I Tested Dyson’s First Styling Products Before Anyone Else—and Found My New Everyday Hair Heroes
My Airwrap waves finally hold all day.
If there's a brand that knows how to shake up the beauty industry, it's Dyson. Previously known for its high-tech vacuum cleaners, the British brand entered the haircare space with the release of the Supersonic blow dryer in 2016. It was $400 and promised to be lighter, quieter, faster, and less damaging than traditional hair dryers. The launch proved to be a massive success, earning Dyson a 45 percent bump in sales in 2017.
Then came the Dyson Airwrap in 2018, a revolutionary tool that gently curled hair while drying it at the same time. It raked up a 130,000-strong waitlist within a few weeks of launching; countless video reviews on TikTok have earned millions of views. At one point in 2021, four Airwraps sold every single minute and 100,000 people were still waiting to get their hands on one.
All of the overwhelming love for the Airwrap didn't come without critiques, of course. Personally, I've struggled with getting my Airwrap curls to last for the majority of the day, even with mousses and hairsprays at the reach. It turns out the lack of hold isn't just a me problem—28 percent of global consumers report style retention as one of their top concerns, admits Robyn Coutts, Dyson's senior design manager and product leader.
But the brand has heard Airwrap users' complaints loud and clear. Today, Dyson is launching its first two styling products that can hold Airwrap curls in place: the Chitosan Pre-Style Cream and Post-Style Serum.
Using the same rigorous research and testing that gave us the Airwrap in the first place, Dyson's answer to the tool's retention problem is a pre-style cream, available in four formulations tailored to various hair types, and a post-style serum. These products work in tandem to lock in your style, fight frizz, boost shine, and repair damage—all without the crunchiness or stiffness that tends to come with other styling products. Even the packaging is just as thoughtfully designed as Dyson's hair tools with precision dosing, refillable sustainable packaging, and a luxurious look.
While other styling products use simple polymers to act as a glue to hold hair together (hence the crunchiness), Dyson went a different route with their formulas. The star ingredient is chitosan, a complex macromolecule derived from oyster mushrooms. Think about a mushroom's naturally flexible structure—that's what Dyson was hoping to replicate, Coutts explains.
"With the chitosan, what we were finding is it coating the hair strand by strand and creating its own structure around those so they can still move freely, still have that bounce, have that natural movement, and really enhance that style rather than take away from it."
These were formulas that took five years and multiple rounds of extensive "torture" testing, as Coutts called it, to perfect. Judging by my personal experience with the products, all of that hard work has paid off.
Collins recommends starting off with three pumps of the pre-styling cream before increasing the amount to figure out what works best for your hair type.
A few months ago, I was one of the few lucky media guests invited to test out Dyson's super-secret launch. After sitting down with Coutts and learning all about the product expansion, I got in the chair of Dyson's Global Styling Ambassador, Matthew Collins, to see how these products work in action. After a quick wash, Collins applied three pumps of the light conditioning pre-style cream for straight to wavy hair types to my damp hair, which equaled out to 0.66 milliliters of product. (Fun fact: each pump dispenses 0.22 milliliters of product and every bottle holds 457 pumps.) A rough blow dry with the Dyson Supersonic Nural later, Collins then pulled out the Airwrap and gave me the dreamiest of bouncy blowouts with softly curled ends.
Walking out of that salon, I realized all of my hair dreams came true within the hour or so I was with the Dyson team. First and foremost, my hair felt incredibly soft and smooth, to the point where it felt like I had just gotten a haircut. My hair tends to get frizzy after styling, especially when it involves curling. This time, it was the smoothest I had ever seen it. What's more, is that my hair had a glass-like shine—basically, the finished result was like a hair commercial brought to life.
On the left, my hair post-salon appointment with the Chitosan styling products and on the right, my hair six hours later still as smooth and shiny as before, despite the humidity.
The real test came six hours later when I went to a rooftop party. True to New York fashion, it was a particularly hot, humid-as-hell day, so I was unsure how my blowout would last. My fine, thin hair and humidity don't mix well, and I tend to look like a frizzy, wavy mess within moments of stepping outside. But did I get that problem with my Dyson's Chitosan blowout? Absolutely not. Although my curls slightly fell out, my hair remained smooth, shiny, and frizz-free for hours hanging out outside.
Coming in at $60 a bottle, these formulas are more of splurge than you may be used to with other styling products. But the catch is that they're an investment. These are meant to be your everyday, ride-or-die hair heroes that you use to maintain every single style, whether you're going for voluminous curls, sleek straight styles, or even just your natural waves. Bottom line: Once you order the set, your days complaining about the Airwrap's retention are over.
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