Shark SpeedStyle and SmoothStyle hair tool review 2024

I don’t know life without worrying about my curls. Shampoo and styling routines take up an uncanny amount of brain space. I don’t go more than a few hours without thinking about my wash schedule, how my workouts affect my curls, what the humidity will mean for my hair throughout the day and what sprays I need to keep my blowouts lasting as long as possible. I’m constantly looking for products or tools that can make optimizing my hair — whether it be my natural waves or a sleek blowout — easier.

Enter: the Shark SpeedStyle and SmoothStyle, two tools I’ve been using on and off for months to style my hair. The tools, which Shark sent me last year to test out, are part of the brand’s air technology lineup along with its FlexStyle wand (a popular — less expensive — alternative to the Dyson Airwrap). 

The SpeedStyle, has similar functionality to the FlexStyle and comes with different head attachments, while the SmoothStyle is the brand’s version of a brush and styler in one (á la the Revlon One Step Volumizer).

Below, I share more about my experience using Shark’s hair tools and what you should know before shopping.

SKIP AHEAD What is the Shark SpeedStyle? | What is the Shark SmoothStyle? | How I tried Shark’s hair tools | My experience trying the Shark SpeedStyle | My experience trying the Shark SmoothStyle | How do Shark hair tools compare in price to competitors?

The Shark SpeedStyle ($199) is a standalone hair dryer that comes with various attachments like a diffuser, a finisher to reduce frizz and flyaways, a quick-smooth brush, an express touchup brush, a turbo concentrator and a wide-tooth comb. It’s available in two versions — one for straight and wavy hair and one for curly and coily hair; the two models come with different combinations of the aforementioned attachments. However, you can purchase all of them on Shark’s website if you’d like the full set. 

With three heat settings and three air settings, you can find your ideal drying experience. For example, if you’re more interested in a quick dry and want to avoid direct heat, you can turn up the air to level three. If you’re interested in a highly styled look, you’ll likely want to use some of the heat settings along with air. It also has a cool shot to help you seal in styles like bouncy curls.

Unlike the FlexStyle base, this styler is curved at a 90-degree angle to mimic the shape of a classic hair dryer. The pièce de résistance? Its temperature regulation. The tool measures its temperature 1,000 times per second and won’t exceed 230 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the brand. (Heat damages hair at around 302 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Shark.) With the included cord, it weighs 1.7 pounds.

This heated comb straightener and smoother (which weighs 1.6 pounds, including the cord) looks like an electric round brush. It has three preset air temperature settings and one heat setting, which you can use on dry or wet hair. For the best results, Shark recommends that your hair be about 70% dry and only 30% wet. 

The 2-inch x 2.5-inch oval-barrel tool ($99) combines nylon and boar bristles with ceramic-coated plates that heat up to 420 degrees Fahrenheit. The heated plates are covered by black “teeth” that prevent you from accidentally touching the plates. (Generally, ceramic-coated plates are great for those with damaged, dry hair since they don’t get as hot as other types of plates (like titanium and tourmaline) and provide even heat distribution, according to experts in our guide to the best hair straighteners.)

On the barrel, a little light indicator lets you know when it’s heating up, ready to use and off. (In wet hair mode the ceramic combs are always off.) For the full experience, Shark recommends using the airflow in wet hair mode to dry your hair before following it up with dry hair mode (where the ceramic plates will turn on) to give it a finishing touch and remove frizz.

If you have coily or curly hair, Shark recommends avoiding curl cream or mousse during prep to get a smooth finish. 

For the past few months, I’ve been using both tools to dry and style my hair (Shark sent them to me to test before each tool’s launch). I’ve also used the brand’s FlexStyle for the past year and am particularly familiar with its round brush head and diffuser. Familiarity with how the FlexStyle attachments work made using these two products easier, though I think you can still use the SmoothStyle and SpeedStyle easily without doing so. 

I have wavy to curly hair that, depending on the day and humidity level, falls between a 2A to 2C curl. Since my hair is especially frizzy, dry and finicky, I often use at least three to five taming or styling products when wet. When using heat tools specifically, I always use a heat protectant; my favorites are the Briogeo Farewell Frizz blow dry perfection heat protectant cream and the Kérastase Genesis heat protecting leave-in treatment. I used the tools differently — I either try to enhance my natural, everyday curls or give myself a salon-style blowout.

The Shark SpeedStyle, just like its name implies, is speedy. The air settings are powerfully strong, and the heat settings are quite hot. This tool, which operates like the FlexStyle (with a base with different attachments), works quickly and mightily. A level three (out of three) air setting made my dripping wet hair somewhat damp in minutes. If you’re someone who doesn’t need to style their hair and is just looking for a quick dry tool, the airflow options are great.

