One-minute review
The Dyson Airwrap is one of the most sought-after hair stylers on the market right now. Launched in 2018, it offers the ability to dry, volumise and curl hair in a single appliance, doing away with the need to invest in separate tools. However, it’s eye-wateringly expensive; plus, having become a TikTok sensation, it’s regularly out of stock, too. You can keep tabs on the retailers that have stock by checking out our article where to buy the Dyson Airwrap.
However, it isn’t the only hot air styler on the market. There are plenty of Airwrap dupes from brands such as Revlon, Remington, and BaByliss, all of which are considerably cheaper than Dyson’s offering. The BaByliss Air Style 1000 is one of the more affordable models we’ve tested.
The 1000W hot air styler comes with a paddle-brush attachment for creating sleek, smooth styles, along with a 50mm brush attachment that can add volume and bounce to tresses. There’s also a conical curling attachment in the box, and a drying nozzle that should be used to remove moisture from hair before styling.
According to BaByliss, the hot air styler releases conditioning ions that speed up evaporation of water molecules, thus reducing drying time and frizz, while also making hair appear shinier.
On test, we had varying success with the air styler. The 50mm brush attachment offered the best results, creating a voluminous blow-dry; but the paddle-brush styling head did little to smooth flyaway strands, and the curling tong attachment required some perseverance to achieve soft waves. However, at £70, the BaByliss Air Style 1000 is far more affordable than the Dyson Airwrap, making it ideal for those who want the versatility of an all-in-one product but whose budget is too tight for the Airwrap.
BaByliss Air Style 1000 price and availability
- RRP: £70
The BaByliss Air Style 1000 is currently only available in the UK and is priced at £70. It’s available from BaByliss direct, as well as online retailers such as Amazon.
It’s the only hot air styler BaByliss offers to include a range of attachments. However, for those who simply want to add volume to locks, rather than curl, the BaByliss Flawless Volume hot air styler comes with a 38mm bristle brush barrel and is priced at £35.
Design
- Choice of attachments
- Three temperature settings
- Includes heat-protecting glove
The BaByliss Air Style 1000 is a relatively bulky hair care appliance, measuring a maximum of 7.9 x 42.3 x 7.9cm (h x w x d) – it differs slightly depending on which head is attached. We found the handle, which is wide at the bottom and slimmer towards the end where attachments are connected, was unwieldy to hold when styling – particularly when manipulating the styler for curls and waves. On a positive note, the styler is relatively lightweight at around 503g (again, this differs slightly depending upon the attachment connected), ensuring you won’t end up with arm ache after a styling session.
As mentioned, the Air Style 1000 comes with four styling attachments. There’s a 50mm-wide bristle brush barrel for adding volume, a paddle brush attachment for creating sleek, smooth blow drys, a conical attachment for creating curls, and a drying attachment. The latter should be used first to ensure hair is 80% dry prior to using any of the styling attachments. Also in the box is a heat-resistant glove to protect your hands during styling.
The 1000W hot air styler has two temperature settings and a cool-shot option for setting a style after it’s been created, all of which can be selected using the slider on the front of the styler. The Air Style 1000 is mains-powered and has a 2.5m cord, which can swivel through 360 degrees to make manipulating the hair styler easy.
Performance
- Effective at creating a bouncy blow-dry
- Time-consuming to style
- Curling attachment is fiddly to use
When it comes to styling hair, we had varying degrees of success with the attachments. And, since hair is required to be 80% dry before styling according to BaByliss, the whole process was more time-consuming, too. It took 2 minutes and 3 seconds to get our hair to 80% dry using the drying attachment.
We then removed the drying head and replaced it with the paddle brush attachment. The heat-resistant glove proved handy here, since, after two minutes of drying, the plastic head had reached 52.5ºC, meaning it was too hot to remove with our bare hands. However, the attachment was easy enough to switch out, producing a satisfying click when locked into place.
It took a further 2 minutes and 50 seconds to take our fine, shoulder-length hair from damp to dry with the paddle brush attachment. The style we created was straight, although we found it did little to tame flyaway strands; there were certainly many more than using a hair dryer and barrel brush.
The barrel brush attachment proved more successful, with the drying and styling time coming down by 35 seconds. Our locks were left voluminous and with far fewer flyaways than using the paddle brush. However, at 50mm wide, it's larger than the standard barrel brush we use for drying our hair, and we found it struggled to smooth our fringe, creating a clear kink half way down our bangs instead.
Finally, we used the curling attachment to create soft waves. This required some patience, wrapping sections of hair around the conical tool. The heat-resistant glove was a must here to protect fingers; but we found it tricky to switch from hot air to a cold shot to set the waves, which often resulted in unravelling the hair.
Those who like their hair care appliances to be quiet should note that the BaByliss Air Style 1000 is one of the noisier hot air stylers we’ve tested. It was quietest when using the paddle brush attachment at 74db, which is the level of noise you’d hear when flushing a toilet. However, using the barrel brush attachment our decibel meter hit 80db, which is the equivalent of a waste disposal system, making it one of the loudest air stylers we’ve tested.
Should I buy the BaByliss Air Style 1000?
Buy it if...
You’re on a budget
With an RRP of £70, the Air Style 1000 is considerably more affordable than the Dyson Airwrap. On several occasions, including at the time of writing, it has been available for as little as £40, making it even more suitable for those on a budget.
You’re comfortable with a curling iron
Unlike the Dyson Airwrap, which wraps the hair around the curling iron for you, the BaByliss Air Style 1000 requires you to perform this manoeuvre yourself, wrapping hair and holding it on the conical attachment.
You have plenty of time for styling
As we’ve already mentioned, BaByliss recommends hair is 80% dry before using any of the styling attachments. Thus, you’ll need some time to get locks looking the way you want.
Don't buy it if...
You want an easy to store device
With four attachments and a heat protection glove, but no case in which to keep them, the BaByliss Air Style 1000 is quite frankly a pain to store.
You want to create different-sized curls
This hair styler comes with just one conical curling attachment, meaning it won’t be suitable if you’re looking for a hair care appliance that can create a range of different-sized curls
Noise frustrates you
With our decibel meter registering a maximum of 80db when using the barrel brush attachment, which is the sound level of a waste disposal system, the Air Style 1000 isn’t suited to those who are easily annoyed by noisy hair care appliances.
First reviewed: February 2022
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