If there is one brand that knows how to shake up the beauty industry, it is Dyson. Previously known for its high-tech vacuum cleaners, this British brand entered the hair care arena in 2016 with the introduction of the Supersonic hair dryer. It was a $400 product that claimed to be lighter, quieter, faster, and less damaging to hair than traditional dryers. The launch was a huge success, with Dyson sales up 45% in 2017.

Then came the Dyson Airwrap in 2018, a revolutionary tool that dried and gently curled hair at the same time. Within weeks of its launch, it attracted a waiting list of 130,000 people, and countless review videos on TikTok received millions of views; at one point in 2021, the Airwrap was selling four units a minute, with 100,000 people still waiting to get one.

The overwhelming love for Airwrap was not without criticism, of course. Personally, I struggled to make my Airwrap curls last most of the day, even with mousse and hairspray. Robin Coutts, senior design manager and product leader for Dyson, admits that 28 percent of consumers worldwide say style retention is one of their biggest concerns.

But Dyson has heard Airwrap users loud and clear. Today, Dyson is launching Chitosan Pre-Style Cream and Post-Style Serum, the first styling products to keep Airwrap curls in place.

Using the same rigorous research and testing that went into developing the Airwrap, Dyson has developed the Pre-Style Cream, available in four formulas to suit different hair types, and the Post-Style Serum as an answer to the problem of keeping airwrap curls in place. These products lock in styles, tame frizz, add shine, and repair damage without the crunchiness and stiffness common with other styling products. The packaging, like all Dyson hair tools, is precision engineered, refillable, sustainable packaging, and luxurious.

While other styling products use simple polymers that act as glue to hold hair together (hence the crunchy feel), Dyson took a different route with its formula. Its main ingredient is chitosan, a complex polymer derived from the hiratake mushroom. Think of the natural, flexible structure of mushrooms. Dyson wanted to recreate that, Coutts explains,

“We found that chitosan coats each strand of hair and creates a unique structure around the hair that keeps it free to move, bouncy and natural, and enhances rather than detracts from style. We have discovered”

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These are formulas that took five years of repeated, “torturous” testing, as Coutts calls it, to perfect. Judging by my personal experience with them, the hard work seems to have paid off.

A few months ago, I was one of the few lucky media guests invited to Dyson's super-secret launch. After sitting in with Coutts and learning all about the product rollout, I sat in the chair of Matthew Collins, Dyson's global styling ambassador, to see how these products actually work. After a quick wash, Collins applied three pumps (0.66 milliliters) of the light conditioning pre-style cream for straight to wavy hair types to damp hair. (Fun fact: one pump dispenses 0.22 milliliters of product, and every bottle contains 457 pumps.) After a quick blow-dry with the Dyson Supersonic Nural, Collins took out the Airwrap and gave her hair a dreamy blow-dry with softly curled ends.

Leaving the salon, I realized that in the hour or so I was with the Dyson team, all my hair dreams had come true. First and foremost, my hair was incredibly soft and smooth and felt as if I had just had a haircut. My hair tends to frizz after styling, especially when I curl it. This time, it was the smoothest finish I have ever seen. Additionally, my hair had a glassy shine to it and the finish looked like a hair commercial.

The real test came six hours later when I went to a rooftop party. It was particularly hot and humid that day, and I was worried about how well my blow-dry would hold up. My fine, thin hair and humidity don't mix well, and as soon as I step outside my hair becomes frizzy and wavy. But that didn't happen with the Dyson Chitosan blowdryer. Although the curls did fall out a bit, my hair remained smooth, shiny, and frizz-free, even after hours of walking around outside.

At $60 a bottle, these products seem like an overkill compared to other styling products. But that means they are an investment. These are meant to be everyday, ride-or-die hair heroes used to maintain any style, whether voluminous curls, sleek straight styles, or natural waves. Bottom line: order this set and your days of complaining about the holding power of air wraps are over.