Shark FlexStyle Air Styling & Drying System: Attachments and Alternatives

At the Paris International Aeronautical Salon in the autumn of 1910, the Romanian engineer Henri Coandă showed an aircraft with no propeller. It was the only exhibit at the show without one. He built it around a ducted jet of air, and the idea that a stream of air will cling to a curved surface later took his name. He patented the effect in France in 1934, though historians still argue over how much that little aircraft had to do with the discovery. Either way, the thing you can feel on your bathroom counter every morning has a Paris exhibition hall for an ancestor.

Shark built its hair tool on the same principle. The Shark FlexStyle Air Styling & Drying System arrived in September 2022 as a dryer that also styles: one handle, then a set of heads you swap on depending on what your hair needs that day. Curlers that wrap a strand using airflow, an oval brush, a paddle brush, a concentrator for a smooth finish. It is a sensible pitch, because most of us do not want five tools, we want one that does three jobs decently.

The trick is to choose the set by your hair length, not by the biggest box. The first grid is the family, with three more Shark tools at the end. The plain FlexStyle Hair Blow Dryer & Multi-Styler is the place to begin, and the version with a diffuser suits waves and curls. The 5-in-1 simply puts more heads in the box, and the FlexStyle IonCurl is the version built around curling. The Marilyn Monroe edition is the one for anyone who wants their dryer to look like a small piece of Hollywood on the shelf. Glossi, the SpeedStyle Pro FLEX and the SilkiPro Straight are Shark's other hair tools, a hot air brush, a high-velocity dryer and a wet-to-dry straightener, for anyone who already knows the one finish they want.

Start with the attachment you would use five days a week and ignore the rest for a month. For most people that is a brush, not a curler, because a good blowout is a daily habit and a curl is an occasional one.

The Paddle Brush Attachment is the one for long, straight or slightly wavy hair, since it smooths as it dries. The Round Brush Attachment gives more bend at the ends, and the Oval Brush sits between the two for a soft, bouncy finish. The IonCurl Curl-Defining Diffuser is for curls and waves that you want to dry without frizz, and the IonCurl FrizzFighter High Shine Polisher is the head for the last pass over flyaways.

Then the smaller things. The Wide-Tooth Comb is easy to underrate, but if your hair is thick or curly it lets you dry section by section without pulling. The IonCurl Styling Concentrator is the finishing nozzle from the newer generation, and the Vegan Leather Storage Case is the practical one, because a bag of loose heads left in a drawer is how you lose the round brush.

A pairing I like: the diffuser for the first ten minutes on damp hair, then the Wide-Tooth Comb to lift the roots and open the shape up. It gives volume without the crunch.

What I would skip: buying every attachment at once. Your hair will tell you which two you actually reach for.

Before you decide, ask what you want the tool to do on a rushed Tuesday. That answer sorts this grid faster than any spec sheet.

Dyson's Airwrap is the one everyone compares against. The Airwrap ID is the version made for straight to wavy hair, and the Airwrap Co-anda2x carries the Coanda name right in the title, the same airflow effect this whole category leans on. Cosmopolitan puts the Shark at roughly half the Dyson, and says the Dyson may be lighter and quieter, which sounds right to me and is worth holding in your hand before you commit.

Drybar's All-Inclusive 8-in-1 is the one that adds active heat to the air, and the Triple Shot is a dryer brush with interchangeable heads. BondiBoost's Everlast Airstyler and the T3 Aire 360 blowout kit are ceramic options, and the T3 comes with dual voltage, which suits anyone who travels. Shark's own Glam is a ceramic system that comes with a diffuser, and PATTERN by Tracee Ellis Ross sells a blow dryer with four attachments, a simple set for anyone who wants less to store.

A habit worth borrowing: try the attachments on your real hair before you count the pieces in the box. A tool with fewer heads that you like beats a tool with eight that you avoid.

What I would skip: a tool built around tight curls if what you really want is a smooth blowout. Choose for the finish you make most often.

One rule for heat protectant: apply it to damp hair, comb it through, and only then reach for the dryer. Spraying it on dry, already hot hair is like putting on sunscreen at noon.

Cosmopolitan says plainly to use a heat protectant with any heat tool, and I agree, even with a brand that says it measures and regulates temperature. Oribe's Royal Blowout is the smoothing, glossy option for straight hair. Olaplex's Volumizing Blowout Mist is light enough for fine hair that goes flat, and Bumble and bumble's Bb. Heat Shield is a classic thermal mist that layers well under a round brush.

Ceremonia's Guava Rescue is the one to try if your routine leans gentle, and Kérastase's Nutritive spray is the richer leave-in for dry ends. Living Proof's Perfect Hair Day Heat Styling Spray is a good all-rounder, and Dyson's Omega Leave-In Conditioner is the natural companion if you already own the machine. Rahua's Heat Protectant Shield is the last one to consider, a straightforward shield for the shelf.

A pairing I like: a protectant on damp hair, then a lower heat setting and a slower pass. Slower and cooler almost always looks smoother than fast and hot.

What I would skip: heat protectant layered over a heavy oil on fine hair the morning you need volume. It flattens everything.

I think the Shark FlexStyle is best treated as a dryer first and a styler second. Begin with the set that matches your hair length, use the brush you enjoy, and add the diffuser or a curler only when you know you will use it.

Keep a protectant next to it and keep the heat lower than your instinct says. Coandă had his propellerless aircraft. You have a dryer that pulls the air back around your hair, and a small, sensible habit.

One last thing before you buy: hold it. Weight and noise are personal, and a tool you dread lifting at seven in the morning will end up in the drawer with the round brush. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together How The Lip Bar Turned a Shark Tank No Into a Detroit Storefront.