Dyson Corrale review

How do you learn to love an innovative product that’s so different from the everyday? When it doesn’t do what you expect or sound like you think it should… is this a good thing or a bad thing? My first reaction to using the Dyson Corrale… was a bit alarming, but how often are first impressions, lasting impressions? I recently received a review sample of the Dyson Corrale and this hands-on review in my home I’ll try it out for both straightening and waving my hair, I’ll let you know what the user experience is like, how my hair feels, and any other considerations about this pricey hair care tool. I’ll wrap things up with the pros and cons and then let you know if I think you should pick up this device for yourself.

One of the most blogged-about brands in haircare has to be Dyson, and back when they were focused on vacuums, who would have thought they’d become the dominant force in the beauty space? Every year it seems the company takes a basic haircare tool we’ve all come to take for granted and elevates it from humble to haute. One of the more recent elevations is taking the basic hair straightener and Dyson-ifying it with the Dyson Corrale.

What is Dyson Corrale?

Corrale is a cordless, rechargeable hair straightener tool that can also create curls and waves too. It has a simple OLED info screen, with just a few buttons on the side.

Once you use the big button to unlock it you’ll see the others; a power button and up/down buttons to adjust temperature. A battery indicator on the screen tells you how much juice you have at any given time.

The exterior of the tool is cool-touch plastic so you can grip it anywhere.

What’s in the box?

Inside your package you’re getting the basics; the Corrale straightener, which feels quite heavy. There’a also a 2-piece docking and charging stand, the swivelling 3.2m MagSafe charging cable (which connect to the Corrale itself and to the dock), and a soft heatproof velvet case for travel.

The Corrale weighs about 500 grams of just over one pound.

Set up and first use: confusing

Before your first use you have to take the straightener out of travel/shipping mode. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to do this and the instructions I found online weren’t helpful. Once you unlock the Corrale, you’ll see a small tab in the opening; it pulls out like a wafer, and you just flip it over and put it back in. This is supposed to disable the battery so you can fly with it.

The battery switch.

Once inserted the other way, you’ll be able to power the Corrale on and get to work.

Heat settings

Perhaps surprisingly, there’s only three heat settings on the Corrale; essentially low medium and high: 330ᵒF, 365ᵒF, 410ᵒF. I was a bit surprised by this but often Dyson has a pretty good handle on what we need for optimal hair style without damage, so I was willing to trust, and opted to start at the middle setting of 365. While that setting did work okay for me, after a couple of test styling sessions I did end up cranking it up to the topmost heat setting.

Use corded or cordless

In a clever twist you can use the Corrale in a few ways, whether you’re looking for flexibility or long battery life. You can use it completely cordless, you can use it while replacing it on its charging dock during styling so it’s always getting a top-up, or connect the power cord directly to the Corrale for constant power.

Battery life

The battery life you can expect from Corrale is about 30 minutes cord free.

Recharge time is about 70 minutes, which is a long time for such a short end-output. I’m hopeful that future iterations will improve on this. The recharging time shouldn’t really be an issue if you store your device on the dock or leave the cord connected when you’re finished.

Flexing Copper plates

One of the most unusual features(and hardest to get used to, if I’m being honest) is what’s called the flexing manganese copper alloy plates. Essentially the metal plates that straighten your hair aren’t fixed so they move on their own and as your hair pulls through them. Dyson says this allows you to create the same style but with less heat – and half the damage.
They do make an odd scraping sound.. which at first I thought was my hair,

My hands-on experience: straightening

The Corrale is a different straightening experience. Initially, I didn’t like it. The plates felt like they were scraping my hair and there was a pulling noise that concerned me.

I also found the device heavy and a bit awkward to get used to, but I’m glad to say I stopped noticing the weight after a few uses; I found myself putting it down between sections anyway so my arms got a rest.

Dyson says the straightener has a tourmaline edge which should help reduce static, and I can confirm I never felt my hair getting staticky after use.
I can say that the Corrale works quickly and using medium-sized pieces of hair, I was able to get my whole head straightened in under 10 minutes.

Granted my hair is already pretty straight, so I was using it mainly for smoothing, polishing, and de-frizzing, but I was really pleased with the results.

My hands-on experience: Curling

If you’ve ever used a flat iron for curling, you know it takes some practice. Even I had to do a bit of relearning with this device mainly because of the weight and those floating plates. But I was able to both curl my hair, and style up some beachy wave quite easily and I ended up quite impressed by the versatility of this tool. Because the plate float, and the barrels supporting the straightening plates are round, and there’s a cool touch exterior, it makes it quite easy to give your hair just the right amount of wave.

There’s also an auto shutoff which will power the Corrale off if not used within about 10 minutes. The Corrale will beep a few times to warn you before powering down.

It does not appear that timer is adjustable.

Overall review: Dyson Corrale

Overall Dyson Corrale won me over because it does a great job of its key task which is straightening; it’s able to smooth and de-frizz my hair in a single pass. I also love that it can be used to curl or wave your hair, making it a very good option for travel. The device heats up fast, and because you can use it cordless or with the cord, you can get as much use from it as you need in a single styling session. I feel like the Corrale left my hair smooth and shiny and the tourmaline plates did leave my hair static free—no small feat in the winter.

When it comes to the downsides, some people may really dislike the heavier weight of this device, but I did feel like I got used to it pretty quickly. Ditto for the disconcerting scratching noise when pulling my hair through the Corrale; after a while, I stopped being concerned about it.

I think the bigger downsides for serious users will be the very short-term battery life of just 30 minutes on a single charge, and the fact it is only limited to three heat settings, and I quickly went right up to the highest heat.

If you can make peace with the downsides, this is a pretty handy and useful hairstyling tool that I think a lot of people are going to love.

Its regular price is about $649CAD/$499USD and you can get it from places like Dyson, Best Buy, Walmart, and sometimes from Amazon.

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