I tried RevAir a game-changing hair dryer that dried my hair in record time

Is RevAir the one hair dryer you need in your life?

RevAir could be mistaken for the end of a vacuum cleaner, but will actually dry your hair in minutes, does it actually work? I went to the UK launch event and tested it out, so read on to see what I thought!

The product was created by a father who needed some help doing his daughter’s ponytail. Inspired by the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner of course. Such a simple idea with great technology to back it up. The name ‘RevAir’ comes from ‘reverse hairdryer’.

RevAir was founded by UK-based Debra Isaacson, her brother Kip Cooper and his friend Scott Thomason. Kip and Scott are the engineers that created the technology of this genius machine. After 5 years of testing, they launched in the US in June 2018. Kip admitted to using the end of a vacuum cleaner to do his daughter’s ponytails, and that’s where the idea came from.

I wanted to know what exactly was the moment that led them to create this product, and Debra told me: “In theory, combining heat and suction to dry hair straight made perfect sense. Still, when putting it to the test in my kitchen, using my vacuum cleaner to suck up my hair, and my blow dryer to inject heat, I felt nervous and even a bit ridiculous. But, the moment I pulled my hair out of the vacuum and that once wet, thick, unruly bunch fell straight and sleek, I was gobsmacked. My knees were shaking, my heart was pounding and all I could think was, finally, an actual solution to my lifelong hair challenges”.

The product

RevAir drying time will depend on your hair type and length, straight hair is the quickest to do, and I’m somewhere in the middle with wavy (but long) hair. They say it’s three times faster to use this versus traditional dryers, for instance for coily hair it will take 60 minutes versus 3 hours with a normal dryer.

RevAir dries and straightens at the same time, leaving hair smooth and soft. You don’t even need a hairbrush, as RevAir will suck the hair in the tube directly.

The air technology won’t damage hair like conventional hair dryers would and it will minimise hair drying time massively. You can select the intensity of the hot air from 0 to 9.

On the below picture you can see how the hose bit looks, the top part is where you feed the hair into, and the other bit goes in the metal stand so you don’t have to awkwardly balance in on the table while sectioning your hair.

The trial

I have wavy hair on the normal to thick side, with a lot of frizz and normally rough dry it with a brush and hairdryer and very rarely straighten it. I have found my hair is in much better condition since I’ve reduced heat, but also get regular trims. Also, the weather this week has been so humid and muggy in the UK, so it was the perfect occasion to try it out.

I had my hair washed, and sectioned in about 12 sections by the lovely Andrew Bidwell (co-founder of Swell hair care, that I’ve actually met 3 years ago, it was so nice having him do my hair again), who showed me how to use this new device. Each section takes about 1 minute to dry, simply feed it in the hose. Move it slightly around the area, with the strand of hair still in the hose, to get the roots properly dry.

With a heat of 7, Andrew dried and straightened my whole hair in about 15 minutes. The same result at a salon takes approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Andrew is super experienced in hair, and I’m glad he was the one to demonstrate this – he’s been using it with his clients and he told me that the best thing about it is “there is no skill required”.

Hair needs to be soaking wet for this to work properly, as the humidity from the water is what will help you achieve the straight and smooth outcome. You can spritz with water throughout before using it.

Also you can do more than one hairstyles, Andrew added a few hair clips throughout to give me soft curls. It didn’t require any extra time, but he did blast them with cold air (1 on the heating setting) before taking the clips out to help with the hold of the curls. If hair is still hot when you let the clip out they won’t really stay in place.

The verdict

I am seriously impressed by the product, and the end result. Yes, it’s expensive at £359, but it’s an investment, and I personally have hair tools for years so I would definitely get this.

Apart from the price, the base is quite heavy and bulky, so clearly unsuitable for travelling but great to have at home, especially if you want a quick and easy hair drying solution. The end bit that you have on your hand, is much lighter than a hairdryer.

You barely need any instructions (apart from how to set the machine up), and hair is so soft and like you left a salon in half the time. Also, your head doesn’t get hot like with traditional hair dryers, which is a huge issue for me normally.

The RevAir dryer is available on their website from the 12th of July, for £359, I will update when it’s available!