Shark FlexStyle IonCurl: What the Specs Say

The most powerful air styler here

1,700 W, published by Shark. That is 100 W more than their own standard FlexStyle, and 400 W more than the Dyson Airwrap’s published 1,300 W.

In this category that gap is meaningful in one direction only. Air stylers are the slowest tools we cover on dense hair — the Coanda effect needs a lot of moving air and the barrels are narrow — so the standard complaint about them is session length. More available heat, from the same maker in the same body, is a reasonable answer to that complaint.

Be careful how far you take it. Wattage measures the heating element, not airflow, and airflow is what removes water. Between two tools from the same maker sharing a body and a weight, more watts probably does mean faster; across brands the comparison stops meaning much — the full argument is here.

What it costs to run

$20.27 a year, against $19.07 for the standard FlexStyle and $15.50 for the Dyson Airwrap. The whole spread across every tool on this site is under seven dollars a year, so nobody should choose on this — but the direction is worth noting, because the more powerful tool is the more expensive one to own as well as, usually, to buy.

The row that is not there

Shark publishes no attachment list for the IonCurl. On an air styler, that is close to publishing no specification at all.

An air styler is a handle that blows air. What it does to your hair is decided almost entirely by what is on the end of it — a barrel wraps and curls, a diffuser preserves a pattern, a paddle smooths, a concentrator directs. Two tools with identical wattage and different attachment sets are different products.

Shark knows this, because they publish the standard FlexStyle’s set in full: auto-wrap curlers, an oval brush, a paddle brush, a concentrator and a diffuser, chosen at purchase. On the IonCurl, the page we cite lists none.

Six rows identical, one differing by 100 W, and one blank. The full head-to-head is on its own page.

Who the blank row hurts most

• Curly hair. Whether a diffuser is included is the entire purchase decision, and it cannot be answered. This is why the IonCurl is our named skip on the curly-hair stylers page.
• Short hair. Whether there is a brush rather than only barrels decides whether the tool works on a bob at all — the short-hair page goes into why.
• Anyone converting it to a dryer. The FlexStyle’s best feature is that the handle works as a standalone dryer with a concentrator fitted. Without a published list you cannot confirm the concentrator is there.

No settings count either

Shark publishes no heat-setting count and no speed-setting count for either FlexStyle. That is a house pattern rather than an oversight on this product, and it is the one place where Shark’s otherwise good disclosure falls down.

It matters most for curl preservation, where low airflow is the whole technique, and for fine hair, where you need somewhere lower to go. Dyson publishes three heat settings and three speed settings on the Airwrap at the lowest mains wattage here, which is why the Airwrap wins the fine-hair page despite being the slowest tool in the category.

On a 1,700 W tool, an unstated number of steps below maximum covers more ground than it does on a 1,300 W one. That is the honest reading.

What Shark does publish well

• The wattage, plainly, with a peak figure. Shark states both nominal and peak, which is more careful than most.
• 1.5 lb. Lighter than the Dyson Supersonic’s published 1.8 lb, on a tool you hold up for a long time.
• An 8 ft cord. Ordinary rather than generous, but stated — which more makers should manage.
• The voltage limitation. 120 V, published. Not good news if you travel, but you can plan around it — the list of what travels.
• A two-year limited warranty, matching Dyson and T3.

Who this is for

• Thick, dense hair where the complaint is session length. Highest published styler wattage here, at the same weight as its slower sibling.
• Anyone who can confirm the bundle before paying. Retail listings often specify what is in the box even when the manufacturer page does not. Check, then buy.
• Straight or wavy hair being smoothed rather than curled. The case where the attachment ambiguity costs you least.

Who should skip it

• Curly hair. No confirmable diffuser, and more power than a curl pattern you are trying to keep actually wants.
• Fine or colored hair. No published settings count on the most powerful styler here.
• Anyone comparing on paper. Buy the standard FlexStyle, where you can see what you are getting and choose it.

What we cannot tell you

We have not used this tool. We do not know what is in the box, how many heat or speed steps it has, or how loud it is — nobody in this category publishes decibels, which we took apart on the noise page. Every figure above is from SharkNinja’s own product page.