When it comes to appearance, men can, for the most part, dab a little gel in their hair and go on their merry way. But us ladies often spend an hour each morning fumbling with lotions and potions, fiddling with mascara wands and, worst of all, toiling under the heat of a hot hair dryer.
Social norms are still trapped in the past, but the British technology company Dyson — known for its vacuum cleaners and alarmingly powerful hand dryers — is thinking into the future. It recently released the Dyson Supersonic: a blow-dryer designed to drastically reduce your hair-drying time and protect your hair from heat damage.
Blow-drying my hair is one of my least favourite tasks, right up with entering my CPD hours. So I obviously jumped at the chance to take the Supersonic for a one-week test drive.
By the way: the Supersonic retails for $499, a whopping 10 times the cost of the average drug-store variety. So my expectations were high.
It certainly looks expensive. In fact, with its sleek, cylindrical design, bright-magenta accents and touch-tone settings, the Supersonic resembles a lightsaber more than a hair dryer. And because the motor is tucked away inside the handle, the device is pretty much silent.
But would it really dry my hair with record speed? I wouldn’t be a true lawyer if I didn’t collect some evidence. So I busted out my egg timer. With my current run-of-the-mill hair dryer, it takes seven to 10 minutes to dry my (admittedly fine) hair. And another five to 10 minutes to straighten it.
How would the Supersonic stack up? I turned it on to the highest setting — which is so powerful that it gives you the added benefit of an instant facelift — and my hair was dry in two-and-a-half minutes flat. I didn’t have to straighten it, either. I had shiny, smooth and straight hair with 15 minutes to spare.
The Supersonic also boasts special heat-shield technology, which keeps the dryer from overheating. That protects your hair, but it also kept me cool. I’m usually a sweaty, red-faced mess by the time I’ve finished drying my hair, so this was revolutionary.
My verdict? It’s the hair dryer of my dreams. But as Beyoncé has taught us, pretty hurts, and in this case, it sure hurts the wallet. That said, the Supersonic saved me some serious morning prep time — and in my hectic world, that’s worth a lot.
Breann Kirincich is the vice president of legal & compliance at BlackRock who maintains an active blog on the side. She enjoys cereal, Pinot Grigio and making dated SNL references, in that order.
This story is from our Spring 2017 issue.
Photography courtesy of Dyson Canada