Dyson Supersonic r Hair Dryer

Summary

If you style with a round brush and a concentrator, you know how awkward it is to reach the back of your neck without twisting your wrist. The Dyson Supersonic r swaps the brand’s straight format for a curved body, with the air outlet bent forwards, and in our hands that curve was easy to angle towards the back of the head, section by section.

With the concentrator fitted and speed and heat on maximum, it dried long, soaking-wet hair in just under three and a half minutes on average. That puts it in the fast group of the dryers we’ve timed on the same hair, a little ahead of our runs with the Supersonic Nural and behind the quickest in our comparison.

Dyson quotes 1,700 W, an airflow of 12.4 litres per second and four heat settings, counting cool air, combined with three speeds. It heats the air with ten heater foils spread around the curve of the body, and each of its five attachments has a chip that tells the dryer which heat and speed you used with it last time.

It suits you if you style with a brush and want a compact dryer that’s easy to handle around the back of your head. It isn’t for you if you want a diffuser in the box, because this version for straight and wavy hair doesn’t include one, or if you like drying without an attachment, because it only works with one fitted.

We tested the Supersonic r in Spain, and Amazon.co.uk sells the same model in the same Ceramic Pink and Rose Gold, listed as the version for straight hair.

The drawback you notice most in use is the plug, which is bulky for the size of the dryer. Noise stays at the level of a powerful dryer, and the maximum heat runs high, so protecting your roots is down to how you handle it.

Analysis and verdict

Power and airflow – Score: 8.9/10

With the concentrator and everything on maximum, long, soaking-wet hair was dry in 3 minutes 27 seconds on average. That’s practically the same as the 3:31 of the ghd Helios on the same hair, and well short of the 2:51 of the Philips 8000 Series.

The comparison with its sensor-equipped sibling is direct, because both went through the same hair with the same starting settings. The r finished around 18 seconds sooner on average than our runs with the Supersonic Nural with its scalp protect mode switched off. With three blow-dries per dryer, that’s a difference to read with caution. In drying speed, the r plays in the same league as the fast digital dryers, without pulling away from them.

The claimed airflow is 12.4 litres per second, a little below the Nural’s 13.3, yet the air from the concentrator is still narrow and firm, the kind that lets you tension a section with the brush without blowing the rest of your hair about. For long hair it’s more than enough power. What it doesn’t offer is free drying without a nozzle, because the dryer only starts with an attachment fitted.

Hair care – Score: 8.3/10

The r doesn’t have the Nural’s scalp protect mode, which lowers the heat as you get closer to your head. What it does have is built-in heat control and a heater made of ten foils spread around the curve, designed to heat the air evenly without hot spots or cold patches.

We measured the air two centimetres from the concentrator, in the centre of the airflow and on high speed, and it read 96 °C on maximum heat and 77 °C on the middle setting. That’s a high maximum, above the 87-89 °C of the ghd Helios and the 91-93 °C of the Nural with its protect mode off, so at the roots it’s best to keep the dryer moving and the nozzle away from your head. That’s how we used it over the two weeks of testing, and the scalp never stung.

Over six blow-dries spread across two weeks, on medium heat with a cool shot at the end, the hair was left with less frizz in the lengths and ends than with our tester’s usual dryer, although some flyaways still appeared at the crown. We couldn’t assess the diffuser because this version doesn’t include one. If you have natural curls, the version you want is the one for curly and coily hair.

Weight and noise – Score: 8.5/10

Dyson quotes 325 g for the body of the dryer, without cable or attachment, and presents it as smaller and lighter than its original Supersonic. We didn’t weigh it on our scales, so that figure can’t be compared with the weights including cable that we publish for other dryers. What we did measure was fatigue. In ten minutes non-stop with the arm raised, the weight started to tell on the wrist at minute nine, with mild tiredness that didn’t force us to stop.

The sound meter, one metre away with speed and heat on maximum, read 80.4-80.8 dB(A) with the concentrator and 79.2-79.6 dB(A) with the power-drying attachment, compared with the 80.1 dB(A) Dyson quotes. With the concentrator it’s slightly below the 81-83 dB we measured on the Nural with its own concentrator, but it’s still the noise of a powerful dryer, the kind to use with the door shut if someone is asleep nearby.

The 2.7 m cable, with a strap to tidy it, comfortably reached the bathroom socket. The rear filter didn’t clog in the two weeks, although it gathered some fluff and the odd hair on the grille, and cleaning it takes a while. Removing it, washing it and putting it back takes about 3 minutes 20 seconds, plus air-drying time before you can use it again.

