For seven years, engineers at Dyson’s
Malmesbury, England, campus toiled away
in complete secrecy on...a hair iron. That’s
thousands of designs, hundreds of heads
of hair, and seven years of asking, “How
is it possible to achieve a beach wave
with half of the required heat?” Now these
people are revolutionizing the way we style
our hair yet again (you’ve probably heard
of their blow-dryer?). For this go-round, the
invention is called the Dyson Corrale.*
And we can say with absolute sincerity: It
doesn’t get better than this.B
E
A
U
T
Y
R
E
P
O
R
T
E
R
hot of fthe tressesTHE HARDWARE
Meet the twins: two flexible (they actually give
a little at the touch of your hair) manganese
copper alloy plates, each no thicker than a
single human hair. Together they wrap (in the
manner of a gentle embrace) rather than press
(in the manner of a panini maker) each section
of hair. Hence the name’s inspiration: corral, n.,
an enclosure. The plates are coated with nickel
and smooth titanium nitride, commonly found
on medical scalpels for sharpness retention
and on costume jewelry for added sheen. Here,
the titanium simply eliminates friction, so
the Corrale glides along the hair as smoothly
as warm butter on fresh toast.
THE BRAIN
To keep the temperature
consistent and evenly
distributed, sensors located
in the handle of the Corrale
assess the heat of the
copper plates 100 times per
second. Dyson says this heat
control and the hair-hugging
plates let the Corrale
transform texture at a high
temperature with 50 percent
less heat damage than its
peers. And Dyson has the
pictures to prove it. The
team built hundreds of
machines exclusively for
testing the Corrale; one
does nothing but pass the
iron over a tuft of human hair
while taking microscopic
photos of the strands.THE POWER
The Corrale’s battery is Dyson’s most sophisticated
one yet. The coin-size disc charges from empty to
90 percent full in less than an hour (the process slows
for the final stretch). And even at only 90 percent
juice, the iron works cord-free for up to 30 minutes.
If you don’t want to charge with a cord (so quaint),
use the dock that’s included, and display the tool on
your countertop like an objet d’art.THE BUTTONS
There are three carefully
calculated heat
settings—330, 365, and
410 degrees Fahrenheit—
for a kaleidoscopic selection
of styles. In minutes,
the max 410 degrees can
straighten blown-out 4B
curls, and 365 will simply
loosen them. At the other
end of the spectrum, fine
hair can be wrapped around
the Corrale shaft and heated
at 330 for smooth waves.* THE PRICE
$499. (We never said revolution was cheap.)