Welcome to Power Picks, a monthly series on the things that help us navigate our lives, step into our personal power, or simply get us through our day-to-day. Our hope is that by sharing what makes us feel great, we can help you feel great, too.
Before I share my official review of the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde, I need to take a quick little trip down memory lane to explain what my life looked like almost exactly a year ago.
Last fall, I was in the early months of pregnancy: I had recently learned I was pregnant with twin girls (Shocking! Exciting!) and was just starting to realize what my body was in for (Also shocking! A whole lot less exciting!). Along with nausea, one surprising and unpleasant pregnancy symptom I experienced was frequent and sometimes scary nosebleeds. I would be sitting on a Zoom call or just minding my own business sleeping when my nose would suddenly start to bleed. When I asked my doctor about it, she assured me that it was normal (up to a point), but one of her recommendations for trying to reduce the frequency of these incidents was to use a humidifier at night.
Around the same time, Dyson announced the release of their new two-in-one purifier and humidifier. The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde not only promised levels of hydration that would help prevent dry, cracked, winter-ridden skin, but also an air filtration system strong enough to clean the air in a large room. The combination of increasing the moisture levels in my big-for-New-York-City bedroom plus ridding the air of allergens and other potential nose irritants sounded like exactly what I needed.
I decided to try the fancy-sounding new product, and was happy from the start. It's incredibly easy to set up and use and even has an accompanying app that allows you to turn it on and off from your phone. Through the app you can also monitor the filter and air pollutant levels on a daily (or even hourly!) basis. It's the kind of thing that's easy to nerd out on—and also made me thankful to have the purifier element in addition to the humidifier. After one week of owning the Dyson, I noticed the app showed that the air pollutant levels were bad every morning around the same time, which must be when garbage or delivery trucks are driving around the neighborhood. Super gross! The air quality also spikes every time my husband is cooking (a.k.a. burning something) on high heat, which is just a fun little thing I like to point out to him.
But while the purifier element was nice to have, the humidifier was a need-to-have for me. I was again immediately pleased. The humidifier emits a mist-free stream of moisture-rich air, meaning you're combatting dryness without leaving any residue. It's also easy to use: You just fill the removable tank at the bottom of the machine with water (for me, I need to refill it every other day) and turn it on. Poof! I keep the remote by my bedside table and basically hit the on button with my eyes closed.
After a few weeks of use, I noticed a real change. I had less frequent nose bleeds and fully stopped waking up with them during the night. In the mornings, I didn't have that dry throat-and-mouth feeling you get after eight hours spent sleeping with the heat on. It wasn't magic, but it was very good.
This not-quite-magic magic comes at a price. A literal price, of course: The Purifier-Humidifier retails for $939.99, which is nothing to sneeze at (or not sneeze at if it's doing its job!). But also a takes-up-space price. This isn't a small machine. While it's not very wide, it stands almost to waist height, meaning it's hard for it to be incognito in a room—especially considering you want it placed somewhere central-ish so that it can do its job. That said, it has a slick, modern look that I preferred to other options.
I was very happy with the Dyson—so happy, in fact, that when we found ourselves in another air-quality pickle, we knew exactly what to buy. A few weeks after all the nosebleed to-do and about a month before my delivery, we discovered mold in our building’s hallway. After a brief panic and a quick mold remediation, we decided to buy a second Dyson purifier-humidifier to put in the babies’ room. The Dyson has a HEPA filter and a sensor that constantly monitors the air quality so it can trap the bad stuff and just release clean air. The purifier can be used without the humidifier, so we keep the machine on with the purifying function running constantly and opt to turn the humidifier on only at night when they room starts to get dry. In fact, we didn’t use the humidifier for most of the summer in either bedroom, but kept the purifier and fan going, which pushes out cooled, clean air.
A full year later, my two purifier-humidifiers, two babies, and I are all very happy and sleeping well—or, at least as well as people living in a house with seven-month-olds sleep. But we're definitely breathing easy.
