Air stylers: how airflow curls hair around a barrel, and what lower heat does and does not save you

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Researched. We have not used this one long enough to give you a verdict, and we would rather say so than invent one. What follows is how it works, who it suits, and what it will not do. When we have used it properly, this page carries the verdict and the date.

Shark FlexStyle Air Multi-Styler

Searches for air stylers are rising this week — the Dyson Airwrap and this Shark FlexStyle among them. They promise something that sounds impossible: curls, waves and smooth blow-outs from moving air rather than a hot barrel.

How air curls hair: the Coanda effect

Fast-moving air tends to follow a curved surface rather than shoot straight past it. That is the Coanda effect. Air stylers use it: the curling barrel blows air around its surface, and that air pulls strands of hair with it, wrapping them around the barrel without you having to wind them. The listing describes its 1.25-inch curlers as auto-wrap, and includes two, so you can curl in both directions.

The hair is then dried and set in that shape by warm air, and set further as it cools.

The rest of the kit

According to the listing, the FlexStyle is a hair dryer that twists to become a styling wand, and comes with an oval brush for smoothing and volume and a paddle brush for straightening and smoothing, alongside the curlers. It weighs a little over a pound and a half.

The heat claim, read carefully

The listing says "no heat damage", and that it measures and regulates the air temperature a thousand times a second to keep heat consistent. The honest version is that air stylers work at much lower temperatures than curling irons and flat irons, and steady, lower heat is genuinely kinder to hair. Lower is not none: hair still loses water and still benefits from a heat protectant. We explained why airflow rather than heat is the better route in high-speed hair dryers.

Getting curls to hold

Air curls are softer than iron curls, and the most common complaint is that they drop. Start with hair that is damp, not soaking — around 80% dry. Use small sections, especially on thick hair. Let each curl cool before you touch it; finishing each section with the cool shot, or pinning curls to cool, makes a big difference. A light hold spray at the end helps on hair that does not hold a shape.

Who it suits

Anyone who heat-styles several times a week and wants to do it more gently, and anyone who wants a dryer and styling tools in one. The listing says it is designed for straight, wavy, curly and coily hair. Very fine hair that drops curls quickly may still prefer a curling iron for special occasions — see a long-barrel curling iron.

What it will not do

It will not give the tight, long-lasting curls of a hot iron on every hair type. It will not make heat styling harmless. And it will not save time until you have practised with it a few times.

The product

A hair dryer and air styler in one, with auto-wrap curlers and two brushes, built around lower, steadier heat. Sold by Amazon when we checked.

The one people are searching for is the Shark FlexStyle Air Multi-Styler & Drying System.

Shark FlexStyle Air Multi-Styler

We do not print prices here, because a price we typed last month is a price that is wrong today.

Written by CatieH, who covers nails and hair here.