Dyson Supersonic Nural review: Curly girls need not apply

There is no doubt that the Dyson Supersonic Nural is the smartest hair dryer you can find, but it's cleverest features have limitations. Designed for hair health the Nural can maintain a 55°C scalp temperature which is just below the heat threshold where hair begins to damage. It is truly a revolutionary feature but it only works with two of the five included styling attachments. Neither attachment designed for use with curly and coily hair are included in that count.

While the Wide-tooth comb and Wave+Curl diffuser prove that Dyson has considered a range of hair types in its testing and development, excluding them from the hero feature on this device is thoughtless. For such an undeniably thoughtful device, it is a real oversight. The good news is that if you’re a curly girl you can save yourself some money and grab the original Supersonic, but the rest of us might find it harder to resist.

Anyone who lived through their emo years in the 2010s knows the emotional damage that comes with heat damaged hair. Those fried ends splaying out from the bottom of dead straight hair were everything at the time, but crawling back from the extent of that damage was the real black parade. Teenagers of today don’t need to fear sizzling their hair to oblivion with a straightener at 230°C, we know better now and even if you don’t the Dyson Supersonic Nural knows better for you.

Scalp Protect Mode uses a time of flight sensor to automatically adjust the air temperature to keep the heat at your scalp at a balmy 55°C. According to studies, hair begins to damage at 60°C so theoretically this feature would let you heat style your hair, without heat protectant, and without damage. Once enabled the Nural lights up with red, orange, or yellow to indicate the distance away from your head. In our tests we found that the actual heat hitting skin using Scalp Protect varied between 40°C - 44.5°C, which is just your typical mid-summer beach day.

For me, with my thick and naturally straight hair this temperature wasn’t quite enough to hold volume and bounce in a blow out. If you like to put your hair in rollers you need to work really fast to get them curled up while the hair is still warm. I found myself doing a quick hot blast, rolling up my locks and then going in with another cold shot. While this did help a bit, the style still didn’t hold the way it normally would. I had the most success with Scalp Protect mode just drying it straight using the Styling concentrator and a paddle brush. Using the Gentle air attachment the air flow directionality was less concentrated than other hair dryers I have used previously so I wouldn’t recommend it for purposeful styling. 

This mode works using the bare hair dryer, or with the Gentle air or Styling concentrator but doesn’t work with the diffuser, comb, or flyaway attachments. That does mean that people who will get the most use out of this flagship feature are categorically those with straight hair, or who typically blow dry their hair straight. Notably the Wave+Curl diffuser also misses out on Pause detect that senses when you’ve placed the dryer down, and switches off the heat and slows airflow. It is easily my favourite feature, and another one that curly haired folk may have to go without.

For everyone else the hair dryer has four temperature controlled settings ranging from 28°C on the cool setting, and 100°C on the top heat. Sticking to the coolest setting holds the air temperature at 60°C which is a compromise for those who still want the rest of the Nural’s intelligent features but won’t benefit from the compatible attachments. Regardless of whether it works with Scalp Protect or not, each attachment stores the memory of the setting you last used with it, automatically switching the dryer to your preferred settings.

In life we can rely on death and taxes, in Dyson hair care products we can rely on them being beautiful but heavy. Coming in two gorgeous colour combinations, the Nural pulls from Dyson’s wheelhouse of clear tech. We’re used to seeing it in the manufacturer’s stick vacuums and more recently its WashG1, but until the Nural the hair care sector had been shrouded in secrecy. The Nural takes the cap off the back of the device, showing the inner electronics along with the LED indicator system. It is a distinctive, but ostensibly Dyson move.

Weight however lets the design down. Coming in at 680g without any attachments, the device is in the higher weight bracket for professional grade hair dryers. Others like those from Bondi Boost or Remington weigh less than 400g and have some similar features.

Otherwise the Nural is very much like its predecessor from a user experience design perspective. It comes with a large case that holds all the attachments - although once again the Wave+Curl diffuser doesn’t quite fit in as well as the rest - and has the same simple temperature and air speed control buttons on the barrel of the dryer. While these are easy enough to use, my little hands and I are not the biggest fan of their positioning as it can be difficult to operate one handed.

The Supersonic Nural retails for $749 and we don't expect to see that price drop any time soon. Australian stockists are limited, but we anticipate more retailers will get their hands on the latest Dyson hair dryer soon.

All up the Dyson Supersonic Nural hair dryer is a clever device that is smarter for some more than others. Assuming you’re in the best case scenario for this device, there is a lot to love. Intelligent heat controls feel like magic, and Pause detect is so good that it will almost certainly become ubiquitous across high end hair dryers soon enough. If you have straight, fine to medium hair then you’ll get the absolute most out of this hair dryer with no compromises. On the other side of the coin, those partial to the curly hair attachments will miss out on those same features that set the Nural apart.