Sorry Nepo babies, this one’s not for you—us hot girls who hustle (a.k.a career gurls) can’t afford to be spending half our rent on a Dyson Airwrap, ya feel? Just because we can’t charge a monthly Dry Bar membership on daddy’s card, doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to have lustrous, Denise Richards in slow-motion bombshell waves, okay? You don’t have to eat canned tuna and ramen all month long to be able to afford 90s supermodel hair now that the Shark FlexStyle is around.
If you don’t know what an Airwrap is—have you been living under a rock? JK, but seriously if you type “Dyson Airwrap” into TikTok, it tells you there have been 6.4 billion views of videos on the subject which spawned the launch of a few thousand OnlyFans accounts (probably) to pay the hefty $600 price tag. Tapping into that hype, Shark’s very similar, very impressive dupe—the Flexstyle— means you can save $300 and take your (impeccably styled) self out for a nice lobster dinner.
Wait, what’s a Dyson Airwrap and why should I care?
For those who aren’t in the know (or just don’t lurk on a similar TikTok algorithm) the beauty of (and flat-out pandemonium surrounding) the Dyson Airwrap is its ability to dry, style, and manage frizz all in one convenient device. The important thing is that the Airwrap can basically serve as a hair styling Swiss army knife, but causes less damage to your hair than typical styling products like curling irons and straighteners. Plus, that baby has drive—like any Dyson product worth spilling digital ink over, it’s all about the specialized air-technology. In the case of the Airwrap, Dyson’s harnessed the “Conanda effect” to use air—instead of just high heat—to make hair more pliable and styleable. Shark’s FlexStyle proves that tech is clearly no longer a secret, given that Shark’s version is capable of all the same things, but at a much lower price tag.
Before we get into all the hairy details (hehe) let me preface this review with a disclaimer: I am not particularly skilled at styling my own (or anyone else’s) hair—I’m a rube, and have barely figured out which direction you’re “supposed” to curl your hair. That being said, before trying out the Shark FlexStyle, I was working with a big honkin’ Amika hair dryer brush, which did a convincing job at tricking people into thinking I am a put-together gal who can confidently wield a hair dryer and knows how to French braid (I swear, you’re either born with this skill or not—it can’t be taught). To make the Amika perform all you really gotta do is know how to brush your hair. On the flipside, when I opened up the FlexStyle and saw five attachments, my body went into fight or flight. My ADHD brain couldn’t handle that much information at one time (especially when it comes to hair styling tools, so I let it marinate and shut the box until the next time I was forced to wash my hair.
What I loved
A few days later, back from a shower with soaking wet hair in a Turbie Twist and zero time spent reading the user’s manual, I went at it with no time limit and a prayer, and was shocked at A. how fun it is and B. how well it works. Without any prior knowledge, it was pretty intuitive. The attachments easily snap into place, and the entire styler rotates to transform into a sleek hair dryer with double the power of my regular-degular Conair. After my initial cave-man-like approach, I went back to the styling guide, which had a QR code to video clips, how-tos, troubleshooting—everything an Alix Earle-wannabe like me needs to achieve those tousled nepo-baby waves, without looking like a pageant queen.
What I didn’t love
While the hairbrush attachments are self-explanatory (there’s three temperature and airflow settings, plus a cool-shot button), I can’t lie that the curling barrels took me a good few weeks to fully master (could be a me problem) but once I got the hang of it—I could not be stopped.
Storage was the only thing I felt was lacking from the Shark; the absence of some sort of case or organizer was particularly noticeable. Where am I supposed to store five extra attachments if they don’t have a designated spot (or fancy leather box á la Dyson)? Sorry my bathroom is less than 50 square feet, and doesn’t contain any drawers. That being said, I have been able to get rid of four other devices, freeing-up a bit more space for those aforementioned extra-parts.
TL;DR
This baby is badass—It can do all the things an Airwrap can do on a beer budget, and it’s fairly compact, which makes it ideal for traveling. It has all of the attachments that its much pricer second-cousin has—minus that one specific Airwrap “smoothing attachment” that’s apparently just for flyaways. Needless to say, I didn’t miss it.
Ever since upgrading my hairstyling routine with Shark FlexStyle, the dog park has been my runway, and I’ve finally figured out how to style the bangs I begged my stylist to cut shorter—against his better judgment.
Go ahead girl, and throw out that Dyson dupe you bought on DhGate.
The Shark FlexStyle is available for purchase on Shark’s website.
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