The T3 Aire Multi-Styler Gave Me the Best Blowout of My Life
T3 Aire 360 Ceramic Air Styler Blowout Kit with Dual Voltage
· CosmopolitanAt brand breakfasts and launch events, beauty editors crowd around each other and talk newness, usually sharing what works for us right now and what doesn’t. Everyone’s hair types, skin types, and preferences are so different that it’s rare a product receives a resounding “love” across the board. But one hair tool did when it launched: T3’s Aire 360 Multi-Styler.
Virtually everyone I spoke to raved about how smoothing this tool was, how easy it is to use, and how it rivals their beloved Dyson Airwrap. But I’ve tested Dyson Airwrap dupes: Although products try, nothing quite measures up to my favorite go-to multi-styler. But my mind’s been blown since I started testing this tool (which just relaunched and now features dual-voltage so you can travel around the world with it). Keep reading for my full review, including how it gave me the best blowout of my life, all from my bedroom.
$350SephoraAlso Consider$297Nordstrom$350Anthropologie
About the tool:
T3 has all the bells and whistles. It’s similar to a lot of multi-stylers on the market. There’s a (very sleek, pink) base that you stick all of your attachments on. Speaking of attachments, there are four: A blow dryer, two curling wands (for each direction), and a smoothing round brush. The barrels are actually ceramic, though, so they get super hot (great for style longevity, but be careful because it can burn your hands if you touch them while using) and also adds a glossy finish to your hair so it looks even smoother.
Another cool feature? “SoftAire,” which is the dryer's unique mechanism to help speed up drying time. The brand boasts “zero” heat damage, but obviously, there still is some heat. But it’s far less than a normal curling iron or hair straightener to help protect your hair (and you should also use a heat protectant still).
Beth Gillette for Cosmopolitan
About my hair:
I’ve currently got a new lease on life because there’s a whole person’s worth of extensions attached to my head. Normally, I have a straight, fine, thin bob that doesn’t hold a style, no matter what hair products I use. But! With my Great Lengths extensions, I have a whole new world of possibilities. Now, my hair is mid-length (ahem, it’s called the “girl next door” haircut), there’s a lot more of it, and my styling limitations aren’t as apparent. But the challenges it brings? I have to be very careful with tension, i.e., harsh, round brushes that yank through my hair. I also am wary of too much heat toward my scalp, both for fear of irritation and to keep my keratin bonds from getting too hot. There’s also just, obviously, a lot more hair. Naturally, a blow-dry job takes longer than what I’m usually used to.
Initial thoughts:
This is a much smaller kit of attachments than I’m used to, but I actually prefer it. I don’t need all that. And the chic leather carrying case holds all the stuff inside, making storage a lot easier. Also, it’s pink. Love that.
Pros:
- This could 100 percent replace your blow dryer. Admittedly, I gave mine to my mom once I fell in love with the Dyson Airwrap. And I wouldn’t miss it with this either. The blow-dry attachment is powerful af and fully dried my hair. Personally, I mostly use this to dry my roots before curling or running the round brush through my ends. But it also worked once when I just tried to quickly dry my entire head before curling with an iron. It only took about five minutes total.
- The round brush is incredibly good at smoothing. My hair looks so damn sleek when I run this round brush through it, no styling cream or hair oils required. I also can get a lot of volume at my roots with it, due to the larger shape than the Dyson Airwrap.
- My curls lasted for three full days, which is super surprising for an air styler. It’s air! It can’t hold a curl like a hot iron would. But the curls only fell slightly on day two and still looked mostly uniform by day three, even after sweating in a boxing class.
- All of the attachments feel gentle on my hair. Nothing tugs at all. Huge win for my extensions, but also anyone with damaged hair.
- The design is luxe. Honestly, it’s easily the nicest Dyson Airwrap dupe I’ve found. The quality really rivals Dyson (at half the price) too. The tool itself is weighted well: not too heavy but not so light it feels cheaply made.
- Dual-voltage!! I cannot travel out of the country with nearly all of my hair tools except T3. Finally, this tool can be brought on Euro summer, galavanting around Japan, beach vacay in the Caribbean—wherever you’re going.
Cons:
- It can take a minute to feed your hair into the curling wands. Perhaps I’m just a newbie to curling long hair (without my extensions, I have a bob, lol). But I felt like I really had to wrap my hair around the wand, which kinda defeats the purpose of them being automatic. It’s not the most annoying thing, but there was a learning curve. You also have to switch out each wand depending on the direction you want to curl. TBH, this is the case for virtually every styler other than the Dyson Airwrap, though.
- The round brush is very large: great for long and thick hair, but meh for my bangs. I wish you could add an attachment that was a smaller round brush for styling bangs and short hair, since this is one of the main benefits of a tool like this for me.
- The cool shot isn’t just a quick button you can press; you have to actively hold it down. This is small, but it would be so much easier to just press a button that got cold for 10 seconds.
- Eh, the price point isn’t exactly affordable at $350. But it’s still half the price of Dyson’s Airwrap, which makes it a smidge easier to stomach.
- There’s no true straightening brush. (But I think the round brush does a great job of straightening anyway, and I’m all for fewer attachments low-key.)
My results: Does it live up to the hype?
Beth Gillette for Cosmopolitan
I don’t say this lightly: My hair has never looked so good. I walked into the office with a level of confidence that should probably be studied. Who knew a good blowout could make you have a good day? The curls are so bouncy, but my ends still feel soft and not fried like a curling iron or straightener would do. And it really only took 15 minutes or so from start to finish. My Airwrap officially has steep competition. I think I’ll stick with it for my bangs, but the curling powers on the T3 Aire are unmatched.
Another Cosmo editor’s review:
"As someone with 3a curls, I usually find that air stylers take forever—I have to blow out my roots first just to get any kind of smoothness,” says fashion and luxury commerce editor Sarah Maberry. “But when I tested this one from T3, I noticed it took way less time to zhuzh up my hair on day two or three (and yes, even day four or five, IYKYK) compared to using a traditional curling iron. I also loved that the T3 Aire comes with both curling and blow-drying attachments, so you don’t have to drop another paycheck on a separate blow-dryer brush or waste half your suitcase to pack multiple tools.”
“The before and after pics you see here were taken literally five minutes apart. While I don’t think air stylers can replace hot tools for everything, they can significantly speed up your hair routine once you master your technique.”
Why trust Cosmopolitan?
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with more than seven years of experience researching, writing, and editing hair stories.
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers skincare, makeup, hair, nails, and more across digital and print. She can generally be found in bright eyeshadow furiously typing her latest feature or hemming and hawing about a new product you "have to try." Prior to Cosmopolitan, she wrote and edited beauty content as an Editor at The Everygirl for four years. Follow her on Instagram for makeup selfies and a new hair 'do every few months.