It won’t clean your carpet or dry your hands, but Dyson believes its new product is true innovation – thanks to a unique feature.
Dyson founder Sir James Dyson is so confident he says the system at the heart of the new product is “perfect”. At an event last week, the British entrepreneur and inventor showed off the Dyson Airstrait.
It’s a hair straightener – but not like you’re used to. Of course, it looks sophisticated, in bronze and midnight blue. But the Airstrait eliminates the key feature usually considered fundamental in hair straighteners: two heating plates that press and style strands of hair.
Dyson thinks it’s found a hot plate replacement that can style hair just as well. This substitute is… air. Lots of air, propelled very quickly and very precisely targeted. “Before we even started designing this product, we spent a lot of time understanding the science of hair damage, how to keep hair shiny and lustrous, and how to keep it strong,” Dyson said.
The key to giving your hair a new look would be to break the hydrogen bonds in the hair and “reset” it. There are two ways to do this: by heat or by humidity. But too much heat can create frizzy, flyaway and dull hair. The Airstrait is primarily designed to direct high pressure jets of air at moisture laden hair to break these bonds and in the process tame curls, coils and waves. “You’re straightening and drying at the same time without using hot plates,” Dyson said. “And the air temperature is very precisely controlled, so you’re not damaging the hair or wasting heat.”
Pricing for the Airstrait has yet to be announced, but it won’t be cheap. Dyson’s Corrale, a cordless hair straightener, retails for $699 and the Airstrait should be a cut above. Especially since Dyson described the new product as something “no one has done before”.
The Airstrait also has a hair drying function – if you want some extra heat. It also turns itself off if left inactive, as a safety measure. The Airstrait is a sleek device, but it looks and feels familiar.
The same can’t be said for some of Dyson’s other recent releases. The Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones stunned for their bold Mad Max look with a plastic visor that covers the mouth. Dyson estimates that its filters on the Zone suck up 99% of particles down to 0.1 microns, which is smaller than exhaust fumes.
The Airstrait is part of an $885 million investment that the British-founded – but now Singapore-based – firm is investing in 20 new beauty products to be launched over the next four years.