I spent 3 months with the Dyson Supersonic r — here’s my verdict

The Dyson Supersonic r hair dryer gets full marks for performance. It's everything you could want from a Dyson hair tool: powerful, attractive and quiet.

I've been testing the Dyson Supersonic r for a few months now on my fine, curly hair, and =this hair dryer is one of the fastest and quietest dryers I've ever come across. It's no wonder it was initially designed to be used in professional hair salons! I'd make a terrible hairdresser, but if I were going to hold a hair tool for hours at a time the Supersonic r is the one I'd choose. However, it has a very bulky plug that would make it tricky to take on vacation and may struggle to fit into some plug sockets.

But with a top-notch Dyson product comes a daunting price tag, and for the average buyer, the cost of the Supersonic r may prove hard to justify—especially when the brand already makes an amazing hair dryer that's $100 cheaper. Is it right for you? Find out with my full review.

Dyson Supersonic r: Price and Availability

The Dyson Supersonic r is eye-wateringly expensive: $649 at Dyson, or £449 in the UK.

It comes in two versions: one for those with Straight + Wavy hair, and one for Curly + Coily hair.

With the Curly + Coily version, you get five attachments: the Powerful Air Attachment, Pro Concentrator, Diffuser, Flyaway Attachment and Wide-Tooth Comb.

With the Straight + Wavy version, you also get five attachments, a number of which are the same: Powerful Air Attachment, Pro Concentrator, Gentle Air Attachment, Flyaway Attachment, Smoothing Nozzle.

Basically, if you buy the Straight + Wavy version, you get a couple of additional concentrators, and with the Curly + Coily version you get a diffuser for drying curls, and a comb for stretching out coils. Both cost the same and come in the same range of colors.

I tested the Supersonic r in the Ceramic Pink/Rose Gold colorway, and it's a knockout. I was so charmed from the second I opened the box. You can see why it's called the Supersonic r — it's curved like a lower-case r, with a very lightweight body that can kick up a lot of power, very fast.

Dyson Supersonic r review: Performance

I've got tricky hair, which makes it great for testing hair dryers. It's curly, it's thick but fine, it tangles easily, and with some serious taming it can look glossy and sleek. Until it senses humidity in the air, when it bounces right back into a cloud of frizz.

I tested the Curly + Coily iteration of the Supersonic r. If they'd done a Wavy + Curly version, that probably would've been best for my light and frizz-prone 2C to 3A hair type. But the only attachment I'm unable to give a proper verdict on is the wide-tooth comb, which is best suited to coily hair.

If you would use the comb to dry your hair, one major thing to consider is that it's so lightweight, which would make it ideal for drying textured hair, which can typically take longer than finer textures.

Diffuser

Dyson's diffusers are great. Very lightweight, wide, with a low profile. However, I actually prefer the Supersonic Nural's diffuser to the Supersonic r. It has a removable insert that allows you to detach the prongs, turning the diffuser into more of a bowl shape that's great for waves. It's a shame Dyson didn't add this feature to the Supersonic r, especially as it's the more premium of the two dryers.

That's not to detract from how good this diffuser is, though. The main thing I've found since switching to the Supersonic r is that it's just so quiet. I measured it at around 65dB on low speed, which is about the same as a noisy air fryer.

Anyone with curls will know that you can spend hours, sometimes with your head tipped uncomfortably upside down, gently drying your curls on a low speed and heat setting so as not to disturb their natural pattern. And when your hair dryer is so loud that you can't so much as listen to music while you dry, that becomes a problem.

With the Supersonic r, I was able to listen to a few songs on the Wicked soundtrack while gently diffusing my curls. And I was pretty happy with the result, too.

The picture above was taken after about 15 minutes of low-heat, low-speed hair drying. I wish I could say I always had that much patience, but I was happy with the definition I was able to achieve when I whacked the temperature and speed up and blasted my hair dry. There was a bit more frizz, but if you're in a hurry, this dryer is up to the task.

Blow-drying

Growing up with knot-prone hair and no concept of a diffuser, I rarely used a hair dryer. My mom's model, even with its concentrator attachment, would immediately turn my hair into a tangled cloud. It's lucky I ended up testing hair dryers for work or I may never have learned that hair dryers aren't meant to do that. And thankfully, the Supersonic r doesn't.

