I got my hands on the new Shark SmoothStyle, the new Shark SpeedStyle and the viral Shark FlexStyle. These are my first impressions of these new tools plus how they compare to each other. I’m pointing out what I like about each and what I don’t so you can pick which one will work best for you!
By: Lisa Fennessy
I got my hands on all the new Shark Beauty tools and I’m here to spill the tea on every single one of them. I’ve actually had these tools for about a month now but since I only wash my hair once a week, it’s taken me a while to get this first impressions video up. The final verdict? There are definitely pros and cons for each tool. And a lot of that is dependent on your specific hair goals. But, the entire TNK team tried these tools so consider this a round table of what we liked and what we didn’t. Keep scrolling for before and after pics and be sure to watch the video for more.
Got a question we didn’t answer? Leave us a comment below!
IN THIS POST:
- First impressions of the new Shark hair tools
- First impressions of the Shark SmoothStyle
- First impressions of the Shark SpeedStyle
- First impressions of the Shark FlexStyle
First impressions of the new Shark hair tools
RELATED: My Dyson Airwrap Styler Review (Pros & Cons AND Before + After Pics)
First impressions of the Shark SmoothStyle
Lisa (Wavy, textured and thick): So a couple of things about this type of tool. 1) I personally don’t love a hair dryer brush combo. Why? I can’t get to my roots so I feel like I’m just adding extra heat to my hair to in an attempt to dry my roots whereas a concentrator attachment on a blow dryer shoots right to the scalp and you can dry both your roots and your hair very quickly.
2) The second thing I don’t really love about this is that the smoothing elements for a combo tool like this doesn’t actually get my hair that smooth. You’re hitting it with heat below, but the top is still kind of like frizzy and untreated, you know what I mean?
This is probably my bottom pick for my type of hair out of all the Shark tools that are available now.
Kristy (Baby fine, long, straight hair that does not hold a curl): You know those mornings when you don’t want to do a whole hair routine but you don’t want to throw your hair up in a bun either? Enter the Shark SmoothStyle. It takes my dry bedhead hair from fine and straight to super fine and super straight. My hair is ready for the day in less than 5 minutes—and I really appreciate that. HOWEVER (!) while the Shark SmoothStyle works as a quick fix, it’s not my go-to.
Claire (Thick, wavy hair that takes a long time to dry): The Shark SmoothStyle felt a little on the heavy side and a little clunky to maneuver. I had to separate my hair into a bunch of smaller sections for it to dry effectively and I had a hard time getting a good grip on the hair around my hairline where it’s especially wavy. BUT I did end up with a lot of volume and my hair was very smooth. This probably made my hair look the best out of all of the tools, but it felt like it took a lot of effort and wasn’t my favorite experience as a user.
Shark® SmoothStyle™ Heated Comb Straightener + Smoother | $99.99
A new hair styling tool from Shark that you can use on wet or dry hair (there are different settings for each). When you use it on wet hair it essentially becomes a large barrel brush and blow dryer in one. On dry hair it smoothes and adds volume similar to a large velcro roller look.
Choose this if: Volume is your key hair goal and your hair is straight to wavy.
Pros:
- Can use on wet OR dry hair
- Blow dryer and styler in one
- Adds a ton of volume
Cons:
- You can’t do a rough dry with this
- Hard to dry roots
- It’s a little heavy
- Hard to get smaller pieces around hairline
- Doesn’t work well for curly or natural hair
- Won’t replace a traditional straightener
SAVE: Use code TNK10 for 10% off the Shark® SmoothStyle™ at Shark.
RELATED: My Everything Shower for Hair—A Step By Step Guide.
First impressions of the Shark SpeedStyle
Lisa: I am obsessed with how lightweight and easy this is to hold and maneuver. It’s super easy for travel and for storage. (Like, it doesn’t take up a whole drawer. IYKYK). Plus the air comes out insanely fast. I cannot believe this tiny little dryer gets so much air power out of it. I love that I can dry my hair straight with the QuickSmooth Brush attachment and then use the RapidGloss™ Finisher attachment to tame fly aways (gray hair gals know the struggle). The RapidGloss™ Finisher is a dupe for Dyson’s FlyAway smoother and it REALLY works.
