in a Prussian Blue and Copper colourway.