Dyson Supersonic hair dryer review

Hair drying know-how hasn’t modified for round 50 years, primarily due to the cumbersome motors you discover contained in the dryers.

The identical may have been mentioned for vacuum cleaners till James Dyson’s intelligent cyclone know-how did away with mud luggage and introduced in fashionable new designs and superior cleansing (even with out mains energy). Then Dyson has turned its air aptitude in the direction of hair care.

The Dyson Supersonic is a giant title for a small machine, albeit one with a gasp-worthy price ticket.

Design & Construct

The Supersonic is compact and light-weight (560g with out attachments), in comparison with fashions that may weigh over 1kg. That mentioned, there are hair dryers on the market at across the similar weight.

Chris Martin / Foundry

Dyson calls the dryer “engineered for steadiness”. Typical dryers may be uncomfortable as a result of they’re heavy and require odd postures to achieve all of the hair. If it takes you greater than ten minutes to dry your hair, your arm and wrist are going to take the punishment of such heavy, unwieldy dryers.

Because of the much-reduced measurement of Dyson’s motor it has been faraway from the pinnacle of the product to the dryer’s deal with itself. For higher steadiness the centre of mass needs to be moved as shut as doable to the hand or pivot level.

And taking the motor from the pinnacle permits the size of the dryer barrel to be lowered, that means it may well get nearer to the pinnacle whereas your elbow stays nearer to your physique slightly than having to convey the elbow away.

There’s one other profit, too: as an alternative of sucking air behind the dryer, it’s sucked in on the base of the deal with. This helps to stop hair getting sucked in and burned, and we additionally like that the filter is definitely detachable to wash.

One other boon is the lengthy energy twine, which proved rather more handy to all testers, however they did observe that this grew to become a slight drawback when storing it.

Clever Warmth Management

Dyson places its product advances all the way down to its expertise in motor and airflow know-how, plus 5 years of analysis into “the science of hair”.

We are likely to affiliate wholesome hair with shiny hair, and defending hair from excessive warmth will assist enhance the shine.

If you use any product that goes above 150°C structural adjustments begin to happen within the hair. If hair is heated excessively it may well punch holes within the strand, inflicting gentle to scatter – with the tip end result that broken hair finally ends up wanting boring.

Dyson’s clever heat-control system measures the temperature of the airflow, and feeds that info again to the microprocessor 20 occasions per second. If it begins to get too sizzling the system will settle down the heating ingredient, which implies the airflow won’t ever exceed a sure excessive temperature on the outlet.

So whenever you put the warmth setting on the highest degree it is going to at all times keep at a continuing temperature slightly than going too excessive or too low through the styling. Even the “no warmth” possibility is ready as a continuing 28°C.

Quick Drying

At its highest velocity and warmth settings the Supersonic is without doubt one of the quickest hair dryers accessible – some testers say that it may well dry hair in half the standard time.

Dyson says that the issue with customary hairdryers is that they’ve typical motors which are cumbersome and sluggish.

The agency’s digital motor, the V9, is on the coronary heart of the hair dryer, spinning at as much as 110,000 revolutions per minute with what Dyson calls an “inaudible frequency”. Once more that is all the way down to intelligent design: the motor makes use of 13 slightly than 11 blades, which pushes one tone inside the motor to a sound frequency past the audible vary of people.

Dyson additionally makes use of a rubber mount to scale back the vibration between the deal with and the motor.

Perhaps Dyson thinks it’s been so lengthy since we related the phrase “supersonic” with Concorde (or V9 with racing automobile engines) that it may well use the time period for one thing that’s imagined to be extremely low noise. Really this Supersonic is absolutely quiet, lower than 75dB in our exams. It’s not inaudible however it’s noticeably quieter than different dryers.

It’s quicker (8x, claims Dyson) and lighter (on common half the burden) than most different dryer motors. Its tiny fan is simply 27mm huge.

To dry hair you want a mixture of velocity and temperature. Warmth by itself would evaporate the water from the hair however it could take a really very long time. Velocity helps to strip water off from the floor of the hair.

The V9 motor can create excessive airflow pressures. It attracts in 0.8 cubic metres of airflow per minute, and that is amplified because the air passes via air-multiplier know-how to 2.4 cubic metres per minute. That implies that the airflow is eradicating extra water so the dryer wants much less warmth to get the job achieved.

Attachments & Efficiency

Hair dryers aren’t only for drying hair. They’re additionally for styling and sculpting hair.

The Dyson smoothing nozzle offers a extra widespread airflow. This implies you possibly can fashion and dry on the similar time, decreasing the “race” to get the styling achieved earlier than the hair is dry. That mentioned a few of our testers discovered that even at low warmth the Supersonic dried the hair virtually too quick to permit styling.

