You Need to Clean Your Dyson Airwrap’s Filter

You paid big bucks for this thing, so treat it well.

The Dyson Airwrap is the beloved haircare accessory of the moment, but it's also a pretty pricey one, so if you've made one a part of your daily routine, you probably want it to last a long time. If so, you should definitely be cleaning your Airwrap’s filter regularly.

Why is there a blinking white light on your Dyson Airwrap?

You're excused if you didn't know you had to do this, because it isn't entirely obvious. Unless you closely examined the box your hair tool came in, you even may have missed the tiny circular cleaning brush hidden in the back compartment. But you definitely have to do it: If you leave it uncleaned for too long, the first thing that will happen as a result is a blinking white warning light. The second thing that will happen is your device shutting down out of nowhere, mid-use, and refusing to turn back on for 10 to 15 minutes, and leaving you with a head of hair that's half dry and curled, and half just wet.

Avoid that fate by cleaning your filter the right way.

How to clean your Dyson Airwrap’s filter

This process is pretty simple, but you need to do it at least a few hours before you want to use the machine, so the parts have time to soak and dry. 

1. First, remove the filter cover. That's the small, dotted cage at the bottom of the handle, just above where the electrical cord connects. Grip it firmly and rotate it counter-clockwise as you pull down and away from the Airwrap. A magnetic seam in the back will release, at which point it should come off easily. 

The Airwrap filter cover in soapy water Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

1. Run the filter under a stream of warm water, then plop it into a container of warm, soapy water to soak for about half an hour.

2. Grab the filter cleaning brush from the box your machine came in. (It should be in a smaller box hidden somewhere in the larger container.) Slip the power cord through the hole in the brush, slide the brush to the spot where the filter cover usually clamps on, and move it in circular and up and down motions to remove anything caught in there. (If you don’t have this brush, you can try a stiff bristled brush like an old toothbrush, but you should never use anything wet on the body of the device.)

This is what the brush looks like. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

1. After half an hour, remove the filter from the soapy water and let it air dry. Don’t reattach it until it’s fully dry. 

If cleaning doesn't stop the white light from blinking

If you’ve cleaned the filter and the LED light is still blinking, you may need to replace the filter cover. Dyson sells them for $19.99, but if they’re out of stock, which they are from time to time, Amazon offers third-party filter covers for as low as $13.68 (and they come with replacement cleaning brushes, too).