“I don’t allow the word ‘brand’ to be used in the company at all. Because a brand is what you think of yourself. And we don’t like to think about ourselves,” addresses Sir James Dyson. We’re in Seoul sitting in a light-filled conference room that is buzzing with excitement just after the global launch of Dyson’s latest innovation, the Supersonic Nural. It’s a hairdryer that has once again outsmarted its Supersonic predecessors. The new product’s trademarked Nural sensor technology protects your scalp by reducing the heat from low to high according to the distance the machine is from your head.
Dyson continues: “We think about products. So if people know us from our products, whether in the performance of our product, what it does and how it looks after you, that’s all that is important.” Perhaps it’s this laser-sharp focus that has propelled Dyson to be one of the leading companies of the world.
With every emerging piece of technology, the Singapore- based company proves why it dominates the appliance market with no signs of slowing down. Just two weeks before the grand reveal of the Supersonic Nural, the company unveiled the Airstrait, which makes use of high-pressure air, as opposed to heated plates, to smooth and dry wet hair into a sleek and straight style. Its main underlying motive? To eliminate heat damage and aid in healthier and shinier hair over time.
Easy application
Dyson’s latest innovation is spurred by the same mission, one that protects and safeguards the hair and scalp health of its customers. I learn this prior, through an exclusive preview of the new device, complete with its various styling attachments. With its application, nothing was marginally different when compared to its predecessors. But as I hovered it closer to my scalp, the hairdryer’s scalp protect mode lowered the heat as a circular LED light panel indicated the action with a colour switch. Fortunately, I was with Kim Sun-woo, South Korean hair stylist to the stars, including the likes of Blackpink, Irene Kim and Seo Ye-ji. The Dyson styling ambassador took me through an intimate masterclass, by way of the Flyaway Smoother attachment. “This was developed by Dyson based on the idea that professionals would hold a comb with one hand and finish styling their hair with a dryer with the other. With this, you can easily blow-dry with one hand.” My sleek straight mane desperately called for some texture and waves, to which Kim easily achieved a natural C-curl with the attachment. “Dry the layer on the side of the hair by curling it inward. Since the Flyaway Smoother tool has a comb, styling is completed just by combing. Make sure to spray some water when working with dry hair as it’s always easier to style hair when it’s damp,” advises Kim.
Scalp health at its core
Sitting before Dyson, the aim of putting the consumer first is instantly palpable with the 76-year-old founder and chief engineer, who ruminates on the importance of scalp health and developing products to solve problems. “I’m worried about the heat that a machine is capable of generating and the damage it does. So it’s really a way of preventing people from accidentally overheating their hair and scalp.” As Dyson’s team of researchers discovered, moisture loss occurs when one’s scalp is damaged. Hence, the key to the Supersonic Nural’s scalp protect mode feature was to maintain moisture levels and allow gentle drying.
Still, the solution couldn’t compromise on efficiency. So Dyson’s engineers searched for a way that could still dry tresses quickly. “It’s not permanently low temperature. But when you move it away, you can raise the temperature, not exceeding 55 degrees,” elaborates Dyson. These sensors react and indicate the switch of temperature with LED lights circling the head of the device— yellow (low heat), orange (medium heat) and red (high heat).
Intelligence learning
The Supersonic Nural also uses machine learning to recognise a user’s styling habits, specifically, with Dyson’s array of attachments that might vary in terms of airflow and ideal temperature. Over time, the machine picks up on the user’s preferred attachments and alters its heat and airflow accordingly.
Rather than being driven by trends, technology remains firmly at the core of Dyson’s innovations. “Having developed high- speed electric motors in the vacuum cleaners, we saw that we could use the same type of motor in a hairdryer and that will transform the hairdryer. So technology is the most important thing. And from that comes the ideas for products,” concludes Dyson.
Shop the Dyson Supersonic Nural here.
This article was originally published in the May ‘Escape’ issue of Vogue Singapore, available online and on newsstands now.