Most people are only going to use one to two, maybe three attachments. So I love that you can pick out the ones that you’re going to use and you don’t have to actually pay for the ones that you’re not going to use.
Attachment options:
- Turbo Concentrator
- RapidGloss™ Finisher
- QuickSmooth Brush (half brush)
- Express Touchup Brush (full brush)
- DefrizzFast Diffuser
- Lift & Stretch Wide-Tooth Comb
I think this trumps Shark’s HyperAir (their original blow dryer) because it only comes with two attachments: the air condenser and then also a half brush. They say they both the Shark HyperAir and the Shark SpeedStyle work to quickly dry hair and reduce heat, so if it’s choosing between these two I would definitely go with the Shark SpeedStyle—you get more attachment options and I mean I just can’t get over the size. I love it.
Hot tip: Make sure you use the Turbo Concentrator when rough drying to avoid tangle city.
Kristy: I timed it and it only took 3 mins to dry my long, just-out-of-the-shower hair to 80%! Then it was just a little bit longer to finalize. My styled hair was super sleek and straight. I love how compact the dryer is—it’s like the hair dryer version of a water flosser. It’s so concentrated!
Claire: This made my hair look fantastic in less than 10 min with minimal effort! It dried my hair so fast and I used the QuickSmooth Brush attachment once it was 50% dry. Normally I use a flatiron to smooth things out after blow drying, but I didn’t even need it. Like at ALL. I did a time comparison for the Shark SpeedStyle vs my older Revlon blow dryer and Shark SpeedStyle only took 9 minutes from start to finish while the Revlon took 13 minutes. That’s 4 extra morning minutes I will happily take back.
(2nd time using, photos above): I let my hair air dry too long unintentionally and thought getting it smooth with just the QuickSmooth Brush attachment would be impossible, but I was SO wrong! My hair was about 85-90% dry when I started and very frizzy/wavy as you can see in the pics above. After I sectioned out my hair in 3 layers and worked the QuickSmooth Brush attachment through each layer, I was left with a surprisingly sleek blowout.
Shark® SpeedStyle™ Hair Dryer | From $179
A super lightweight hair dryer that dries hair mind blowingly fast. You can choose different attachments depending on your hair needs or get them all. The QuickSmooth Brush attachment removes the awkwardness of trying to hold a brush and hairdryer and sections of your hair all at the same time. And the RapidGloss™ Finisher REALLY works!
Choose this if: You want a fast and extremely smooth blow out.
Pros:
- It’s insanely FAST
- It’s insanely light
- It’s insanely small
- Heat never goes above 230 degrees to avoid damage
- You can choose specific attachments or get them all
- Works for most hair types
Cons:
- Fast airflow can cause tangles when rough drying if you’re not using the concentrator
SAVE: Use code TNK10 for 10% off the Shark® SpeedStyle™ at Shark.
RELATED: Dyson Hair Dryer vs. Airwrap Compared (Pros + Cons).
First impressions of the Shark FlexStyle
Lisa: This is hands down my fave of the current Shark hair tools. This is a true hairdryer and styler in one and it’s essentially a dupe for the Dyson Airwrap (comparison post to come), but it can work on its own as a functional hairdryer which isn’t true for the Dyson.
Attachment options:
- RapidGloss™ Finisher (flyaway smoother)
- Styling Concentrator
- 1.25″ and .95″ Auto-Wrap Curlers
- Round Brush
- Oval Brush
- Paddle Brush
- Curl-Defining Diffuser
- Lift & Stretch Wide-Tooth Comb
- Some of the editions even come with a storage case and hair pins
- The latest edition (only) comes with the flyaway smoother
The Auto-Wrap Curlers give me an easy, full blowout look which is super cute. And surprisingly, the medium heat option is enough (of the 3 temps) especially for somebody with gray hair, but you can go higher or lower depending on your needs. This being said, if you’re not going to curl your hair and you don’t want that like blowout curled look, don’t invest in this because that’s really the only added bonus that you get outside of the Shark SpeedStyle.
