ARE THESE CURLS WORTH £450?

Dyson’s new hot-air tongs cost a fortune. But after this real-life test, the inventor may want to look away ...

could you imagine spending £450 on a hair gadget? James dyson is hoping the answer is ‘Yes’. Because earlier this week, he revealed the firm’s latest gadget, the Airwrap.

This magic- wand- like gizmo claims to do it all — curl, wave, straighten and blow dry, and all without the extreme heat generated by other such tools.

Two years ago dyson unveiled a £299 hairdryer, and despite being the most expensive ever sold in the uK it was a hit, boosting profits by 41 per cent year on year. The company has now upped the ante with this new multi-tasking styler.

Staggering price tag aside, the numbers sound impressive: six years, 642 prototypes and £24 million in the making.

until now, hair- styling devices have either been, to put it crudely, bits of metal that heat up — think tongs and straighteners — or things that blow out hot air with an integrated brush that you either have to manually wrap the hair around, or use a motor to help it rotate.

The Airwrap, however, uses a miniature motor to force high velocity jets of air from six slots around the barrel. These jets then create a vortex that wraps around the barrel — drawing in damp hair (yes damp, unlike other curlers, there’s no need to dry hair before). once dry, you flick the temperature switch to cool to fix the curl. The interchangeable barrels come in two versions — one which curls hair clockwise, and another anticlockwise so you are able to use it on both sides to get a symmetrical look.

But it’s not just for curls. The styler comes with a range of attachments. There’s a basic drying head, flat brushes for creating a smooth look, and a round brush for volumising. While styling devices for dry hair have to function at temperatures from 185c to 230c to create a curl, because the dyson styler is for damp hair it never gets above 150c — meaning less hair damage.

To really put it through its paces, we asked five women, with different hair types, to give it a go with the help of our stylist, Kerry September. Here’s how they got on . . .