I Just Tried the £300 Hair Dryer That Rosie HW Loves—This Is What I Thought

I've had three hair dryers in my whole life. The first was a metallic purple Remington one that I got as a present for my 14th birthday. It had a case, a diffuser, a smoothing nozzle and came with two brushes. I absolutely loved it. That hair dryer got me through school and university but eventually died when I was in my early 20s. Violet, you served me well. (I'm joking—I didn't really name my hair dryer. Although now, I kind of wish I had. R.I.P., V.)

I then had a brief stint with a Boots-brand hair dryer that cost me £20 and blew up within a few months. Then I splashed out at age 22 on a £40 hair dryer from Babyliss that has been with me ever since. Eight years later, bae and I are still going strong. Suffice to say that I've just never been that fussed about hair dryers, in general. I'm pretty happy as long as it comes with a diffuser attachment, blasts hot air and doesn't cost me more than a nifty.

However, it was pretty hard to ignore the hype when Dyson entered the beauty realm back in 2016 with the launch of its very first hair dryer—and a damn expensive one at that.

Yes, despite pretty much exclusively selling vacuum cleaners to the middle classes before this, Dyson caused some serious waves in the beauty industry with its innovative hair tool—and pretty soon it was a staple backstage at fashion week, and in the homes of celebrities and beauty editors. The New York Times even reported on how Jen Atkin (pictured above), celebrity hairstylist to clients like Chrissy Teigen, Jessica Alba and the Kardashians consulted with Dyson on the hair dryer during production: "That back-heavy feeling that usually makes your arms ache completely disappears with this, whether working on your own hair or blow drying someone else," Atkin said. "For me, or any woman, that is a game-changer. This is the ‘break the Internet’ dryer."

It was only recently, however, when my beauty crush, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, took to her website, Rose Inc., to reveal her secrets for creating the perfect bun that I was reminded of just how beloved the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer has become: "I was a little dubious about this, to be honest, because it's a hair dryer and it has quite a big price tag attached to it," said Huntington-Whiteley. "But after using it for the first few times, it truly, truly blew me away. No pun intended." From the queen of glossy locks herself, that's certainly high praise, and it certainly sparked my interest in trying out the hair dryer for myself.

I'm going to be totally honest, though: There's absolutely no way I'd part with £300 of my hard-earned cash for a hair dryer without taking it for a spin first. Luckily, one of the major perks of my job as a beauty editor is that I get to test products and services I wouldn't otherwise have access to, and Dyson was kind enough to loan me a Supersonic to test out. Here's what I genuinely thought of it.

I went into more depth about my hair type and favourite hair products earlier this week, but the lowdown is that I have dry, fairly unruly hair that falls halfway between waves and curls when left to its own devices, takes ages to dry and is prone to flyaways. I often let my hair dry naturally at night and find that it's still slightly wet by the morning. Sometimes I give up and use a hair dryer when the underside and ends of my hair are still a bit damp.

The thing that appealed to me most about the Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer is its claim that no other hair dryer is faster. Yep, after being tested against 20 best-selling hair dryers, the Dyson comes out on top in terms of speed drying thanks to a motor that moves six times faster than any other hair dryer motor. Combined with no extreme heat (ergo reducing damage to your hair) and various attachments engineered for different hair types, it certainly sounds impressive on paper. But how did it actually perform?

Damn. I'm almost sad to admit that this hair dryer is seriously good. In fact, it's so impressive that it's made my current hair dryer's performance seem akin to shoving your head under a hand dryer in a public bathroom when you've been caught in a downpour.

Let's start with the good points. It really does dry your hair incredibly quickly. In fact, my hair was pretty much completely dry in about three minutes flat, which is something of a record for me. I also don't know what magical pixie dust this hair dryer contains, but my hair has never looked shinier after an at-home blow-dry.

Turns out it's actually the hair dryer's heat control that prevents the extreme temperatures that damage your hair and improves the reflective nature of your strands. Plus, my hair felt so incredibly soft after finishing the blow-dry, and soft is never an adjective I'd use to describe my hair.

As for the bad points, I had high hopes for the diffuser, and although my hair definitely had bounce, volume and shine after using it, I was a little disappointed by the lack of definition in my curls. However, it was my first try with it, and I'll definitely give it another whirl to see if it was my technique that let the side down. I must say that the results of using the smoothing nozzle more than made up for the diffuser.

Of course, there's no getting around the price point. For what it's worth, here are my two cents: As someone who washes her hair twice a week and is happy to let it air-dry, I can't justify the cost of this tool. However, if you're like my mum, who washes her hair religiously every single morning—followed by a blow-dry—it might just be worth your cash. It's quicker, less damaging, and boasts impressive results with shine and texture. And who doesn't deserve to channel a bit of Rosie HW on the daily?

Next up, Brit girls Like Alexa and Rosie HW always do this "basic" bun hairstyle.