Overall this is my top pick for all the tools because of it’s crazy functionality. I mean, you get a real hair dryer, a curling element hair styler, a smoothing styler and, if you value one of those hair dryer brushes, you can turn that into this too.
Kristy: The Shark FlexStyle combines the functions of a hair dryer and a styler (+ attachments for both straight or curly styling options). The biggest pro for me here is it’s especially helpful when I’ve traveled with it. My curls don’t last much longer than an hour with the curling attachments, but they still give my hair good volume, which is a big pro. As for straightening, the brush attachment works well on my dry straight hair, leaving it smooth and sleek. The only really con for me is that I don’t love how loud it is. I definitely reach for this tool more than any of the others.
Claire: The idea of less styling tools is genius so I went in thinking this would be my favorite tool. Drying my hair with the Paddle Brush made it super smooth and pretty straight for my hair, but it took longer than the Shark SpeedStyle to get the similar results. The Auto-Wrap Curlers work well once you get the hang of them and I love that it’s way less heat than a traditional curling iron, but I didn’t love that you can’t really leave your ends partially out. I prefer loose waves with straighter ends and this gives a more ringlet style curl at the bottom, but that’s just a personal preference. (I watched a ton of tutorials on how to get more of a “straight ends curl” which turns out, is possible but comes with a learning curve).
Shark FlexStyle™ Hair Blow Dryer & Multi-Styler | $299
The Shark FlexStyle™ has been out for awhile with a cult following—for good reason. It’s a styler and dryer in one that’s a very close (but less expensive) dupe for the Dyson Airwrap.
Choose this if: You want one tool that does all the things and you use a curling iron regularly.
Pros:
- You can use the blow dryer and styling tools separately so…
- This can be a straight blowdryer and…
- This can also give you that salon blowout look or…
- You can choose specific attachments to customize to your preference
- You can choose to buy all the attachments or you have the option to pick and choose and save
- Works for most hair types
Cons:
- There are 2 separate wand attachments that need to be switched depending on what side you’re curling
- If hair is too wet, it is hard for the styling barrels to pick up
- Has a slightly high pitched noise
SAVE: Use code TNK10 for 10% off the Shark FlexStyle™ at Shark.
RELATED: I Tried It: Kitsch Heatless Curls Review (Before & After Pics).
Have you tried any of these yet? Do you have a fave?
TNK Team Note: This article contains affiliate links. TNK uses affiliate links as a source for revenue to fund operations of the business and to be less dependent on branded content. TNK stands behind all product recommendations. Still have questions about these links or our process? Feel free to email us.
Video transcript
Hello Lisa from The New Knew here. Okay I am here today with Shark’s newest hair tools. So Shark Beauty has four hair stylers and blow dryers. I have the three latest ones and I’m going to take you through my first impressions of all three. It’s going to be semi surface level – I’m not going to be reading you any mumbo jumbo from their sales page or from the box. I’m just going to give you my first impressions on using each of these tools a couple of times and what I kind of like about each and what I kind of don’t like about each in hopes that it’ll help you.
If you’re considering one of the shark Beauty Tools to make the best decision for you, these are not cheap tools, they’re an investment and you want to make sure you pick the right one so you can use it for years to come. Also if you do decide to buy one of these tools we have a code to save so be sure to check the comments to get that. Lastly we’re going to link to a blog post which will also show some before and after photos of using each of these stylers if you want a little more info on each.
Shark SmoothStyle
Okay first up is the Shark® SmoothStyle™ this is one of those hair drying like hair dryers and round brushes all in one. It’s very similar to the One-Step Hair Dryer and Volumizer or the T3 Airebrush. I have used this a couple of times. You can use it on sopping wet hair and they have a setting for that so if you do want to use it on stopping wet hair you can choose your temp like low-medium or high right here. Then also once your hair is dry you can go back and choose the dry mode which is this and that actually heats up the brush. It gets hot and then you can go back in—there’s no air flowing from it and you can use it to smooth out your style.
So a couple of things about this type of tool. I personally don’t love a hair dryer brush combo. Why? I can’t get to my roots so I feel like I’m just adding extra heat to my scalp to try and dry my hair whereas a compressed adapter on a blow dryer just like shoots right to the scalp and you can dry your hair very quickly. This just I feel like takes a little bit more time to get in there and that’s across the board for all sorts of hair brush blow dryers all in one.
