Thanks to the rise of multi-stylers, one tool has replaced blow dryers and curling irons, making them multitasking heroes that can seamlessly adapt to all of your styling needs. One of the most popular tools in this category is the Shark FlexStyle, which has blown away Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab experts, testers and editors for its versatility, earning it a GH Beauty Award.
The styler, which launched in 2022, comes with multiple attachments for curling, diffusing, drying, and straightening. It has been compared to the viral Dyson Airwrap for its similar design, though it is significantly cheaper, as it currently retails for $320. If you’re on the hunt for an all-in-one tool to help you achieve salon-quality blowouts at home, we weighed the pros and cons of this styler to help you make the decision for yourself.
What is the Shark FlexStyle?
Think of the Shark FlexStyle as a blow dryer, a hair dryer brush, and a curler all in one. The styler is designed for drying wet hair while either curling or smoothing it with just a swap of an attachment. With all that you need to style hair in one device, it drastically cuts down on the time it takes to get ready. Another selling point: the FlexStyle rotates 90 degrees and locks at a right angle to double as a powerful handheld blow dryer in a snap.
The FlexStyle uses an air jet design (in three heat and three speed settings along with a cool shot) that claims to be less damaging to hair than traditional styling methods. One analysis by our Beauty Lab product testing pros revealed that the Shark reached 183ºF on average, compared to curling irons and hair straighteners that can reach temperatures of 350ºF and over.
Plus, in our Lab tests led by Beauty Lab Director Sabina Wizemann, the Shark FlexStyle, when used as a hair dryer, had the fastest drying time among the traditional dryers tested (second only to the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer), striking the right balance of airflow speed and air temperature, despite having a lower-than-average temperature.
What does the Shark FlexStyle come with?
Here’s what accessories are included:
- 1.25-inch Auto-Wrap Curlers (two each)
- Paddle Brush
- Oval Brush
- Curl-Defining Diffuser
- Styling Concentrator
Depending on your hair type, you can opt for either the curly hair set, straight hair set, or build your own with which you can choose up to five attachments.
Such an array of interchangeable gadgets can get overwhelming. Fortunately, the sets have a helpful visual guide that walks through each attachment, its purpose, proper heat and speed settings and styling tips. And if you misplace it, Shark has a trove of answers to FAQs, too.
Our thoughts on the Shark FlexStyle attachments
The flattened paddle brush left hair styled and dried in a few swipes, though we found it worked best moving through coarser hair types, but wasn’t as well-suited for finer or straighter locks. For example, our staffer with thick, curly hair, loved the paddle attachment for simultaneous drying and smoothing pre-styling, but when I used it on my hair, it got the job done (a.k.a. gave a straighter blowout), but I didn’t find it as effective at styling because it couldn’t get as good a grip on my hair.
It took more effort and extra swipes of the paddle brush to flatten every bit of hair in the way a flat iron might. For that reason, I think of it more as a smoother than a true straightener. Even still, Shark’s boar bristle brush made it much easier to get smoother hair than Dyson’s soft, ball-tip plastic brush: I found that while it’s possible to get similarly smooth hair with Dyson’s paddle brush attachments, it takes longer to achieve. Another staffer with thick, dense hair also found the paddle brush on the FlexStyle superior to the Airwrap’s.
Diffuser
Anyone who has wavy or curly hair can relate: Diffusing can be a tiresome routine. In a genius move, the FlexStyle’s diffuser attachment has extendable prongs for different hair lengths and can be used with the swiveled arm, making it more ergonomic. Armed with a curl cream on wet hair, it took roughly 20 minutes to diffuse to my liking, much less time than normal for me.
I also noticed that this diffuser gave a bit more definition and volume than my normal routine, yet kept my hair feeling soft. Other diffusers I’ve tried typically took much longer and didn’t work much toward reducing frizz.
Concentrator
Considering that it retails for hundreds of dollars less than the competition, the Shark FlexStyle is a great value for its versatile features and effective styling. I found downsizing to one tool a great investment, especially since I typically use a separate hair tool for everything. Not to mention, it does it all without sacrificing drying time—every styling routine I tried took less than 20 minutes compared to my typical 35 minutes.
It takes some time to figure out the best ways to use the attachments—especially as a first-time multi-styler user—but I got the hang of it more and more with each try. My wavy hair got more use out of the curling barrels, oval brush and diffuser. Plus, Shark does a great job of catering to all hair types. I appreciated that there is the option to choose dryer sets for individual hair types (at varied price points).
Alas, the tool comes with its caveats. My hair felt much smoother and bouncier when using it, but the device did get quite hot. Consequentially, the cool shot button takes significant time to kick in and I often ended up foregoing using it for the full time… and losing my curls as result. While it’s more affordable than the Dyson, it’s still got a hefty price tag. You’ll likely get the most use of it if you regularly style your hair with different hot tools. It all depends on your budget and hair care needs, but we found the Shark FlexStyle well worth every dollar.
Jacqueline (she/her) was a commerce editor for Good Housekeeping from 2021 to 2024. Prior to joining GH, she was a style and beauty reviews fellow at Insider, testing viral trends, reviewing sustainable brands and more. She’s a graduate of the University of Florida’s School of Journalism, with a specialty in magazines and mass communication.
