I was one of the first to try the Dyson Corrale hair straightener – here’s what I thought

Meet the Dyson Corrale hair straightener. Officially the most hotly-anticipated, game-changing hair tool of 2020. And guess what? It really, really is.

Dyson Corrale Hair Straightener, £399

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Here’s all you need to know…

What is it

The Dyson Corrale is the only hair straightener with flexing plate technology. The heated copper plates are on hinges. These flex to 'corral' the hair into the straightener with no splaying.

Hence the name.

How is it different

Most flat plate straighteners only apply heat to the thickest part of the section you’re treating. Any stray strands that aren’t clamped won’t get straightened.

‘We have been worried about the style results and heat damage from flat plate straighteners,’ says inventor James Dyson who founded the brand. ‘They require multiple passes on the same section of hair to give an even look, by which time excess heat may have caused reduced strength and less gloss.’

But what does this mean for your hair?

‘The copper plates inside the Dyson hair straightener adapt to the shape of the section of hair you’re straightening and wrap around it,’ says Dyson. ‘They apply even heat and tension to all the hair strands, keeping them aligned.’

So each hair is treated and you don’t have to pass the straightener through multiple times.

As we know, this isn't Dyson's first foray into hair care, the Dyson hair dryer (the Supersonic) has been on our best hair dryers list ever since it launched. And the Dyson Airwrap, its version of a curling tong, is equally a team favourite. I had extremely high hopes for their straightener.

Why the Dyson Corrale hair straightener is worth every penny

I’ve known about the Dyson hair straightener for about two months now when I got a secret demo at Larry King's hair salon. The weather might have been lack-lustre outside but the atmosphere inside the salon was anything but. You could feel the frisson of excitement as soon as you walked through the door.

But it wasn’t until yesterday that I finally got to try the Dyson straightener for myself.

From the start, I’ve been impressed by the product’s journey from laboratory to shop floor. Back then I could have told you that Dyson spent 7 years and £25 million on developing this tool. I could have told you that the Dyson Corrale involved 600 hours of trials on over 800 people.

But does it work? Yes. Brilliantly. And that’s coming from someone with fine hair for whom the sizzle from heated tongs is the stuff of nightmares.

To be clear you still need a combination of heat and tension to straighten hair. Heat breaks the hydrogen bonds in the hair while tension reshapes them.

But I only need to use a much gentler 165 degrees with Dyson's hair straightener to iron out any kinks. No singeing. No scary clouds of steam coming off the hair.

I was also shocked that I only needed to run it through each section of hair once for strands that are as smooth as glass.

And then there are the little things that just make this a pleasure to use: it’s cordless so there is nothing to get tangled around; the three different heat settings (165°C, 185°C and 210°C) work on every hair type; it regulates the temperature of the plates 100 times a second and the chargeable Lithium-ion battery lasts for up to 30 minutes.

Is it pricy? Yes, at £399 it will probably make your credit card break out in a sweat.

But if you care about the health of your hair and want to add one of the best hair straighteners out there to your regime, then you can't go wrong with this fancy tool.