Dyson Airwrap, Shark Flexstyle or neither for curling?

[ruethewhirl]

Been contemplating this for ages so hoping to get opinions from people who own either device. Read lots of reviews but I'm just more uncertain now as a result. 😄

I'd mainly be using it for drying and curling as I'm happy with my GHDs for straightening. I can sort of curl with them too, but I tend to end up with waves whereas I'd love more defined, almost ringletty curls for special occasions. (Hair just past shoulders, v slight natural wave but it's the sort that produces odd-looking kinks rather than a nice wavy look, sadly 😄.)

I keep reading that neither appliance produces lasting curls, but I've also read info to the contrary, e.g. that curling while wet makes a difference, no idea if that's true or not. I've also read reviews that say neither device is worth the money as far as curling goes!

As they're both such expensive products I thought I'd see if I could garner some opinions on here... TIA!

Sorry i don't have an answer but following, as I am also trying to find a product for defined curls.

I had the Dyson and loved it, it was only way I could get my hair to curl. Really struggled to keep the curl in my natural hair, but it would stay in my extensions. Dyson then broke so I replaced it with shark and I would say they are identical pretty much in terms of results. Neither gives me a long lasting curl in my natural hair (turns into a pretty wave though) but will give me a curl in my extensions. That said, the best hair curler I have had over all is with tongs. I’m not sure my reply has been helpful at all to be honest. I’m sort of echoing the reviews!

Have you looked at the babyliss curl secret? That gives very defined curls and I find they stay in my hair for ages.

If I’m honest, I think it has less to do with the device/product and more with your hair texture/technique.

I got nowhere with the Dyson and it was a total waste of money, but I can do basically anything to my hair with a pair of GHDs - and I do alright with just a decent round brush and the Dyson hairdryer. But my hair is fine, although there’s a lot of it, so it almost need a more punishing approach than the airwrap offers, if that makes sense.

I will say, although the curls didn’t last for me with Dyson, my hair did look nice when they’d dropped out. It was straight with a bit of movement, but looked nice - just not nice enough for how long I’d spent doing it!

I have the Shark version and can't get the curls to last, despite trying it damp, dry, with mousse, hairspray, using the cool shot, pinning them etc etc...
The curls look great for about 10 mins then they drop out. Hair looks slightly wavy - a bit like a bouncy blow dry. It's nice but not worth a 40 min faff!

Disclaimer - I have long extensions but to be honest it didn't work well in my shorter natural hair either.

I've just returned the Shark flexstyle and instead bought a Shark Smooth Style as I realised I just needed an air brush. Much cheaper!

I think it depends on what hair type you hair. I have medium hair and a fair amount of it.

I have the Dyson air wrap and I have to curl in tiny sections, brush through the curl, curl it again and then pin it. This takes 1 hour + for my hair and my curls will stay in (but rarely do they ever look good the next day) If I don't do this, my curls drop out within a few hours.

I can get a similar look with my straighteners in half the time. If I'd had known this I probably wouldn't have bought the air wrap (although I do absolutely love drying my hair straight with it and my hair is much healthier than when I was using the Revlon One Step!)

Thanks all, these responses are definitely helpful in that they underline what I've read in reviews. I think I'm probably going to swerve both devices as it doesn't sound like either is ideal for curling...

That's useful to hear as I had looked at that and read some good reviews. Tempted to give that a go rather than the Shark or the Dyson...

My DD has the Shark but the curls don't stay in and she has gone back to using her wand!

The Shark has turned out to be just an expensive hairdryer 🙄

I have the air wrap - I love the big bristle brush for volume, curls don't keep as long as with the dyson straighteners but maybe I just need more practice as it's new.

It’s also a hell of a lot cheaper!
Depending on how you use it (you can hold it in place for more or less time), you can get softer curls but regardless of the time/tightness of the curl, I always find them very defined, so it’s not really one for beachy loose waves, though I think it could be possible with the right settings and some artful brushing out, I’ve just never tried it!

I’ve given up with the curl attachments on the airwrap, took hours as I had to curl such small sections (another person with fine hair but loads of it!) This is the best product I’ve found for hold https://amzn.eu/d/crRf0Li
I now use the round brush attachment to give a bit of movement and I love it!
If I want curls now I’m back to my ghd curling wand

I love the air wrap. I don’t tend to use it for defined curls tho, more for body and style

Those devices aren't curlers!

That's what you need to keep in mind. They'll curl initially to give shape and bounce, but the curls will fade and the final results are supposed to be a nice bouncy blow dry, not lasting curls.

I see ppl going everywhere saying Dyson and shark don't curl properly and the curls don't last when everyone is trying to get a result which isn't what's the machines are supposed to do.

If you want curls go for a good curler.

Have the shark and hardly use it. I get a swish but by the time I've got to the other side of my head, it's dropped out. Tried everything.

I have a natural curl to my hair but it's very soft and fine and everything drops out of it.

If I want a ringlety curl, which it sounds like you're after, a good old fashioned tong works the best. I use a medium size barrel, rather than the bigger barrels that seem to be everywhere just now, think it was about £20 on amazon. I go for a tighter curl to start with and then by the time it's dropped out, I'm left with loose ringlets. Even then, it looks like a burst couch the next day 😂

I am not looking for tight curls, I want a look like this. More of a bouncy blowdry / slight curl. Does the below sound realistic? She says after practice she gets this look in 10 minutes (after 90% dried)
airwrap tutorial

Both the Dyson and the shark were a waste of money for me.

I got the L'oreal steam pod instead - its the best hair tool I've ever used, styles stay forever and its less damaging

I find that a curling wand gets the best results for defined girls. There are lots of tutorials on line. I’ve had many over the years and even the cheapest supermarket ones are great,
but this on is really good as it has 3 different size attachments for different sized curls.

I have a Dyson air wrap & only used it a handful of times. It’s effectively a hair dryer with lots of pointless attachments that don’t do anything.

I love my Airwrap. Would agree that it’s great for producing body. The curls stay in for a bit if I use mousse and hair spray afterwards, and do it in small sections. The drier brush is great for body and I end up with nice bouncy hair. It dries my hair really quickly. I used to have a Babyliss thing that sucked your hair into it (which was mildly terrifying) and produced better curls, but it took a lot longer to use and was a lot hotter. I like that the Airwrap feels less brutal.

Some useful curling tips/product suggestions here, thanks folks! (To the pp who said the Shark just ended up being an expensive hairdryer, that's exactly what I fear happening. 😄)

The Shark Flex Style is the better choice for most users: the curls are nearly identical to the Dyson's, it costs about half the price, and it doubles as a powerful traditional hair dryer. The only drawback is having to manually switch the two curling barrels for each side of your head.
The Dyson Air wrap is the choice for luxury: it's much more expensive, but its curling barrel switches direction with a simple twist, saving you time and effort.