Hair · Reviews · 10 March 2026
I'm not paying $600+ for a Dyson Airwrap — so I tested the 5 best alternatives instead
Beauty blogger · 8 min read
Quick honesty note: a few links below are affiliate links, which means if you buy through them I might earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. I only ever recommend things I've actually used and would tell my sister to buy. This whole ranking was tested with my own money. 💛
So. Picture me, standing in the Dyson section, holding the Airwrap, watching the price tag say $649.99 and slowly putting it back down. I've wanted one for years. But that kind of money for a hair tool? I couldn't do it. I went home, went slightly down a rabbit hole, and ended up ordering 15 cheaper "dupes" to see if any of them could actually match it.
Four months, a very patient group of 20 friends, and a lot of washed hair later — here are the only five I'd actually recommend, ranked. And spoiler: my number one isn't the one I expected.
The one I now reach for every single morning is the GlamBeauty 5-in-1 ($99.90). It's a fifth of the Dyson's price and, in a blind test, none of us could tell it apart. If you want the full ranking and why the others didn't win, keep reading. 👇
Quick note on how I judged them, because "it's nice" isn't a review: I looked at how well each one dried, smoothed, curled and added volume, whether it actually protected my hair from heat, how easy it was to use half-asleep on a Tuesday, and — the big one — whether the price made any sense. Right, let's go.
1. GlamBeauty 5-in-1
$99.90 · ★★★★★ my winner
Okay, I genuinely did not think the cheapest tool on my list would win. But here we are. The GlamBeauty uses the same Coanda airflow trick as the Dyson — it wraps your hair in air instead of frying it — and the finish honestly shocked me. Smooth, shiny, zero frizz, and none of that crispy over-heated feeling.
Here's the test that converted me. My hairdresser mate Sophie has the Dyson Airwrap at her salon, so I roped her in for a few half-head experiments: one side styled with her Airwrap, the other with the GlamBeauty, then I got Sophie and a couple of friends to guess which was which. They couldn't. Every time. It's also lighter than the Dyson, which your arm will thank you for.
Sophie literally held both sides and went "…are you sure this one's the cheap one?"
It handled my thick, wavy hair and my friend Naomi's coily hair without complaint, which a lot of the cheaper ones just… didn't. Two small honesty points: it's only sold online (so you can't pop into a shop and try it), and it sells out constantly — I actually had to wait about a week for mine to come back in stock. The curl attachment also took me a couple of washes to get the hang of. None of it changed the result.
Would I buy it again? Already have — I gifted one to my mum.
See the GlamBeauty ($99.90) →2. SilkyAir Flex
$269 · ★★★★ best for nervous, bleached hair
If your hair is bleached or just easily fried, this is the gentle one. It adjusts its temperature about 50 times a second, so it never gets aggressive, and the five attachments give you proper range. I really liked it! It just doesn't quite hit the finish of the Dyson or the GlamBeauty, and $269 is a lot to pay for "really liked it" when my number one costs a third of that.
Would I buy it again? Only if my hair were much more heat-damaged than it is.
Check the SilkyAir →3. Shark FlexStyle
$199 · ★★★★ best if it's your first one
If you've never used an air styler and you're a bit scared of them — start here. It's light, the little LED screen is genuinely helpful, and the auto-curl basically does the work for you. Five attachments, very forgiving. My only gripes: on thick or curly hair you'll be going over the same section a few times, and the attachments feel a touch plasticky compared to the pricier ones.
Would I buy it again? For a beginner or a teenager, yes, happily.
Check the Shark →4. Max Pro Aurum Aerostyler
$329 · ★★★½ best for thick, slow-drying hair
This one's a beast. A proper 1400W motor, loads of heat and airflow settings, and if your hair takes forever to dry it'll power through it faster than anything else on this list. It's comfy to hold and quiet — until you crank it up, at which point it gets loud and you remember how bulky it is. And it's not cheap.
Would I buy it again? If I had my sister's ridiculously thick hair, probably.
Check the Max Pro →5. Luxx Air Pro 2
$349 · ★★★ the pretty one that let me down
I wanted to love this — it's gorgeous, comes with tons of attachments and a nice long cord. But at $349 you're paying a fair bit for results that land right in the middle of this list, and there's no dual voltage so it's a nightmare to travel with. This is the one I'd gently steer you away from. You're paying for the box.
Would I buy it again? Honestly, no.
Check the Luxx →My honest conclusion
Four months of this taught me one thing I wish I'd known before I stood in that shop feeling guilty: you really don't need to spend $600 to get salon hair at home. The GlamBeauty gave me a finish I couldn't tell apart from the Airwrap, for $99.90. That's the one living on my bathroom shelf now, and the one I keep recommending in my DMs.
If you've been circling the Dyson and can't quite justify it — try this first. Worst case, it's a fifth of the price to find out.
This is the one I use → GlamBeauty ($99.90)Talk soon, and let me know in the comments which one you go for,
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