Is this the most excessive hair dryer ever? Photo / Dyson
Is this the most excessive hair dryer ever? Photo / Dyson
It's gold baby, solid gold.
Well, maybe not solid solid gold, but this new hair dryer is about as close as you'll get.
Dyson, the company best known for its whiz-bang vacuum cleaners, has launched probably its most extra product to date — a 23.75-carat gold-plated Supersonic hair dryer.
Because, who would dare dry their hair any other way, right?
Retailing for $760, the new blue and gold device was designed by Sir James Dyson himself and uses traditional hand-gilding methods to create the super luxe finish.
"Gold is one of the most resilient materials in the world and has been used in design, sculpture and architecture for centuries," James Dyson said.
"As an element, I'm fascinated by its properties. Like the engineering process we pride ourselves on, gilding is a true example of meticulous craftsmanship."
This new device actually costs more than some of the brand's vacuum cleaners, with each hair dryer containing five golden leaves.
The new Dyson hair dryer uses five gold leaves on each product. Photo / Dyson
Lashed in gold, the beauty appliance is said to have cost the retail and development sector £75 million ($NZ147 million) to create.
The gold, which was taught how to be applied by a master guilder, uses thin leaves and foils on the surface of the round head of the device.
At approximately 333 atoms thick, 1/666th the diameter of a human hair, each layer of gold leaf must be applied by hand.
For the creation of the gold model, engineering lead Britta Stockinger said despite not being experts in gold, they weren't afraid of the challenge of having the metal on their product.
During development, engineers rigged a robotic paint arm to carefully apply an adhesive called "size" onto the surface of the red loop of the hair dryer. The robotic arm ensured the adhesive was repeatedly applied the same each time, ensuring a perfect unblemished finish.
Once sprayed, two layers of 23.75-carat gold leaf from Florence, Italy, was applied by hand and carefully brushed to form a smooth and even finish.
"We weren't experts in gold or gold leafing, but we broke down the technique into individual steps to understand how each parameter affects the finish and how we could best apply it to our hair dryer," she said.
The new Dyson hair dryer required more than $150 million in research and development costs. Photo / Dyson
"Using our expertise in design processes, adhesives, paint and model making, we managed to learn a very traditional skill and translate it to a 21st century application."
The Supersonic hair dryer has been around since 2016. It took four years to create and $94 million in research costs.
James Dyson unveiled the appliance at an event in Tokyo, saying the project involved 103 engineers, 600 prototypes, more than 100 patents and, bizarrely, more than 1625km of human hair.
The $760 price tag makes the new device only slightly more expensive than the original which sells for $570, with the Derval Research suggesting it will be a hit within the Chinese market.
"Dyson releases a 23.75-carat golden hair dryer," the behavioural research firm said on Twitter. "You can read more on how the brand managed to dominate its markets and why gold is so popular in China."
