This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
I’ve always secretly wished I’d married a hairdresser. Over the decades I’ve managed to style my hair pretty well and, to be fair, I am very lucky as I only have to wash it every 7 days or so. This makes up for the fact that when I wash and blow-dry my hair, the whole process takes a good hour – plus the extra time I then leave in my curlers to allow everything to cool down.
Holidays are a hair nightmare. I am sadly not a ‘wash & go gal’ and getting my hair wet in the sea or the pool is a big, BIG deal. Also, don’t get me started if it’s humid… or rainy.
To be completely honest, I haven’t up until now been a huge fan of Dyson products. My Dyson vacuum cleaner is efficient, but hard work as I have to wash and clean various parts once a month, which take a couple of days to completely dry (as opposed to the few hours mentioned in the instructions). The breathtakingly expensive fan I bought last Summer looks fabulous, but isn’t as efficient at blasting out cold air as my cheap B&Q one.
So when my hairdresser mentioned that I should consider the Dyson Airwrap, I rolled my eyes and reminded her how fabulous both hers and my Parlux hairdryer was. She said that if I did buy an Airwrap, if I wanted, I could bring it in and she would show me how to use it.
Fast forward (in full lockdown with no hairdresser in sight) I decided to take the plunge and am now getting used to the Dyson Airwrap Complete. Encased in a rather ghastly ‘poo’ coloured box 💩 (Dyson … please!? 🙄), it has every attachment one could imagine.
The game changing aspect is that it not only dries one’s hair with hot air, but at the flick of a switch it then blasts cool air so that the curl stays.
The various attachments are very easy to click on and off, and the main hairdryer is light and easy to hold and manoeuvre. Practice makes perfect with anything new and this Airwrap technique is no exception and does take getting used to. But I promise the results are really impressive. If and when our world returns to normal, I would definitely take this hairdryer on holiday with me with my 2 favourite attachments.
The method I find the easiest is to semi dry your hair – in sections for me as I’ve got quite a lot – using the Firm smoothing brush. Then, with the Airwrap barrels (there are 2 sizes: ones for shorter hair, and a pair for long hair) take small sections of hair, dry them (using a specific technique) and then cool the section. As you gently pull the barrel down away from the hair, you are left with the most wonderful curl imaginable.
Once I have dried my whole head of hair, my advice would be to use hairspray (I love L’Oréal Elnett Satin Supreme Hold). You can gently pull out the curl with your fingers or gently brush if you want a more relaxed look, but usually I find one’s hair curl ‘drops’ slightly after time anyway. Apart from the wonderful ‘curl’ it creates, the main advantage I have found is that I really do get extra ‘lift’ at the roots.
The Airwrap isn’t cheap but over time should save you money at the hairdressers and give you a really professional finish if you are looking for curl and movement in your hair. The Airwrap is not for you if you just want silky smooth dead straight hair. Stick to the basic Dyson hairdryer for that.
The Airwrap is available at John Lewis MORE INFO or if you buy from the Dyson website you can choose to pay in 12 instalments.