I love the Airwrap but there’s something Dyson could learn from Shark to make it better

Dyson was once known for vacuum cleaners, fans and little else, but it made a name for itself in the haircare world when it launched the Supersonic – one of the most expensive hair dryers in existence (recently followed up by a successor for professionals in the Supersonic r).

The original Supersonic was expensive for a reason though: it delivers outstanding performance, but beyond that, some of the attachments that come with it are absolutely fantastic. The £30 flyaway attachment being a personal favourite of mine. 

The British company followed the original Supersonic hairdryer with yet another hair styling marvel – Airwrap – and since its launch in 2022, it has been improved with attachments that have made the £500 styler smarter and more efficient. 

There is something missing from the Airwrap though. Or perhaps I should say there is an improvement that could be made to the Dyson Airwrap – and this is something I discovered while testing one of the Shark haircare products.

The small feature missing from Airwrap

Like Dyson, Shark has multiple hair stylers in its portfolio. There’s the Flex styler – which is effectively a direct competitor to the Dyson Airwrap – but it’s actually the Shark SmoothStyle Hot Brush and Smoothing Comb that Dyson could learn something from.

The Shark SmoothStyle Hot Brush is a hot air brush that allows you to blow dry your hair using one of the three settings in the wet mode, or change the mode on the handle to turn on the dry mode. Dry mode takes a couple of minutes to heat the ceramic comb elements and it’s designed to be used to style your hair when dry.

I must admit, I use the wet mode when my hair is dry, as well as when blow drying, as it’s very easy to get the tension you need to be able to straighten and smooth hair, but having both options in one with just a twist of a handle is certainly helpful.

By comparison Dyson’s Airwrap uses an attachment-based system for various styling options. There are three brush attachments, two of which use what the company calls the Coanda effect. For those who don’t know, the Coanda effect is the use of concentrated air to smooth hair and flyaways.

The two brushes that use Coanda only have a bristles on one side, however, and that’s where they could be better. The third brush attachment has bristles all the way around, but it doesn’t use the Coanda effect so you have to be very good at blow drying your hair in order to achieve a smooth and sleek result.