Is Shark FlexStyle Better Than The Dyson Airwrap?

Shark FlexStyle is the newest multi hair styler.

Well, folks, the time has come: there’s finally a more affordable version of the Dyson Airwrap on the market. Meet Shark FlexStyle, an attachment-based multi-styler that dries, curls, waves, smoothes, and diffuses hair. This one uses the same Coanda technology to curl hair, which Dyson was first to introduce to the hair world. But, there is one new element Shark introduced that may just give this a leg up above Dyson.

Promises vs. Performance: Technology meets style.

Shark FlexStyle is an Air Drying & Styling System, allowing you to dry and style hair simultaneously. Because it is an air-dry system, there is no extreme heat damage to worry about. FlexStyle provides a fast hair drying option while maintaining low heat, as it measures and regulates temperatures 1,000x per second to keep levels consistent. The hair tool weight is just under 1.5lbs and has a user-friendly ergonomic design allowing the handle to flex for easy use. Shark FlexStyle has multiple hair attachments, ranging from barrels to curl, brushes to smooth and defrizz, and a concentrator to focus on hair drying. The barrels use something called Coanada Technology, an aerodynamic phenomenon that pulls in the surrounding air on curved geometry with proper airspeed and pressure. This allows hair to ‘auto-wrap’ safely around the barrels for easy curling. With 4 heat, 3 airflow settings, and a cold shot button, your hair drying and styling can be customized.

The attachments.

• Dryers
  • Styling Concentrator – rotatable nozzle to style and dry
  • Curl-Defining Diffuser – defines natural curls with fast, even drying from roots to tips; Extendable prongs add volume to any hair length

• Barrels
  • 1.25 inch auto-wrap curlers (2 that rotate in different directions)
• Brushes
  • Oval Brush – increases smoothness and decreases frizz while adding volume and bounce
  • Paddle Brush – dries, straightens, and smooths hair

My personal thoughts.

Let’s start with the technology, and I’m going to be brutally honest. Shark pretty much copied both the Dyson Airwrap and the Revlon One-Step. The same unique technology that Dyson put into a styler, the Coanda effect, was used to power the auto-wrapping curlers by Shark. And, the round brush hair styler is nearly identical to that of the Revlon One-Step. It isn’t much of an innovative design, nor does it feel any higher quality. But, where Shark did excel is the ergonomic design. FlexStyle has a flexible, bendable and rotatable body that makes styling even easier. I do enjoy that my arm doesn’t feel as tired since I can bend the styler to reach certain areas of my head with more ease. Shark FlexStyle also regulates temperature more, at 1,000 times per second.

The results of FlexStyle is pretty similar to that of the Airwrap. See here. Both styling tools dry and style hair, allowing for various hairstyles from straight to curly. Both protect the hair from extreme heat damage. Although, we should mention that Shark does run much hotter at the high heat setting, but it does have one extra heat setting above Dyson. On more big thing to mention, Shark is about 25% louder than Dyson which can be an issue for some people. If you’ve used the Airwrap before, you’ll be familiar with how easy this type of multi-styler is to use. There’s not much of anything complicated about it, especially once you get the hang of the curling barrels!

Quick Rating Rundown

THIS PRODUCT

(4.3)

:Shark FlexStyle Hair Styler

Price: $249.00

Value

(4.4)

Performance

(4.4)

Controls

(4)

Technology

(4.4)

BEST TECHNOLOGY

(4.5)

:Dyson Airwrap Multi-Styler

Price: $599.00

Value

(4)

Performance

(4.5)

Controls

(4.3)

Technology

(5)

MILABU PICKS

(4.5+)

:Best Hair Tools For Any Job

Price: $13 – $600

Value

(4.5+)

Performance

(4.5+)

Controls

(4.5+)

Technology

(4.5+)

^{Our Rating Criteria}

How It Compares: Shark FlexStyle is a budget version of the Dyson Airwrap.

I can’t say there’s much innovative about the Shark FlexStyle, except the ergonomic body design. The flexible, rotating wand is quite clever and useful when styling the hair and is, in my opinion, the best part about FlexStyle. However, when it comes to button locations, it is not as ergonomic because one can still accidentally hit them and locations are not as seamless and intuitive like on the Airwrap.

However, Shark did copy Dyson with the same Coanda technology to power the hair curling barrels. Yet, even with this technology, they are behind Dyson because Airwraps one barrel accomplishes the tasks of Sharks 2 barrels system. When it comes to the round brush, it is pretty identical to the Revlon One-Step Styler.

If you’re looking for the results that the Dyson Airwrap gives, but are on a budget, FlexStyle would be worth looking into since it is over half the cost. However, the Dyson Airwrap does still reign best when it comes to multi-stylers. Dyson gets major props for being first to use Coanda technology in the hair world. The brand also continues to innovate and update their products and attachments making them better and more user-friendly (the new multi-directional barrels are a great upgrade!). They are on their version 2.0, while Shark is still trying to catch up to version 1.0.

The great thing for Shark FlexStyle is when it comes to hair drying and curling, the results seem negligible in comparison to Dyson. We hope the rest of the features are still to come, like the flyaway smoother and paddle brushes for all hair types… They already have the engine to do it.