Dyson Corrale review: luxe design, mixed results

The new Dyson hair straightener, the Dyson Corrale, is the latest addition to the brand's range of artfully reimagined haircare products. It follows the super-popular Supersonic hairdryer and Airwrap curling tongs, and just like its predecessors offers Dyson's trademark combination of clever engineering, a slick design, and a price tag that'll make most do a double-take. 

We put the Dyson hair straightener to the test on a couple of different hair types. In this Dyson Corrale review, we consider how well this flexible new take on straightening works, explore the cordless functionality, and see how the Corrale matches up against the other titan in the flat iron arena: GHD.

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Dyson hair straighteners review: How does it work?

The Dyson Corrale has a couple of big points of difference when compared to what's currently on the market. First up, it's cordless. As anyone who regularly uses this kind of thing will tell you, decent cordless hair straighteners are very, very hard to find. GHD doesn't even do them.

The second big point of difference is that the flat iron plates are flexible. And that doesn't mean spring-mounted rigid plates, as you'd find on GHDs. Here, a thin, flexible manganese copper alloy top layer sits on top of 'microhinges' (kind of like teeth). The idea is that Dyson's hair straighteners don't clamp your hair, but flex around it – or 'corral' it, if you will, like very narrow cattle. 

Why? The theory is that by having plates that hold the hair in this way, more tension is applied, less heat is required, and it's all much healthier for your locks in the long run. There are three heat settings to choose from, depending on your hair type: 165°C, 185°C and 210°C (for reference, GHDs heat up to around 185° – that higher temperature option on the Dyson is probably going to come in useful if you have very curly hair). You adjust this using the control pad between the two halves, which is simple and intuitive to use.

Dyson claims up to 30 minutes cordless straightening, which is plenty for the vast majority of use cases. In our test it managed well over this, running for 46 minutes at max temperature before running out of juice. Note that if you are going to be leaving these on long periods of time, the outer casing does get very hot at the plate end (not where you're gripping).

Dyson hair straighteners review: Design

As you'd expect from Dyson, the design is smart, stylish and well thought out. There's a cool magnetic charging cable that can either snap onto your straighteners for when you need to use them corded, or onto the charging dock (which also doubles as a stand). There's a heat-resistant pouch you can pop these Dyson hair straighteners in if you need to carry them around, and can also be used as a heatproof mat. Overall the look is luxe; you can tell these aren't your bog-standard hair straighteners.

The Corral straighteners are also chunkier than your average straightener, both in length and width, and noticeably heavier too – a pair of classic GHDs weigh around 268g; these are around 565g. In this case, that's the pay-off for going cordless.

Dyson Corrale straightener review: Is it any good?

We tried the Dyson Corrale hair straighteners on medium-thickness, wavy hair and also thick, naturally curly hair. Both our testers were left with smooth, straight and shiny, but neither noticed any immediate benefits of straightening with flexible plates as opposed to rigid ones. There's also a bit of an issue in that the design seems to catch and pull at fine hairs, perhaps as a result of the increased pressure created by the flexing plates.

Whether the more efficient heating method really works will depend heavily on your hair type. Both testers managed to get passably straight hair using the lowest setting (165°C), but as you'd expect it was more effective on the wavy hair. Our curly-haired tester noted that after one pass on the lowest setting, her hair was left frizzier than usual. She did however, find they worked very effectively when being used to curl hair.

So the Dyson Corrale is no silver bullet – if you're currently a Sarah Jessica Parker and you're shooting for early noughties Avril Lavigne, it's still going to take a bit time and effort to get you there.

If you use straighteners regularly, you'll know that after a while your arms are going to start aching and you're going to need to take a break to let the blood return to your hand – especially when trying to manoeuvre yourself into a position where you can straighten the back of your hair. 

Because of the increased weight of these, we were worried this would happen much faster, but were pleasantly surprised. The increased weight didn't seem to make much of a difference to the straightening experience. The chunkier shape is quite pleasant to use, and the slightly wider plates in particular.

It's also worth taking a moment to talk about just how much of a useful the cordless functionality is. No more straightening your hair in a dingy corner just because that's the only mirror with an available socket nearby. No more hair styling yoga as you try and avoid throttling yourself with the cord.

It also means you can pop these in your bag, protected by the pouch provided, and straighten your hair wherever you like. At work. In the pub. On a night out. If you've got a hair type that curls at the slightest hint of humidity or moisture, these could be a real game-changer.

Dyson Corrale review: What did other people say?

The reviews for this product vary wildly between those who just can't praise it highly enough (words like phrase "fantastic" and "game-changer" crop up a lot) and those who aren't fans at all, which suggests how effective these are really will depend on your hair type. Common praise centres around how easy these are to use, and how freeing the cordless functionality is. Many reviewers noted how effective the Dyson Corrale is at creating curls. On the flip side, the increased size and weight has not gone unnoticed. 

Dyson Corrale review: Price and where to buy

The Dyson Corrale Straightener will set you back £399/$499, and is available in fuschia, purple and black varieties. For comparison, the most expensive GHD you can buy at the moment is £199, so there's no doubt you're paying a premium here. It's available to buy now from Dyson's UK online store and Dyson's US online store.

Should I buy the Dyson Corrale?

The Dyson Corrale is a very good straightener with some clever extra features, but how effective it is for you is going to depend on your hair type. They do seem to be slightly more efficient temperature-wise, and the option to use a lower temperature is certainly a win on the haircare front if you're going to be using these daily.

Where the Dyson Corrale straighteners really come into their own is with the cordless functionality. With main competitor GHD not offering a cordless option, there's a big gap in the market here; one which we suspect the Dyson hair straighteners will lucratively fill.

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