Like many beauty enthusiasts, I have long coveted the Dyson Airwrap, a styling tool that has been reviewed, loved, hated and obsessed about the world over for its innovative technology and ability to create some gorgeous salon-worthy looks with little to no heat damage. The love-hate relationship that many people have with the Dyson multi-styler has do with the fact that it costs $600.
As if answering our hair-goals prayers, the vacuum brand Shark released a similar product this past summer featuring near-identical technology, an updated design and a larger selection of attachments meant to replace all your existing hair tools. The best part? It’s less than half the cost.
With the Shark FlexStyler you can expect all of the things that made the Airwrap so popular in the first place: An adjustable-temperature stream of consistent air flow that promises fast drying and styling with minimal heat damage as well as multiple attachments that allow you to easily volumize, curl, straighten, dry and cool-shot hair to lock it all in place.
Most notably, the FlexStyler utilizes Coanda technology, the same feature for which the AirWrap is so famous. Coanda is the styling setting that reverses the direction of airflow so that sections of hair are automatically, yet gently, pulled and wrapped around the curling barrel for an almost hands-free styling experience.
Aside from the price, another major difference with the Shark FlexStyle is its swivel arm function, which is a personal selling point for me and a distinction that seemed very well received among other commenters and reviewers of TikTok.
The 90-degree positioning of the arm seems to make it less cumbersome for all-over styling and easier for creating multi-directional curls, and for transforming the styler into a more traditional-shaped hair dryer. Dyson’s Airwrap, on the other hand, calls for a little more maneuvering on behalf of the user, especially when using the curling attachments, because the handle remains straight.
A beauty content creator that goes by the TikTok handle @neoitgirl did a non-sponsored styling tool showdown and demonstrated across multiple videos just how the FlexStyle held up in terms of styling capabilities, ease-of use and attachment performance.
“I’m absolutely obsessed with this swivel arm. It makes curling certain parts around the face just so much more convenient... and my arms aren’t exhausted and it blew everything out so quickly,” she said. @Abbeyyung, another TikTok creator, said in a side-by-side comparison video that “the verdict is in... Shark FlexStyle curls just as good as the Dyson.”