To test its capacilities on less curly hair, I brushed my wet hair and then blasted on high heat and speed using the Powerful Air Attachment. When it hit 50% dry, I then switched to the concentrator attachment and used a hairbrush to try and get my hair looking sleek and shiny.

At high heat and speed, the noise level was in the mid 70dB range. I could still listen to Wicked, but if I'd opted for a podcast, I may have missed some of it.

The Supersonic r has a Cold Shot button, which is great for locking in shine and sealing the hair follicle. Without this, I find that my hair looks and feels frazzled for a few hours after I've blow-dried it. It's like it needs the cool air to relax. So I'm glad that Dyson included this feature with the Supersonic r.

However, if you do struggle with frizz, there's an attachment for that. It's called the Flyaway Attachment, and it uses a jet of concentrated air to pick up longer strands of hair and direct them smoothly along the surface of the hair. It's meant to hide flyaways using Dyson's Coanda Effect.

You can see in the photo above how my hair looked before and after using this attachment. My hair is a frizz magnet; this was it on a good day. I don't think the Flyaway Attachment got rid of every rogue strand, but the hair definitely looked more professionally finished after a few passes with this tool.

From start to finish, this took me around 20 minutes. But keep in mind, I have very thick and high-maintenance hair. Typically, a style like this would take me half an hour to achieve. So while 20 minutes doesn't sound speedy, think about how long your hair usually takes to go from wet to dry with a hair dryer, and cut it by a third. That's roughly what I got with the Supersonic r.

My boyfriend's hair is dry in under two minutes when he uses this hair dryer, and he gets heaps of volume at the roots from its powerful airflow.

A note on attachments

One thing I found when switching attachments is that this hair dryer needs an attachment in-place to work. If you don't have a go-to attachment in place (for me, that's the Powerful Air Attachment), it won't work. And you need to remove this attachment to add in the concentrator, or diffuser, or any other attachment.

That's got the potential to be problematic because if you lose an attachment or forget to pack one when you travel, you simply won't be able to use the hair dryer. Most hair dryers are able to be switched on and off with nothing in place, so this will be a slight learning curve for some.

How does it compare?

I've also tested Dyson's Supersonic Nural hair dryer, and it's also excellent.

At full price, the Supersonic r is $100 more expensive than the Nural. If you're shopping in the U.K., it's only £50 more expensive. So what sets these two dryers apart?

Mainly, it's the physical design. The Supersonic r is lighter, with the addition of a hefty plug that removes a lot of the primary electronics that would otherwise be housed in the dryer itself. This essentially redistributes 50% of the weight of the product into the plug, making the Supersonic r a more lightweight option. But the plug also makes it annoying to store and plug.

And as I've already mentioned, I think the Nural has a slightly better diffuser for those with wavy hair. It can be separated into two parts, allowing you to use the base as a bowl and pop in big handfuls of hair at a time. You get less definition, but it's super speedy.

Other differences include a longer cord on the Supersonic r — it's just under a foot longer — which is testament to the fact that it was designed with hair stylists in mind.

They're both great dryers, but considering how great the Supersonic Nural is, I don't know if you need to splash the extra cash to get the Supersonic r. In my opinion, it's the nicer of the two dryers, but I don't know if it makes a significant enough difference in performance to warrant the extra money.

Should you buy the Dyson Supersonic r?

If you're looking for the best of the best and the cost wouldn't make your eyes water, there's no reason for me to not recommend the Dyson Suersonic r. It's truly a great hair dryer: lightweight, quiet, powerful. It's also got an impressive range of high-quality attachments to suit every hair type, and because you can buy the correct model for your specific texture, you won't be left with some random attachments you'll never use sitting in a drawer somewhere.

While there's no reason not to buy the Supersonic r, I still think I'd opt for the Supersonic Nural if I were choosing one to buy. The Supersonic r offers some key benefits for professionals due to its lighter and slightly quieter design, but whether this warrants the extra $100 in cost will depend on just how much time you spend drying your (or others') hair. Pardon the pun, but if there's a difference between the two dryers' performance, it’s only by a hair.

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