Best Dyson Airwrap substitute - still Babyliss Big Hair?

[PancakeBae]

The Blinking Red Light of Doom has appeared on my second Dyson Airwrap, despite meticulous filter cleaning. I've contacted Dyson but don't hold out much hope, as the last time this happened I had to arrange an engineer visit to fix it; ended up phoning John Lewis who immediately replaced it. It's out of warranty, and there are none in stock anywhere. And it's £450, ffs.

Is there something less hair-wrecking than a Babyliss Big Hair but not as expensive as an Airwrap for smooth volume on mid-length fine curly hair?

Revlon one step is so easy to use. And can get for around £30-40 on amazing or Aldi if they have any left. Gives a swishy blow dry-can't get it to curl my hair though.

I have the original one and is great for my fine hair (mostly straight though). My hair is armpit length. Probably worthy a try.

I've seen you tube reviews where it's compared to the Babyliss big hair.

Ah, did I read Sali Hughes gave that a big thumbs up a while back? My hair's pretty curly on its own, but it needs a bit of help to swish. I'll give the One Step a go - thank you!

I've just bought a Chinese eBay dupe. Will report back on it

I second the One Step recommendation, really easy & quick.
Much faster than the Big Hair & mine has lasted much longer.

Watching with interest. Would the Revlon work on a short bob or is the brush too big? I have a BBH but they do a smaller barrel.

GHD Hot brush I love mine, nice smooth blow dry finish, not curls obviously.

@middleager my sister has an regular revlon onestep and has a chin length graduated Bob and it works great

since she bought that they have. Brought out a smaller barrel version.

The Amika hot brush works great on my shoulder length hair and is less tangly than the BBH.

Hope you don’t mind me asking but I’m interested in this “blinking red light of doom”
I had the same thing and dyson took it away to be repaired but I hadn’t realised this was a regular issue? Have you heard of this happening to others too?

[quote cherrypiepie]@middleager my sister has an regular revlon onestep and has a chin length graduated Bob and it works great

since she bought that they have. Brought out a smaller barrel version. [/quote]
Thank you.

@middleager

Watching with interest. Would the Revlon work on a short bob or is the brush too big? I have a BBH but they do a smaller barrel.

I’ve used mine when my hair has been chin-length and down to the middle of the bag and everything in between. It’s fantastic with all those lengths.

Back not bag

Thanks - recently grown out a pixie so it currently looks lik 1990s boy band curtains!

Are hot brushes easy to use? I’ve always been awful at blow-drying my hair, more a “head upside down” type, but always looking for tools to add volume to my fine, flat hair!

@AtLeastThreeDrinks

Are hot brushes easy to use? I’ve always been awful at blow-drying my hair, more a “head upside down” type, but always looking for tools to add volume to my fine, flat hair!

I think you get the hang of it pretty quickly - it's certainly a lot less complicated than trying to wield a hairdryer and a round brush and getting the angles of both right...

The Babyliss Big Hair rotates in different directions so you can do that 'drying with tension' hair stylist thing to add root volume, but the heat is quite fierce and I found the bristles pulled out quite a lot of my fine hair. The Airwrap doesn't rotate but the heat isn't quite as intense and it has a 'directional air stream' thing that smoothes your hair as it dries, so I end up less frizzy.

Weirdly, I tried my Airwrap again this morning and it worked fine for 10 mins, then the red light flashed, it cut out, I cleaned it vigorously with the filter horseshoe thing, and it worked again for the remaining 2 mins my hair needed. This is what happened with my last one too, and has happened to someone else I know - works fine for a while, red light keeps cutting in despite cleaning, back to Dyson. I don't know how good the Dyson repair service is because the last time this happened, Dyson wanted to send an engineer to my house to fix it, and that was going to take over four weeks to arrange, with no guarantee of success - which seemed crazy at the time (ie. before Covid when the crazy threshold was much lower), so I called John Lewis and they arranged a replacement. Having checked, you now pay £99 for it to be collected and repaired so I guess that's my next step if it keeps cutting out.

But will check out the Revlon One-Step in the meantime...

@AtLeastThreeDrinks

Are hot brushes easy to use? I’ve always been awful at blow-drying my hair, more a “head upside down” type, but always looking for tools to add volume to my fine, flat hair!

I’m dyspraxic. No dexterity whatsoever. I can never master any hair shenanigans more complicated that a diffuser. The Revlon one step has no moving parts- it is literally like like a hairbrush with hot air blowing through the bristles. I have no idea how the magic works but somehow it does both root lift and smoothing very easily. Not fiddly or difficult at all. (I’m going to have to start billing them for all my positive ramblings.)

@PancakeBae I didn’t have to pay for my repair as it was still under warranty. They sent a courier to my house to collect and then it was delivered back a few days later.
It’s so expensive in the first place, I’m shocked they then charge £99 to repair! I love mine but I don’t think I’ll be doing that if it happens again after the warranty has ended

I have the airwrap and the Revlon onestep, and end up using the Revlon far more, only really using the Airwrap when I want curls.

Another vote for the Revlon One Step. My hair is collar length and it does a great job of a smooth blow dry that lasts for days (satin pillow case helps too)

One Step is brilliant.

I've had my heated rollers for nearly 30 years. Still going strong! I find them quicker than holding onto something to curl my hair. You can keep them in your hair whilst you do other stuff and then take out when the curlers are cool and your curl set. Bit of hairspray on a brush and brush through your hair and it's done!

They're not as hot as hand held devices either so do less damage.

Oh and if you use the big rollers you get more volume rather than curly hair.

I had to buy a new BBH as my old one died. Its not the same

Can anyone post a link to the One Step you’re using, there seem to be multiple models and I’m not sure which is best for my fine but lots of, coarse, wayward wavy hair.

I need to really look after my hair as I'm 60+ and have it coloured and shoulder length, to work it needs tobe in perfect condition. I put one roller in the fringe to keep it under control and then just dry partly naturally and partly with my hairdryer on cold setting. When it is very nearly dry I just go through it with my BBH quite quickly, but I do clip off the top layer and do that second. After that just a tiny blob of serum all over and it looks great. If I felt the condition was going I'd have to have a pixie crop as nothing looks worse than poor quality long hair.