The second thing I don’t really love about this is after I dry my hair with it my hair looks decent. I mean I wouldn’t say “wow your hair is so smooth”—I naturally have wavy textured hair and I blow it out to make it look like this. If I used a diffuser and like a curl cream I could get it to wave out. It looks super cute like that too, all of that to say it’s a bit textured. So after I dry my hair with this hair drying part of this brush it looks okay, it doesn’t look like “whoa your hair is super smooth” so then when I go back in to use the smoothing heated part with no air blowing out so again just running it through your hair it also doesn’t really get that smooth to me.
I feel like it’s like a half curling iron, right, or a straightening iron. So like you’re going in and you’re hitting it with heat below but like the top is still kind of like frizzy and untreated, you know what I mean? ‘Cause I’m hitting it with heat down here, but there’s no heat over here so then it’s like I got to go back now hit the outside, now hit the under and it’s just like it’s a lot and even when I do all of that I feel like I didn’t really get like “wow that is super smooth”. All that to say this is probably my least pick for my type of hair out of all the shark tools that are available now.
Shark SpeedStyle
Okay next is their new Shark® SpeedStyle™. First of all, are you obsessed with the size of this? I am completely obsessed with this look at how small it is first of all—like super easy for travel, super easy for storage. I mean you it doesn’t take up a whole drawer. I mean it is just so easy to hold, lightweight, and doesn’t tire out your arm. I mean just look at this, it’s the smallest hair dryer I’ve ever seen that’s not like one of those travel ones that basically burns your hair off in 5 seconds.
So right from the get-go I was like I love this. Then I turn it on. It is so powerful it almost knocked me over. I cannot believe this tiny little dryer gets so much air power out of it. So again this is the Shark® SpeedStyle™ so they’re claiming high gloss, highspeed, less heat damage. You can use this as a regular hair dryer and it comes with several attachments you can either get all the attachments or you can pick two attachments. Yeah you can pick two attachments and get it for less which I also just love that option.
So if you were to use it as a regular hand dryer you see right here this um air compressor just clips right on. You have a cooling element here and you also have a power element so you can do like low air medium air or high air, the same as temperature—low temperature, medium temperature, high temperature and then here’s your power button here. I would say this got hotter than I anticipated. I really felt like the medium level was just enough for me, but I also kind of really like that too because people who want more heat can get more heat if you don’t want more more heat just go down a notch. I really like that element of user control.
Okay so you can go all in and get all of the attachments if you want. All of the attachments include options for the SmoothStyle™ which is like a dupe for the Dyson FlyAway smoother. I forget exactly what they call it, but after you finish your whole dryer—I actually have this one too—so after you finish your whole blow dry you can take your attachment off, put the smoother on and you can see this is actually like the Dyson one. It doesn’t have this like comb element but it [the SmoothStyle™] has this combing element so like you will actually get some comb marks in your hair, but when you turn it on the air blows down and all of these flyaways here just smooth right down and guess what it really works.
If it’s one of those things where you’re like does that really work? Yeah, it does. I can dry my hair and smooth it out with this and especially for people who have gray hair you know the fly away situation is not cute especially at the beginning. This will take care of that, especially if you add a little bit of hairspray, a little bit of like balm to the top and then do it. It’s insane.
Okay, so the other options for attachments are like a half brush like this and I actually particularly really love this one. I use it on the outside and just like to keep combing it through and for some reason even though it mimics the smooth style that I just showed you. For some reason it just works. I feel like that points the air right to your scalp and it just works for me, gives me a really nice smooth blowout. It’s like because I have wavy hair this really just gives me a smooth brush below. I do love this attachment.
So I have three attachments, the attachments that I don’t have that you can also get with this are a diffuser—which I would totally use—a full round brush, so instead of like a half round brush you can get a full round brush and then you can also get a comb too. So I don’t have that one either, but like I said most people are only going to use one to two, maybe three attachments. So I love that you can pick out the ones that you’re going to use and you don’t have to actually pay for the ones that you’re not going to use.
