My hair and humidity have never been friends. It’s fine, it’s curly, it’s thin and, thanks to my extensions, it’s essentially two textures that need persuading to behave as one. At home, I have a routine that works – blowdrying with a hair dryer then smoothing with a separate tool – but it takes time. Abroad, it’s a different story: I can spend 40 minutes on a blow-dry in a hotel room, step outside and watch the humidity undo all of it before I’ve reached the end of the street.
Packing is a nightmare too, because between a hair dryer (I never rely on the hotel ones – that’s a rookie error), a round brush and a hot brush of some kind, my hair kit takes up a serious chunk of my suitcase. So when I got my hands on Dyson’s new Airsmooth, the brand’s first dedicated hot brush, I was genuinely excited. Why? Because it dries and smooths hair from wet in one step, runs on universal voltage, and weighs just 0.6kg – which means it might be the one hair tool I need to pack for humid-weather trips.
The Airsmooth launched in the UK on 8 September, after being unveiled at an annual showcase in Berlin, and it’s one of the most affordable hair tools the brand has ever released. Unlike the Airwrap, there are no interchangeable barrels or attachments to pack; the brush is the whole gadget with a little protector for the head. I didn’t need to test it in another location, because the day I received it in London, the humidity was 72 per cent, and it has been high all summer due to warm air arriving from sub-tropical regions (which my hair has definitely noticed).
I had two main concerns when it arrived. First, would it be kind to fine hair and easy to use with extensions? Snagging a bond or a tape at the root isn’t just painful; it can damage both your own hair and the extensions.
Dyson’s answer is what it calls dual bristle technology – flexible bristles that diffuse airflow from their base for a more comfortable feel on the scalp, alongside anti-snag bristles designed to glide through hair with less breakage. There’s also intelligent heat control, which measures the air temperature more than 20 times a second. The lowest heat setting sits at 85°C, which I reached for first, before working my way up.