Our testers had been impressed with how drying with the Supersonic made their hair straighter and smoother.

Considered one of our testers curses her hair’s “horrible wave and frizz”. Usually she has to dry her hair after which use straighteners. She praised the Dyson for drying her hair with out the necessity for straighteners. It was additionally much less frizzy.

A second tester additionally got here to the identical conclusion, saying that her hair was “actually easy – as if straightened – and that it wasn’t in any respect frizzy or flyaway” after utilizing the Supersonic. She was additionally impressed that the dryer didn’t get sizzling, and was secure to place down instantly after utilizing it (with children round).

Intelligent design implies that the warmth is evaded the nozzle. Dyson calls this Warmth Protect know-how, which retains the surfaces of the attachments cool.

The Dyson diffuser disperses air evenly round curls, serving to to scale back frizz and enhance definition. The Dyson Concentrator creates wider airflow, so ought to require fewer brush strokes for exact styling. With the concentrator you possibly can form your hair one part at a time.

The nozzle and different equipment connect magnetically, which obtained reward from all of our testers. It brings to thoughts Apple’s MagSafe laptop computer energy connectors.

The newest attachment for the Supersonic is the Flyaway. Dyson says that is impressed by skilled stylists and the concept is to present you a easy, salon-quality end.

Directing the airflow across the curve of the attachment and out of a gap, a Coanda impact happens the place your hair sticks like a magnet. Working high to backside, it improves a straight fashion whereas stopping ‘flyaway’, or unfastened, hair.

It really works very effectively and is simple to use even on the again by rotating the magnetic attachment to a handy angle. The result’s fairly flat, although, so if you happen to desire extra quantity, one other approach or a mixture of attachments could also be wanted.

Settings & Capabilities

There are three velocity settings (Quick drying, Common drying and Styling) and 4 exact warmth settings (100°C Quick drying and styling, 80°C Common drying, 60°C Light drying, and 28°C Fixed chilly), although to vary the temperature or velocity you might want to cease drying, which some may discover a hassle.

The Supersonic options ionic performance. The hair is conditioned by negatively charged ions, created by passing air over an electrical present.

Pumping out damaging ions cancels out the static that builds up whenever you’re touching, brushing and styling your hair. This may also help shield hair (particularly at excessive warmth), cut back frizz, enhance shine and take away static.

Value & Availability

The Dyson Supersonic prices $399.99 or £299.99, which makes it one of many priciest hair dryers round. It’s accessible in a spread of colors.

In order for you an much more luxurious gifting possibility, there’s the $499.99/ £399.99 23.75 karat gold model. This is available in a putting blue end with real gold leaf, and in addition consists of the protecting case – so it’s actually solely a $50/ £70 premium for the additional gold.

It’s additionally value noting that you may purchase the Supersonic from Dyson refurbished for £239.99. It is available in a fundamental cardboard field however nonetheless has free supply, a 1-year assure and the 35-day money-back assure nonetheless applies, too.

temperature and airflow settings that may assist create a wider vary of types.

With the Dyson Supersonic you’re shopping for not simply the innovative know-how and design, however an announcement. Proudly owning a Dyson Supersonic is a bit like proudly owning an Apple product. You get high quality however at a premium worth.

However caring in your hair and attaining an excellent fashion are critical issues, and with most haircuts and styling costing over £100 a go that £300/$400 funding isn’t as nice because it first seems.

Nonetheless, rivals have adopted the place Dyson led and for the same worth level, now you can purchase the equally luxe Zuvi Halo, which presents a cooler styling expertise. And if you need the Supersonic expertise for much less, you may need to take a look at the Laifen Swift, which is beneath half the value of the Supersonic.

Verdict

The Dyson Supersonic is a technological marvel (dare we name it “innovative”), which guarantees to be kinder to your treasured hair, extra comfy on beforehand weighed down arms, quiet, and quicker at drying and styling.

Our testers had been impressed with the Supersonic however initially aghast on the excessive price ticket, though we expect that $399/ £299 isn’t that a lot cash when in comparison with the value of a high quality haircut, not to mention the care of your treasured hair.

You may even avoid wasting cash by having to make use of much less hair product in addition to useful time. It’s very quick at drying (some could discover it a bit too quick when drying at low velocity), tremendous quiet, easy and cozy to make use of, and with some neat design options such because the magnetic attachments.

There are definitely cheaper, high-quality hair dryers accessible however we expect the hair-friendly Dyson Supersonic is wise sufficient to justify the comparatively excessive price ticket. To take a look at its rivals, take a look at our round-up of one of the best hair dryers we’ve examined.