Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and the products featured were provided for review.It's become apparent that the hair tool market is really heating up these couple of years. Up until very recently, I honestly thought Dyson had a monopoly on luxury hair tools. So I'm actually very happy to see more options on the market. A while back I talked about the new
InfinitiPRO by Conair DigitalAIRE Hair Dryer and today I want to share with you the
Shark Beauty Shark SpeedStyle (C$279.99). Described as a "powerful and compact" digital hair dryer, the Shark SpeedStyle comes with a variety of attachments that make it more than just your regular hair dryer. To read all about it, click......
The Design:With a very compact and lightweight profile, the Shark SpeedStyle has a luxurious satin white finish with champagne gold accents. Judging purely on its looks and hand-feel, I think the Shark SpeedStyle is significantly more luxurious and well-made than the InfinitiPRO by Conair DigitalAIRE Hair Dryer. It may not be as fancy as the
Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer but given that it costs less than half of the price of the Dyson, I'm impressed with how elegant and sturdy it is.
There are a total of four control buttons: power, speed, temperature, and cool shot. All the buttons are placed either at the base or the top of the handle, which is great as there's almost no chance of me accidentally changing a setting that I didn't intend to. There appears to be an additional button labelled "IQ" but this is in fact just an indicator that shows when an attachment is put on. As you can see below, the ceramic-coated grill has an intricate flower pattern that increases its surface area, preventing hot spots that damage hair. There is also an easy-to-clean filter at the other end of the dryer head.
As mentioned in previous reviews, the Dyson hair dryer spins 110,000 times per minute while the Conair DigitalAIRE spins 90,000 times. Both are extremely strong but the Shark SpeedStyle feels noticeably weaker. I actually couldn't find out just how fast the SpeedStyle spins but I would say that it's comparable to the
NuMe Stealth Hair Dryer I reviewed a few years ago. That is to say that although the Shark SpeedStyle is not the strongest hair dryer I've tried, it's certainly far from the weakest. However, given that Shark seems to be branding itself as a luxury, innovative hair tool brand, I definitely expected a stronger motor.
In terms of temperature, though, the Shark SpeedStyle does get fairly hot. To prevent heat damage, however, the device measures the air temperature 1000 times per second to prevent the heat from reaching 230°F. Now let's delve into the three IQ SpeedStyler attachments, which easily twist and lock into place. As briefly mentioned, the Shark SpeedStyle has a unique smart IQ technology. Whenever an attachment is inserted, the hair dryer automatically detects its type and adjusts the heat and speed settings accordingly.
The Attachments:The three included attachments are the Turbo Concentrator, the QuickSmooth Brush, and the RapidGloss Finisher. The concentrator is pretty standard so there's little to say about it. The QuickSmooth Brush seems intended to replace a round brush. However, it's not very effective due to its small size. Additionally, while the brush can be rotated into different angles, the fact that it's attached to a regular hair dryer (as opposed to a wand like the
Revlon One-Step Ionic Hair Dryer and Styler) makes it awkward to maneuver. Last but not least is the RapidGloss Finisher. Shaped like a hot roller, the RapidGloss Finisher is a smoothing attachment. To clarify, it does not spin and hair does not go "into" it. To use it, simply run it along the length of the hair at the end of drying and it literally makes flyaways disappear. I wish Shark provided more information on how this attachment works because it's actually magical. Within seconds, my hair becomes incredibly smooth and silky and stays that way all day. I've personally not seen anything like it and it alone makes this hair dryer worth buying. Overall, this is a compact, beautiful, and reasonably priced luxury hair dryer. I was disappointed with the slower speed but the RapidGloss Finisher attachment is a gamer changer!
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