Will Dyson’s new hairdryer change your life?
James Dyson is aiming to end bad hair days with the launch of his first hairdryer – yours for £299. The Telegraph fashion team has the exclusive scoop on what all the hot air is about
The hairdryer was invented in 1888, by a Frenchman (of course) called AlexandreFerdinand Godefroy. It was a sort of bonnet attached to the chimney pipe of a gas stove. In 1920 the first hand held electric versions appeared – producing a meek 100 watts of heat. Seated hairdryers hit salons in the Fifties. Since then, the at-home hand-held versions have become less clunky and more powerful, but in terms of refinement have stayed the same. All those fancy ionic promises and nifty casing? Nonsense, apparently.
Enter James Dyson. June sees the launch of his £299 answer to frizz and frazzled ends. The company has spent £50 million over four years investigating the “science of hair”. More than 100 engineers have tested it on 1,010 miles of human hair and created 600 prototypes. The final version will contain the V9, its smallest, most advanced digital motor, which Dyson claims is up to eight times faster than other hairdryer motors and half the weight. The dryer has controlled air flow and heat, which will not exceed 150C (current models can reach a damaging 230C). It’s fair to say they’re quite serious about taking on the $1 billion (in Europe) haircare industry.
Dyson has worked closely with Akin Konizi, creative director of HOB salons. Today’s hairdryers, says Konizi, are heavy, the distribution of air is all wrong, they blast your hair and you can’t control the heat. The Dyson, he adds, is “the next level. Once you’ve used it you won’t want to go back. ” Victoria Moss I’ve never really spent much time thinking about hairdryers. My current one is a Remington something-orother; it’s large, heavy, loud and gets continually hotter until it burns my ears then turns itself off. I usually get arm-ache and give up before my hair is dry. But, disclaimer: I have good hair. So I don’t have to do a lot for it to look nice. The Dyson has the same sleek sexy looks as an Apple product. I loved it straight away. It’s light and easy to manoeuvre, and quietly blasts out an effective but not scalding heat. Within 10 minutes of using only my hands (no brush) I had a salon-perfect, sleek blow-dry. No frizzy wispy halo effect. Plus, it really holds. The next night I went to a party and everyone thought I’d had it done that day (and by a professional).
Hot hair-drying tips: I followed Akin Konizi’s back, forward technique. Brush your hair back (then dispense with the brush) and hold the dryer high up over your head. With long hair, the trick is to dry the roots first, moving the hair around with your fingers, before moving down to the middle sections, then the ends. After that, flick your hair forward and repeat so the underneath is dry. Flick back and enjoy the glossy finish.
Life-changing? Yes. The moment I picked up my old hairdryer my heart sank. And then my ears burnt.