I tried Dyson's £50 hair styling products and these are my *very* honest thoughts

Dyson is a brand that is often at the forefront of innovative tech in the hairstyling space. The Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer, Airwrap and Airstrait were all groundbreaking when they hit the market and have inspired many hair tools that have followed. Any beauty editor will tell you that they are frequently asked for their opinions on the brand and if the hair tools are “worth it”.

But in 2024, the brand ventured into new territory with the launch of its first hairstyling products, the Chitosan range. This comprises a Pre-Style Cream (available in four variations to suit different hair types and needs) and a Post-Style Serum

Considering Dyson’s reputation and that the products cost £49 a pop (£45 for the refills thereafter), my expectations were high. After putting both products to the test - styling my hair both naturally curly, as well as sleek and smooth - here are my very honest thoughts on the results…

Let’s kick off with the look and packaging of the Chitosan. It’s sleek as you’d expect from Dyson in a deep purple with peachy accents. It’s a top-down dispenser that works similar to a nail polish remover pump, with a clear lid that snaps back onto the tube with a satisfying magnetic click. Each pump dispenses a precise amount of product to avoid wastage, with the brand recommending starting with one to two pumps and adding as needed.

To truly assess its capabilities, I tested the Light Conditioning Pre-Style Cream for Curly to Coily hair with no other styling products apart from heat protection spray (more on that later). First, I styled my hair in its natural curls. I’ll caveat this by saying this was the first time I’d done so in many months, so my curl pattern had probably taken a bit of a hit as a result.

The texture is lovely and the formula is really easy is to distribute through the hair, with no heaviness whatsoever. I have quite a lot of hair and found five or six pumps was about right, dose-wise. This might sound like a lot, but each pump is quite small and so I still think the 100ml product will last me a while.

Now, my hair by no means felt dry, but I did find the Light Conditioning wasn’t quite moisturising enough, so the Rich Conditioning version may have been better here. This is worth bearing in mind if you have similarly slightly fine curly hair. But overall the results were nice—though I will say I’d have liked a little more definition and don’t think I’d swap out all of my usual curly styling products to use this alone. Next time I’ll probably still apply a little gel alongside it to improve said definition.

I then re-tested the Pre-Style Cream, applying the same amount of product to my mid-lengths and ends but this time styling my hair smooth and straighter (below). This time, my hair had a definite swish to it that lasted in the days after I’d washed and styled it and still felt nice and soft the next day—again, no heaviness or residue whatsoever.

On both occasions, my hairstyle lasted well through the day, although I didn’t notice it doing so to a dramatically different degree than my favourite hairstyling products. However, this is likely because my hair holds styles pretty well anyway. Katie Thomas, Marie Claire’s senior beauty editor has raved about the Straight to Wavy option. “The Pre-Style cream (in the rich formula) does exactly what I need a product like this to do,” she says. “It tames the lengths, so the flyaways are gone; it adds moisture, so my waves are defined and silky; and it makes my hair incredibly soft to the touch." When I asked her about whether she found that Chitosan had helped to hold styles well, she told me that they each time she had had a blowdry and Chitosan had been used the style had lasted for a couple of days. "I was pretty impressed, because my hair is so long it tends to weigh everything down," she added.

I will say that I was surprised that the Pre-Style Cream does not contain heat protection, which the brand says is based on its tools not styling at extreme temperatures. I personally like to apply it before using the Dyson Airstrait, which reaches a maximum temperature of 140ºC, regardless, but I think it would have been worth having for other reasons. Many consumers won’t own a Dyson tool but might like to try the Pre-Style Cream, while those who do may want to finish off their look with their best straighteners, for example.

The good news is that the brand notes you don’t necessarily need to use the two together as both the pre- and post-styling formulas contain the hold element—I only used the Pre-Style Cream when styling my hair smooth and my hair stayed in place even after going out in freezing wintery weather. All in all, though undeniably expensive, I think these formulas are both pretty effective and nice to use—and my fellow beauty editors certainly seem to love it—and I’m going to keep using them to see how they fare longer-term.