How Do You Use the Dyson Airwrap to Curl Hair?

Stay with me, because I actually had a hard time figuring out how to use the Airwrap to curl my hair the first time I tried it. Heads up that the instructions that come with the tool don't give you much information aside from a cleaning step by step.

Since the Airwrap dries hair as it styles it, I started the process with freshly washed hair. The curling (and smoothing) attachments are designed to be used on damp ends, so I used the dryer attachment as suggested first. I've never used a Dyson hair dyer before, and I was impressed by the speed with which the dryer got my hair from wet to damp [4].

There are two sizes of curling barrels [5] in the Complete kit, so the next step is to select your desired curl tightness. I chose the bigger barrel (1.6 inches) for loose, voluminous waves.

Here's the tricky part: there are two barrels in each size. After reading the Dyson website [6], I figured out why: because of the way the openings on the curling barrel let air out and make your hair wrap around the barrel, if you want symmetrical curls (all toward your face or all away from your face), you need one barrel to curl the left side of your head and another one to curl the right side. If you like alternating the direction of your waves (one curl toward your face, the next one, away from your face), you'll have to switch the barrel attachments a lot! [7] Yes, I tried holding the wand upside down to trick the process; no, it did not work. I settled on curling all my hair in the same direction, because, you know, who has time for all that extra work?

I normally use a 1.4-inch curling iron and wave about 2-inch sections of hair at a time, but that won't work with the Airwrap. I found that because the air coming from the barrel attracts your hair and wraps it around the barrel quickly [8] and the wand is shorter than that of a regular curling iron, more than a half-an-inch section of hair will result in an overflow of hair toward the top of the barrel.

So I wrapped about half-an-inch section of hair around the barrel at a time, first holding the wand toward my ends until they spun around the barrel, moving the barrel upward to my roots (without twisting), and holding it until my hair was dry. I finished by giving the curl a shot of cold air to set it and releasing it just like I would when using a regular curling iron. The result: old-Hollywood, bouncy waves.

Is the Dyson Airwrap Better Than a Curling Iron?

There are great things about the Dyson Airwrap, but also a few downsides.

Pros:

• The air that comes out of the the tool is hot but not scorching. I already have a burn scar from a newbie curling iron mistake, so not fearing burning my skin while maneuvering the tool was pretty great.
• Being able to avoid the double heat exposure of drying hair fully and then using a hot tool to style it into waves does seem like something that'd make a difference on the health of my hair [9] over the long term. Dyson says the tool "measures its temperature up to 40 times a second" to make sure it doesn't get too hot.
• In my experience, setting my hair into curls while it was still damp also meant that the style lasted through the day [10] without the need for hairspray. In fact, I tried to make things harder for the Airwrap by using a hydrating hair mask [11] when I washed my hair and skipping styling product altogether. It stood up to the test.

Cons:

• My biggest issue with the Airwrap is that you need to change the barrels to switch the direction of your curl. I prefer messy beach waves and alternate the direction of the curls to create that style, but since I already had to curl smaller sections of hair at a time, changing barrels after each curl would have required more time than I like to spend on my hair every morning — and my hair is just a little longer than shoulder-length. I can't imagine how long it'd take to beach-wave long hair.
• Because air constantly flows from the barrel, as you hold a curl to dry it, air disturbs the rest of your roots, creating frizz. My roots were way messier than they are when I use a curling iron.
• I didn't buy the Dyson Airwrap — the brand provided me with the tool for testing purposes — but all I kept thinking about is all the other things one could buy with $550: a two-way ticket from NYC to Paris (I've gotten tickets over Thanksgiving for $450 before), a nice leather handbag [12], an iPad — you get my point. Spending that much money on a tool is a serious, serious commitment, but Dyson has a few demo stores where you can see the tool in action yourself before buying it (in New York, San Francisco, and the Washington DC area).

So, will I continue to use the Dyson Airwrap to curl my hair? Yes, after a few tries, I've mastered the correct way to use the curling barrels, and I can see myself using the tool on days I wash my hair. I don't think I'm ready to toss my trusty curling iron quite yet, though. I'll still be using it on second- or third-day hair to create those soft, messy waves, since I normally have to coerce my straight hair back into curls every morning to keep my style going.