So again I think this trumps their original blow dryer which is the HyperAir which only comes with two attachments: the air condenser and then also a half brush. They say they both work to fast dry hair and reduce heat so if it’s choosing between those two I would definitely go with this one. You get more attachment options and I mean I just can’t get over the size. I love it.
Shark FlexStyle
Okay so I just showed you their two most recent hair tool launches. They’ve already had the flex style around for a little while. But I also have that one so I’m going to show it to you today as well just so you can compare to the other two.
I’m also obsessed with the FlexStyle. Some of you know that I also have the Dyson Air Wrap so I can compare those two as well which I will do at some point in the future but for today we’re comparing the FlexStyle to the new Shark Beauty Tools.
So the FlexStyle is a hair dryer and styler in one just like this SmoothStyle is a hair dryer and smoother in one. You can dry and style with one tool but you can only get a smooth sleek look with that and as the SpeedStyler is a hair dryer with all of the attachments you can’t necessarily Style with that so that’s just mostly a hair dryer. The FlexStyle is both a hair dryer and a styler all in one.
What I most love about this, and which is not true for the Dyson, is you can turn this into a hair dryer. So all of the attachments that you have you can attach and use it like this (see demonstration), which mostly you’re probably only going to want to attach this one to use it like a hair dryer.
So I love this element because again if you don’t have an option to put this air compressor on the next thing you know you’re just blowing your hair to tangle city. And it’s not a cute look and it’s super hard to manage. I don’t know why some of these stylers, like the Dyson one, will say give your hair a rough dry – same with this one, like give your hair a rough dry before using the styling elements.
If you give your hair a rough dry straight like this… No. I mean, it’s such hair damage and it’s such a nuisance again. Tangle city. I don’t recommend it but the fact that they’ve created a way to actually turn this into a functional hair dryer is… I’m dead. Like this is just everything. So you could use this as a hair dryer and nothing else if you wanted to. But you definitely want to use it as everything else because it’s amazing.
So this comes with several attachments. Their latest edition which is a limited edition has even more attachments. The attachments that come with this are: you get the flyaway styler, you also get the the air compressor, you get two curling elements and you get a couple of round brush options as well some of the editions come with a travel bag and some pins. Only the latest edition comes with the FlyAway Styler. The original editions do not, so just pick what’s best for you if that’s what you want.
Ater you give your hair a rough dry, you can go back in and style it. So again, this is how you turn it back into the styler (demonstration) so here you have your cooling element like a cool blast. You have three options for air speed and then you have three options for a heat speed. Again this gets really hot in my opinion I I feel like the medium heat option is good especially for somebody with gray hair. And that’s it for this.
So the Dyson has one. This one has two. So you have one for both sides so if you’re going to do this side of your head, you use this side. If you’re going to do the other side of your head, you use the other side. So using these you actually get that sort of curl like this and if you brush it out it looks like a full blow out. Super cute, really easy to use, I love it. Two brush attachments – one is a full round brush, the other one is a half brush. I don’t really use these. How you do your hair determines what’s going to be valuable to you and may be different from the way I do my hair. I just don’t use these, like I would rather just use the blow drying element with the air compressor and a brush you know. I don’t know, that’s just me. I feel like it just gets more smooth that way.
So all in all just because of the functionality of this – that you actually get a real hair dryer, that you get a curling element hair styler, that you actually get the smoothing that goes with it, that you actually, if you value one of those hair dryer brushes, you can turn that into this too. This is my top pick for all the tools.
I just love the functionality of it. But again if you’re not going to curl your hair, you know if you’re not going to curl it and you don’t want that like blowout curled look, don’t invest in this because that’s really the only added bonus that you get outside of the SpeedStyle. That’s the hair dryer that I just showed you. It has all the attachments, that’s super light, that’s like a hair dryer on roids and you have everything you need with that to get all of the styles that you want.
Overall impressions
So that’s my hot take. That’s my first impressions if you want to see any of these used or compared to each other head to the blog for before and after photos. Leave me a comment if there’s a specific video that you want to see next. Maybe something a little bit more specific that I didn’t dive into here let me know, I am here for you!