Attachments, format and versions

The box for the straight and wavy hair version contains the professional concentrator, the power-drying attachment, the attachment for frizzy hair, the wide smoothing nozzle and the gentle drying attachment, five in total. There’s no diffuser or case. Each attachment comes with a preset heat and airflow range that you can adjust within its limits, and the dryer brings back your last setting as soon as you fit it.

The curved format is the biggest change from earlier Supersonic models. With the concentrator fitted, the outlet points towards the back of your neck without turning your hand, and working section by section with the brush is comfortable. Dyson gives it a height of 28.5 cm, a length of 10.8 cm and a width of 5.5 cm. The plug, on the other hand, is bulky, and it’s what takes up the most room when you tidy the cable away.

There’s another version for curly and coily hair, with the same dryer and a different set of attachments that includes the diffuser and a wide-tooth comb.

Pros

• 3 minutes 27 seconds on average to dry long, soaking-wet hair with the concentrator, on a par with the fast digital dryers we’ve timed on the same hair.
• Curved body that naturally points towards the back of the neck, so you can work section by section with the brush without twisting your wrist, and without feeling the weight until minute nine.
• Five attachments that remember their last setting, so each nozzle starts with the heat and speed you used the time before.
• 2.7 m cable with a tidy strap, which comfortably reaches any bathroom socket, and a filter that didn’t clog in two weeks of use.

Cons

• No diffuser in the box and 96 °C on maximum heat, with no scalp protect mode, so you have to manage the distance at the roots yourself and you need the other version for curls.
• 80.4-80.8 dB(A) at one metre with the concentrator, a bulky plug and no way to dry without an attachment, so you don’t gain quietness or simplicity over other dryers in its range.

Our test

Test 1: Power and airflow – long, soaking-wet hair after a shower

We dried long hair straight out of the shower, the same hair we’ve used to test the other dryers in our comparison, with the concentrator, high speed and maximum heat. We timed the full blow-dry until roots and ends felt dry to the touch, three times, and compared it with our runs with the Supersonic Nural on the same hair, with the same starting conditions and the Nural’s protect mode switched off.

The three runs came in at 3:24, 3:31 and 3:27, compared with 3:42, 3:48 and 3:45 for the Nural. That’s around 18 seconds less in these runs, a difference that, with three blow-dries per dryer, we take as an indication rather than a proven advantage. If you’re coming from an old dryer, you’ll notice the change; if you already own a fast digital dryer, the r won’t save you minutes. We can’t say how it behaves on very thick or very dense hair, because that wasn’t the hair we tested on.

Test 2: Hair care – two weeks of warm air and a cool shot

Over two weeks we dried the hair six times on medium heat with a cool shot at the end, and after each session we noted the level of frizz and whether the air bothered the scalp. Separately, we measured the air temperature with a thermometer two centimetres from the concentrator, in the centre of the airflow and on high speed, on maximum and medium heat.

The air felt gentle on the head and didn’t sting in any session, always with the dryer moving and the nozzle held away from the roots, and the hair ended up smoother in the lengths and ends than with the usual dryer, with a few flyaways at the crown. The diffuser part couldn’t be done because there isn’t one in the box, and two weeks isn’t long enough to judge the long-term effect on the hair fibre. If your priority is protecting a sensitive scalp without having to watch the distance, this isn’t the model in the family that solves it.

Test 3: Weight and noise – ten minutes with the arm raised

We placed the sound meter one metre away, with the dryer on maximum speed and heat, and took three readings with the concentrator and three with the power-drying attachment; without an attachment it couldn’t be measured, because the dryer won’t run. We then dried for ten minutes non-stop with the arm above shoulder height, noting the minute it started to weigh on the wrist, whether the cable reached from the bathroom socket and what was in the rear filter after two weeks.

With the concentrator the sound meter read 80.4, 80.8 and 80.5 dB(A), and with the power-drying attachment 79.2, 79.6 and 79.3 dB(A), in a room with 35 dB(A) of background noise. The weight became noticeable at minute nine without needing to stop, the cable had length to spare and the filter only had some fluff and the odd hair, without clogging. If noise is what worries you most, this dryer won’t solve it.

If you’d like to know more about what to look for, take a look at our guide to the best hair dryers, where you’ll find the best models we’ve tested to help you choose the right one for you.