Could you really ditch your hair dryer, curling iron, straightener and round brush and replace them all with a single appliance?
That’s what the new Swiss Army Knife-style hair styling tools promise, with up to six attachments for every imaginable look without cluttering up your closet.
The latest contender comes from Shark, whose £300 Air Styler is clearly a challenger to the expensive Dyson Airwrap (£500). The Airwrap changed the styling game when it was launched in October 2018 and has been relaunched this year.
These state-of-the-art tools work by using hot air to set your style, rather than the overheated metal of old-school curlers and straighteners. They promise to save you time and be gentler on your hair.
There are also cheaper versions – but which one is really worth your money?
Claire Coleman (pictured) asks if you could swap out all your hair gadgets for one. A UK-based journalist reviews the latest super hair dryers, like the UKLiss 6 in 1
EXPENSIVE BUT POWERFUL
Shark FlexStyle Air Styler & Hair Dryer (£299.99, sharkclean.co.uk)
Weight: 550g
Cable Length: 2.5m
Number of attachments: Five – a styling concentrator (more like a regular hair dryer nozzle), a diffuser, an oval brush, a paddle brush and two curlers (you use one to curl your hair towards your face, the other for away) .
Maximum power: 1400W, three speed settings, three heat settings, maximum temperature 95 ° C and a cool shot.
We say: the Dyson’s big selling point when it was launched was what’s known as the Coanda effect: the way air (and consequently hair caught in a jet of air) flowing across a surface changes curves and follows the curvature of the surface.
Shark FlexStyle Air Styler & Hair Dryer (£299.99, sharkclean.co.uk). This device uses the same technology in its curling barrels and I like their length, which allows you to curl more hair at once than other stylers.
This device uses the same technology in its curling barrels and I like their length, which allows you to curl more hair at once than other stylers. But it’s annoying having to swap them out depending on which direction you want your hair to curl (on the Dyson, you just flip a switch).
The curls are softer and less defined than with a curling iron – more like a classic, bouncy blow dry.
Other pluses include a head that pivots 90 degrees from a wand to a classic hair dryer shape; and the extra wattage seems to make drying quicker.
Verdict: The storage box is neat, and the diffuser with retractable prongs is a nice touch for both curly and textured hair. However, it comes with a hefty price tag. 3/5
TOP, TOP PRICE
Dyson Airwrap Complete (£499.99, dyson.com)
Weight: 454g
Cable Length: 2.5m
Number of attachments: Six – a blow dryer head that doubles as a flat iron, a 30mm curling iron, a 40mm curling iron, a firm brush, a soft brush and a round volume brush. Other essays, such as A wide tooth comb (£30) for curly or curly hair are also available.
Maximum power: 1300 W, three speeds, three heat settings with a maximum temperature of 150 ° C and a cool shot.
We say: Subtle improvements in this redesign include brushes that use the Coanda airflow effect to grab hair and an attachment to smooth flyaways.
Verdict: Pricey, but you get what you pay for. This is a clear improvement over the original. Of all the airstylers we tried, this one had the strongest Coanda effect, meaning curls last longer. 4.5/5
FALLS FLAT
UKLiss 6 in 1 (£99.99, amazon.co.uk)
Weight: 316g
Cable length: 2m
UKLiss 6 in 1 (£99.99, amazon.co.uk). Not worth your money – especially if you buy an air styler because you want to use low temperatures on your hair to avoid damage: the curling irons get hot very quickly
Number of attachments: Six – two curlers (although they essentially do the same thing), a drying nozzle, a round barrel with soft bristles, an oval brush and a flat brush.
Maximum power: 1000 W, three heat settings.
We say: if you haven’t tried a Dyson or Shark you might be fooled by this look-alike, but there’s no cool dash to help set your style, the attachments don’t snap on convincingly and the drying nozzle is very average hotel dryer.
