Remember a few years back, all those videos of people using a vacuum attachment to create instant ponytails?
Apparently, they were on to something. In September, Dyson, the company known for its quality vacuum cleaners, came out with a hairdryer. No ordinary dryer, the Dyson Supersonic has a high-tech design that looks completely unlike any dryer you've seen. Also not ordinary, the price: $400.
The beauty bloggers were all over it. There was love for its innovative design _ basically a long tube that contains the motor with a circle at the end _ the quiet operation and the highly refined heat regulation, all a result of the four-year design process that cost Dyson, according to its press release, $71 million.
Other intriguing features include magnetized attachments _ a styling concentrator, a smoothing nozzle and a diffuser _ and a removable filter that signals when it needs to be changed.
Celebrity stylist Jen Atkin, a spokeswoman for the dryer, told the "Today" show that when she first saw the Supersonic, "I knew it was going to be huge." She's especially fond of the intelligent heat control. "I love that as a stylist, I don't have to worry about the heat getting too high and damaging my clients' hair," Atkin said.
Allure magazine included the dryer in its 2016 Best of Beauty Awards, with one of its testers saying it dried her "thick, coarse hair in four minutes and 31 seconds" as opposed to the normal 15 to 20 minutes. A CNN Money review lauded the beautiful packaging and the magnetic attachments, but found it not to be noticeably faster and that the "final results weren't noticeably different than a normal dryer."
Needless to say, Newsday wanted to try it first hand. Our curly-haired tester found the dryer "a pleasant surprise," noting that the diffuser minimized the air flow so she ended up with soft, bouncy, curly waves. She found it lighter than other dryers, but not much quieter. Ditto our straight-haired tester, who was not enamored enough with the product to fork over that much money.
The money issue seems to be a common theme. "I think it's definitely a luxury rather than a necessity," said hair and makeup artist Joanne Morgan in the CNN Money review. "There's not many people in the market that would consider, or have the finances, to spend that much money."
