Dyson Airstrait review: One trick pony

The Dyson Airstrait is designed to do one thing, and it does that thing incredibly well. But despite its straightening prowess, and thoughtful features, the $750 price point is too high for a one trick pony.

First up, technically the Airstrait can do two things - dry your hair, and straighten it, but it simply isn’t capable of replacing your hair dryer entirely. You can’t reasonably grab a round brush if you’d prefer a flicky blow out one day, or use it to make straightener curls. The Airstrait straightens, with a little bit of direction towards the bottom if you’ve had enough practice. If you are a straight-hair-for-lifer, this device may be your end game, but if you like to play around with different styles then it is harder to justify. 

For those entirely committed to the straight hair look, the Airstrait will not disappoint. The design eliminates common annoyances with regular flat irons, like the extreme heat, and kinkless straightening. Even the best of us can end up with a little iron kink in our hair with a traditional iron, but the Airstrait’s gentle clamp and strong airflow stops this entirely. Without even looking in the mirror I was able to get perfectly straight locks in one or two passes, depending on how wet my hair was.

The results are equally impressive. Generally my hair tends to flick where it touches my shoulders, so I always end up with a little flick part of the way down, but to my surprise it doesn’t with the Airstrait. This could be in part thanks to Dyson’s Chitosan range which I also used during my testing, but regardless the results remain consistent for days. My one qualm is that it doesn’t do much to add shine to my hair, particularly when using Dry Mode.

Dry Mode uses higher heat than wet mode as it needs more power to manipulate the hair proteins. Unfortunately for my hair (and probably a lot of other people’s), this extra heat can be quite drying. Even though it is only 140 degrees celsius, or 160 degrees celsius in Boost Mode, it manages to really suck the moisture out of my hair. On the flip side, these higher temperatures may actually be beneficial to those with curly or coily hair. Traditionally Dyson likes to stay underneath 150 degrees with its styling products, which does minimise hair damage, but it may not be enough for a lot of different hair types.

The Airstrait looks like a blend between an Airwrap and a straightener, which makes sense because that is exactly what it is. Although it is comparatively heavy, it doesn’t feel too cumbersome to use for extended periods of time, and like all Dyson products the colourways are wonderful.

A downside is the controls. Clearly they were designed to take up as little space as possible, but they can be a bit confusing when you first grab the device. There is a dedicated button to switch between wet and dry, and the usual toggles to move up or down in heat levels. Alongside this is a little LED screen with cute animations to indicate what you’ve selected. It is easy enough to see where you’re at with the screen, but getting to where you want to be takes some trial and error to start.

Airstrait takes cues from the Nural Supersonic hair dryer, adding in auto pause and reducing airflow once the straightener isn’t in use. The airflow only amps up to maximum speed when the clamps are brought together, but otherwise it slows and quietens down in between passes. If the device is left dormant for around 15 seconds, it will entirely pause and shut off the airflow before picking back up once it moves again. I absolutely love this. Drying your hair can take quite a while, and the noise is always a bit much for me. The alternative is usually turning the device off between passes, but of course that is its own kind of frustrating. Implementing both of these features makes using the Airstrait pleasant, not just for me who desperately wants to hear her podcast, but also for my dog who just wants the noise to stop.