Dyson reveals its Supersonic hairdryer – would you spend £299 on it?
James Billington
Dyson steps into the beauty market with its Supersonic hairdryer.
Dyson
Dyson has revealed its first foray into the beauty industry as the
company launches its Supersonic hairdryer, which claims to be quieter
and more powerful than traditional devices. But with a £299 price tag it
could be a bit hot for consumers.
The futuristic-looking appliance is attempting to do for the humble
hairdryer what Dyson has done for the vacuum, fan and hand dryer through
a complete re-working in design that took four years and cost an
estimated £50m.
It's dramatically called the Supersonic as the company says
its digital motor is eight-times faster than other hairdryers, while the
hollow design, which looks nothing like your typical dryer, bears resemblance to one of its AirBlade fans as it employs
the
same Air Multiplier technology to further boost airspeed. Plus, being
open-backed means hair and fluff won't clog up in the filter, it is
claimed.
Less noise
Dyson also tries to tackle the problem of noise by employing a team
of aero-acoustic engineers to make usage far quieter than the deafening
whine we're used to. Engineers managed to change its motor sound
frequency within one note of being inaudible by humans, and hid the
motor within the handle surrounded by acoustic silencers. It's not a
silent operation but Dyson claims conversations can now be heard when
it's in use.
Sir James Dyson shows off the radical design of the new appliance
Dyson"Hair dryers
can be heavy, inefficient and make a racket. By looking at them further
we realised that they can also cause extreme heat damage to hair. I
challenged Dyson engineers to really understand the science of hair and
develop our version of a hair dryer, which we think solves these
problems," said James Dyson in a press release.
The lab where the hairdryer was developed is said to have gone
through 1,000 miles of hair for testing purposes. Dyson revealed it even
built a new robot specifically designed to test and compare its
prototype hairdryers with that of rivals. In the process it also found
that the temperatures being spewed from traditional hairdryers are too
hot and damaging for hair. This is intended to prevent that by keeping
air temperature no higher than 150 degrees.
Back in January IBTimes UK was invited to a preview of Dyson's upcoming vacuum models
and were told confidentially the company was looking to launch into a
new product category. Despite any further information being kept top
secret one engineer let slip to us that "his wife was very excited at
the news" which led us to speculate among the office it could use its
know-how in air power to produce a hairdryer.
Apart from this, the company has 99 other new products in development, Sir Dyson revealed. "This year we
ramped up our spending to £5m a week. [The hairdryer] has launched but
the teams have to remain tight-lipped about what else is coming", he
said.
Dyson Supersonic price and availability
The Supersonic hairdryer will be available for £299 in the UK from
June on its website as well as Dyson's new standalone store in London.
There will be two versions, one for the general user and the other for
professional use by stylists and at salons. A cordless version is also
said to be in-the-works.
The price is obviously going to be a hot issue with the average cost
for a consumer appliance coming in at around £30. However,
salon-quality, professional devices come with similiar price tags and
those wanting a high-end product on their hair may be willing to fork
out for the privilege.
Dyson reveals its Supersonic hairdryer – would you spend £299 on it?
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