Conclusion: not worth your money – especially if you buy an air styler because you want to use low temperatures on your hair to avoid damage: the curling irons get hot very quickly. 1/5
FAIR ALL-ROUNDER
Babyliss Air Style 1000 (£70, babyliss.com)
Weight: 352g
Cable Length: 2.3m
Number of attachments: Four – drying nozzle, 50mm shaft with soft bristles, fixed paddle brush, conical curling iron.
Maximum power: 1000 W, two heat settings and a cool shot.
We say: this seems like the sort of thing you’d toss in your suitcase if you wanted an all-around gadget while you were away. The placement of the cool shot button is very unintuitive – you go from zero to cool shot to low heat to high heat on the slider when you’d normally just use the cool shot after the heat settings, but other than that it’s all fine. The round and tapered barrels are both useable but not fantastic.
Verdict: Trying to be a jack of all trades ends up with no master. It dries, curls, and straightens, but there are better tools for all these tasks. 3/5
RISKY ROTATION
Remington Curl & Straight Confidence Air Styler (£64.99, uk.remingtoneurope.com)
Remington Curl & Straight Confidence Air Styler (£64.99, uk.remingtoneurope.com). A decent case and attachments that snap in and out well are the pluses, but lack of power will take a while to dry
Weight: 314g
Cable Length: 2.5m
Number of attachments: Four – a drying nozzle, a fixed paddle brush, a rotating 30mm clip-on air nipper and a rotating 40mm soft-bristled barrel.
Maximum power: 800 W, two heat settings and a cool shot.
We say a decent case and attachments that snap in and out are pluses, but the lack of power will take a bit of drying. The rotating clip tongs seems like a recipe for disaster – it causes the same hair damage as regular tongs, but with the added problem of flyaways and the potential for tangling.
Bottom line: Remington sells some good hair styling tools, but unfortunately this isn’t one of them. 2.5/5
LOOKS GOOD BUT…
Envie 5-in-1 Hair Styling Brush (£79.99, lloydspharmacy.com)
Weight: 338g
Cable length: 2m
Number of attachments: Five – Dryer Head, 25mm Drum Brush, 32mm Drum Brush, Oval Brush, Paddle Brush.
Maximum power: 900W, three heat settings, two speed settings.
We say: the gray and shocking pink color scheme is reminiscent of the Dyson, as is the drying nozzle, but the similarities stop there. The nozzle doesn’t give off a good directional flow so you end up with a lot of flypasts and the controls can’t be operated with one hand. Getting any kind of curls is also difficult. On the plus side, the paddle and oval brushes have nice big heads.
Verdict: Doesn’t appear to have been designed by anyone who actually had to use it. 2/5
BEST BARGAIN BUY
Revamp Progloss™ Airstyle 5-in-1 Multi-Styler (£59.99, boots.com)
Revamp Progloss™ Airstyle 5-in-1 Multistyler (£59.99, boots.com). The paddle brush is a good size – helpful if you have a lot of hair that you want to dry smooth
Weight: 422g
Cable length: 3m
Number of attachments: Six – a drying nozzle, a diffuser, a paddle brush, a 32mm soft bristle brush, a 38mm rotating barrel with firm bristles and a 19mm air nipper with clip.
Maximum power: 1200W, two speeds, three heat settings and a cool shot.
We say: Snapping on the attachments isn’t as intuitive as the others, and you have to check carefully that they’re pointing in the right direction. The dryer feels powerful and hot despite not being very well designed ergonomically.
The paddle brush is a good size – helpful if you have a lot of hair that you want to dry smooth.
The curling iron gives good, tight curls on small sections, but you’re basically using hot air to heat it rather than the Coanda effect, resulting in more flyaways than regular tongs. The rotating barrel can give you bouncy curls, but the manual twist feels clunky.
Conclusion: This was the cheapest of all the airstylers we tested and by no means the worst. If you just want to dry your hair straight and don’t want to mess around with extra tools, this is a decent buy. 3.5/5