Now You Don’t Have to Be a Professional to Buy Dyson’s Supersonic R Hair Dryer
PARIS — Dyson is poised to launch its most powerful, lightest hair dryer to date — the Supersonic r — for the public.
Its design stemmed from “the quest to make an ever-better hair dryer,” explained Sir James Dyson, founder and serial inventor, sitting in his brand’s flagship on Paris’ Rue Auber on Tuesday morning. “It all started with a motor, which sounds an odd thing to say, to get into the beauty business.”
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He pointed to the tiny motor, which spins at up to 130,000 revolutions a minute, and then to a more traditional motor, which was massive in comparison but operates at only 15,000 rpm.
The new hair dryer is an evolution of the brand’s Supersonic hair dryer that launched in 2016, marking Dyson’s foray into the beauty business. The updated sleek, curved dryer, which resembles a lowercase “r,” was introduced for professional hairstylists last year in limited production at first.
“We were able to put the motor in the handle,” said Dyson, adding that’s the best place for it, otherwise there’s a dumbbell effect due to awkward weight distribution. “This one only switches on when it sees your hair, and then the closer you bring it, the lower the temperature.”
Versus the prior model, this new one is smaller in order to make it more of a precision tool. The heater it contains was reinvented, in etched wire.
“I always call it ‘the world’s smallest heater,’” said Dyson. “The air that goes through is laminar. It’s not disturbed.”
The dryer has three such heaters, molded in plastic, giving 1,500 watts.
“Not only is it light, but it cools instantly,” he continued, underlining that allows for important time-saving for a cool shot that instantly freezes the area that was styled or straightened.
The Supersonic r has radio frequency identification sensors in its attachments, allowing for the motor and heater automatically to adjust to deliver optimal airflow and temperature. The add-ons, made for straight-wavy or curly-coily hair, include a diffuser, wide-tooth comb, flyaway attachment, powerful air attachment and pro concentrator.
Dyson demonstrated the flyaway attachment himself.
“This is one of my favorites,” he said. “It does something you wouldn’t think it could do, which is it pulls all the normal hairs forward, and the flyaways get to the back. So the flyaways get tucked inside your hair. All you see on the outside is smooth hair.”
Dyson then showed how each attachment has a different airflow and related temperature.
The Supersonic r is 30 percent smaller, 20 percent lighter and more maneuverable than the original Supersonic hair dryer. The new version comes in two colorways: Ceramic Pink, winking to a pearl, and Jasper Plum, inspired by the purple jasper gemstone.
“We sketched it a long time ago,” said Dyson, of the device’s form. “We had the dream a long time ago, and it took a while to bring it through.”
The Supersonic r will be launched at a cocktail party at the Paris flagship Wednesday evening, during fashion week. The new dryer, which retails for $569.99, will be available in the U.S. and Mexico starting Thursday. The European rollout begins in April.
Dyson has a long-standing link with the French capital, where it opened its first Demo Store in 2000 on the Rue de la Boetie. The brand also has a deep tie-in with fashion, starting with its collaboration with Issey Miyake in 2007 on the runway of the Japanese designer’s collection called “The Wind.”
The Supersonic r was first used backstage last year at shows including Chloé, Stella McCartney and Issey Miyake. Dyson will partner again with Chloé at the show slated for Thursday.
In tandem with the introduction of the dryer will be the release of a first Styling Menu, for diverse hair types, in some Dyson Demo flagships around the globe. That gives people the chance to explore five different trending styles from this year — dubbed the textured wave bob, S-shaped curls, sleek straight, halo curls and soft twist-outs — with the help of one of the brand’s styling experts. The menu is to be updated each season.
The professional edition of the Supersonic r, with a longer cable and different colorways, will remain available.
The Dyson brand by no means rushed into the hair category.
“It’s very important to understand the science before we do anything,” said James Dyson. “We didn’t jump into it just to make a hair dryer. So what we did was a good thing for beauty and the science of hair — not a bad thing.”
The Dyson brand has also delved into wet styling product formulation, launching the Chitosan range last August.
“Which is why farming is of great interest to us,” said Dyson. “We have farms of various types — vineyards, olive groves, strawberry … gray barley, wheat and peas. It’s an adjunct to our business in the future — not quite at the moment.”
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