Drybar says the hair device is sweet for wavy, curly, straight, and all hair sorts. But I’d say “all hair types” is a stretch. I’ve Type 2 hair—wavy, high-quality, frizzy, and coarse—which inserts the sort this device is designed for. But it offers me extra of a voluminous blowout than pin-straight hair, regardless of being half flat iron. And that is on the very best temperature setting.

You’ll have the selection between cool, medium, and excessive temperature settings. But in an effort to scale back warmth injury, it solely goes as much as 250 levels Fahrenheit. I crank up my blow dryer to excessive and my flat iron to 450 levels, so I used to be skeptical this is able to work. But it is simply scorching sufficient. If your hair is much like mine, and even thicker, you must preserve it on excessive. Otherwise, you won’t see any outcomes in any respect, or it is going to take an eternity to dry.

It additionally packs Ionic Technology—which is supposed to scale back frizz and shine whereas styling—and nylon tufted bristles round every plate that the corporate says “provide the perfect amount of tension to create an enhanced straightening effect.” I nonetheless want my flat iron to clean over the puffiness and flyaways (relying on the look I need to obtain), and I’m unsure the tufted bristles do a lot apart from snag my hair. And OK, I do know that bristles are supposed to carry lifeless hair and pores and skin cells off my scalp, nevertheless it’s nonetheless gross to look at it construct up.

I do, nonetheless, really feel like my hair appears to be like and feels more healthy. This might be as a result of I’m washing it commonly, because it would not take me as lengthy. With damp hair, I’m completed styling in about 10 to fifteen minutes. With towel-dried hair, it takes me a bit over 20 minutes. So it does lower my styling time in half. But it may be as a result of I’m not making use of almost as a lot warmth to it.

Weigh Your Options

If your hair is basically thick, the RevAir Reverse-Air Dryer (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is a greater various. It’s costlier, at $399, however the vacuum-style machine packs options that is likely to be extra appropriate for you—together with seven stress settings and two warmth settings (158 and 220 levels Fahrenheit). It additionally has small openings to dry your scalp and dries the remainder of your hair with air downwards to forestall frizz.

There’s additionally the Dyson Airstrait (8/10, WIRED Recommends) for $500. It has no scorching plates and dries solely with scorching air, so it is an amazing possibility should you’re apprehensive about warmth injury. It additionally comes with a moist and dry mode, so you should use it as a blow-dryer and flat iron concurrently with moist hair or dry hair. It works quite a bit higher on my thicker hair, and the power to modify to dry mode has fully eradicated the necessity for my straightener. But it’s extremely costly.

If you are still leaning towards the Straight Shot, it is price reiterating that until you could have thinner hair, it most definitely will not provide the identical stick-straight look as a flat iron. It did, nonetheless, give me the identical blowout I get with a spherical brush and hairdryer in about half the time. If you go along with this selection, I’d nonetheless maintain on to your flat iron. But at the least you’ll half methods together with your blow dryer.