Does Dyson Corrale really cause less damage?

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Britta O'Boyle, Deputy editor

· 14 June 2021 ·

Review An assessment or critique of a service, product, or creative endeavour such as art, literature or a performance.

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(Pocket-lint) - British engineering company Dyson is known to many for its vacuum cleaners. But those colourful plastic dust sweepers are far from the only products in its portfolio.

After entering the hair care sector with the excellent Supersonic hairdryer in 2016, followed a couple of years later with the fantastic Airwrap styler, Dyson took the next logical step with the Corrale hair straightener in 2020.

• Best hair straighteners 2020

Offering flexible plates, cord-free technology, a premium design and one straight up hefty price tag, is the Dyson Corrale hair straightener a match for GHD?

Our quick take

The Dyson Corrale hair straightener is fantastic in so many ways. Its styling performance is phenomenal, delivering a smooth and sleek finish, both straight and curled. Its cordless design is very useful, even if it's not something you'll use all the time. Having three temperature settings is handy too, and we love the OLED display, charging stand, and the fact that we only needed to go over sections of hair once, saving our hair - and our time. 

Those great attributes come at a high price though - the GHD Platinium Plus is about half the price. The Dyson design, while premium, is also rather big and heavy as a result of its battery and technology, which can become laborious for longer styling sessions.

If your budget allows, your hair will love you for buying the Corrale. Cordless is great for quick styling, and while big and heavy by design, you can straighten or curl in about half the time with this straightener.

In today’s not-at-all-surprising news: Heat styling can cause insane damage to your hair. Wow! The shock! Yeah, I know we all know this, but even though I’m fully aware that I’m hurting my waves each time I run a straightener over them, I’m not about to give up the habit, you know? That being said, I’d ideally like not to destroy my hair, which is why I was so intrigued by the Dyson Corrale hair straightener—the new cordless flat iron that promises to “reduce damage by 50 percent” and leave you with glossy shine. All for a cool $500. NBD.

Lol, listen, I’m not made of money. It would take a lot to convince me to spend that much on a flat iron. But I also know that if anyone could do it, it’d probably be Dyson. Aside from the fact that I’ve seen the insanely good results all over my Insta feed for weeks, I also know that Dyson’s claims tend to be backed by A LOT of research. So after wrangling one to try on myself, I put it to the test for a month to see what it would do to my damaged, stressed-out hair. Onward for my ~hot take~ on the Corrale.

Dyson Corrale Straightener

Dyson Corrale Straightener

How does the Dyson straightener even work?

Quick refresher: Dyson already made everyone in the beauty world freak out when it paused on the high-tech vacuums and released the very fancy Supersonic Hair Dryer in 2016 and then the Airwrap Styler a few years later. So no matter what, the Corrale was automatically being released into a cloud of hype. And thus my skepticism.

But as I read virtually everything there is to read on the Corrale’s technology for this review, I can honestly say the hype isn’t unearned. Dyson apparently spent seven freakin’ years working on a ton of prototypes to create, seemingly, The Greatest Straightener of All Time—one that allegedly turns coarse hair into butter and dry hair into pure shine, all while minimizing heat damage.

My natural hair before straightening.

Yeah, the last part sounds the most questionable, but this is where the legit technology comes in: Rather than using the classic tourmaline or ceramic plates found in most straighteners, the Corrale uses magnesium copper plates that subtly flex and bend around a section of hair, while also measuring their own heat about 100 times per second. The end result? Better tension and more even heat distribution, leaving you with way less damage.

Is the Dyson straightener good?

The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Corrale is how much heavier it was than most of the other hair straighteners I’ve tried (it weighs in at 1.23 pounds, thanks to the four-cell battery that lives inside of its base—the price you pay for cordless capability). Not ideal, but not a deal breaker either.

The iron lets you choose between three heat settings (330° F, 365° F and 410° F), so I went with 365° F, since my hair texture is on the coarser side. I usually feel some tugging or snagging when I straighten my hair, but the Dyson glided down each section smoothly, and it somehow didn’t leave my hair feeling scalding hot—just perfectly warm.

My straight-hair results!

And while most straighteners require a two-pass minimum to get my waves perfectly straight, this one smoothed my hair immediately, as if I were watching a before-and-after shot in real time. Overall, it took me about 30 minutes to fully straighten my hair, which is a bit longer than the 25 minutes it usually takes with my old straightener. Because the heat isn’t as intense, I’m forced to go slower—but that also helps give the plates time to do their thing.

The one big con for me (and a lot of other reviewers): the battery life. Yes, I did roam from one end of my apartment to the other with Corrale in hand, so the cordless function was great. But the battery only lasts 30 mins with a full charge, then needs to recharge for at least 40 minutes to get back to 90 percent. And when it dies, you can’t just plug it in and continue using it while it charges—you need to charge it for a good 10 minutes to get five minutes of use out of it—so this *literally* stopped me in my tracks when it died on me mid-styling sesh.

Well, that, and its price tag, which brings me to...

Is it really worth the $$$?

I’ve been using the Dyson straightener for weeks, and my hair doesn’t feel any more damaged than it did before, which is good?! But obviously, I can’t exactly compare my previous damage levels with current damage levels. All I can really talk about is the visual difference, and when I straighten with the Dyson, my hair just looks...better. Shinier, softer, and smoother. Better.

But is that "better" look really worth the $500? I guess it really depends on your #hairgoals and hair routine. TBH, if a flat iron isn't a staple in your everyday life, it might be worth exploring other hair straighteners that cost less (two of my favorites: GHD Platinum+ Professional 1" Styler and Kristin Ess 3-in-One Flat Iron).

That said, while the Dyson isn’t cheap, it also isn’t some basic straightener with a puffed-up price tag—it’s pretty futuristic. So for someone who wants glossy hair with less damage (*raises hand*) or just also loves a luxe-AF hairstyling experience (*raises other hand*), I think it’s totally worth saving up for. Or, you know, begging your parents/partner/wealthy BFF for.

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Jesa Marie Calaor is a Beauty Editor at HearstMade. She creates beauty and grooming content across all of Hearst's sites. Follow her on Instagram (@jesamarie_).

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