The same goes for the heat settings — I found it almost too hot especially when I used the finisher head (its taming attachment) near my roots. (The finisher head sits parallel to the SpeedStyle base, you run it over the top of your hair to smooth away frizz and baby hairs.)

The SpeedStyle comes with a helpful, easy-to-follow manual that denotes which parts of the attachments you can touch so you don’t burn yourself while removing the heads. The booklet also has detailed instructions about how to use each head and achieve certain hairstyles (it even gives you optimal air and heat settings.) 

Besides how strong the air force was, one of my biggest takeaways is how lightweight it is. While the base doesn’t fold down (it permanently sits at a 90-degree angle), it’s relatively compact compared to other blow dryers I’ve used. The head attachments, in my experience, are also smaller than the FlexStyle’s attachments, which made reaching my roots easier. 

As someone with curly hair who likes to vacillate between a sleek blowout and natural curls, this is a reliable all-in-one tool since it comes with a diffuser (that has extendable divots to better reach longer hair) and attachments geared toward non-curly hairstyles. Its diffuser functioned as expected — it works like it’s supposed to, which, for someone with curly hair, is essential.

The SpeedStyle’s ultimately extremely similar to the FlexStyle in terms of its offerings — it’s just shaped slightly differently and has some new attachments like the finisher to fight frizz. If you already own the FlexStyle, in my experience, you don’t also need the SpeedSyle; they’re extremely similar.

The Shark SmoothStyle combines the two-step process of needing to hold a blow dryer in one hand and a round brush in the other. As a frequent user of brush-like heat tools on my hair — mostly the Amika Hair Blow Dryer Brush 2.0 and the oval brush attachment on the Flexstyle, I found it inherently easy and intuitive to use. There’s not a huge learning curve like some other curling irons or air stylers. 

To give myself that blow-out look, I sectioned my primed hair into layers and ran the brush tool through my hair from root to tip, at an angle, to give my ends a bit of a bounce. If you are used to partitioning your hair into sections, styling it, and continuing the process until you’re done, you’ll likely have an easy time using this. 

Since there are no attachments, there is little to get “good” at. You can decide which level of air you want (out of three) and whether you want a heat setting, but besides that, all you need to do is run the brush through your hair for it to work — it’s quite simple and great for beginners looking to explore the hair tool world. 

In my experience, the air settings alone were not enough to quickly dry or style my naturally frizzy, wavy hair. To get closer to a picture-perfect, post-salon look, I needed to use the heat setting and repeatedly go over my hair three to five times, followed by a flat iron to really nail smooth out my curly roots. (That said, this is typically the case with my hair for every heated styler I’ve ever used.) 

The SmoothStyle is about 13.5 inches long (about the size of a Macbook) and feels comfortable enough to hold. At the top of the styler, there’s a tiny widget that doesn’t heat up so you can hold onto it while gliding the tool through your hair. Shark calls it a cool-touch tip, which was very helpful to have when the heat setting was on.

Overall, it’s lightweight and easy to use. If you’re looking for a vehicle to straighten your hair or give yourself a bouncy blowout, it’s a great option. This is not the tool for anyone wanting to enhance natural coils or curls, however.

Shark is known for making quality tools — whether it be vacuums, air purifiers and fans, carpet cleaners or hair tools — at a pricey, but not too pricey range. All of its tools are less than the Dyson counterparts; for example, its hair dryer with attachments (the SpeedStyle) retails for $199, while Dyson’s hair dryers range from $399 to $499.99; Shark’s FlexStyle wand is very similar to Dyson’s Airwrap, but retails for much less ($299 versus $599, respectively). 

Pattern Beauty makes a comparable blow dryer with attachments designed specifically for curly, coily and tight-textured hair. It retails at a similar price point ($189) to Shark’s.

Regarding combination round brush hot tools, there are many options, most of which are similar in price or more expensive than Shark’s ($99). There’s T3’s AireBrush One-Step Smoothing and Volumizing Hair Dryer Brush for $149.99, Drybar’s Double Shot Oval Blow Dryer Brush for $155 and Amika’s Hair Blow Dryer Brush 2.0 for $100. If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly option, Revlon makes a hair dryer and volumizer brush for $59.99.

I’m an editor for NBC Select. For this story, I tried the Shark SmoothStyle and the Shark SpeedStyle, using them on wet and dry hair while experimenting with different heat and air settings to find what worked best for my hair. I’ve also been using the brand’s FlexStyle for around seven months.