The Best Hair Dryers

Buying Guide for Hair Dryers

Why buy a hair dryer?

Even the most heat-styling-averse person will experience at least one moment in their life when they’re short on time and need to quickly dry their hair. Having a quality hair dryer that produces consistent heat can reduce drying times. Additionally, a good blow-dryer can work as a styling aid beyond simply removing water from your hair. With the right attachments, you can achieve a sleek blowout or gently set curls with a diffuser.

What should you look for in a hair dryer?

• Wattage: The blow-dryer wattage indicates how fast the dryer works, so choose one with at least 1,500 watts—the higher the wattage, the faster your hair will dry. Dryers with lower wattage may be cheaper, but you’ll have to replace them more often.
• Type: Typically, hair dryers are described as ceramic, ionic, tourmaline, or some combination of those elements. Ceramic hair dryers, usually made with clay, produce an even infrared heat that helps preserve moisture and luster. An ionic hair dryer produces negatively charged particles that will break up water into smaller droplets, helping hair to dry faster without getting frizzy. Tourmaline, a semi-precious mineral, is used to coat parts of the hair dryer and can reduce drying times up to 40%.
• Settings: Pick a blow-dryer that has low, medium, and high heat settings, as well as a cool blast setting. Fine or thin hair needs a low setting, while thicker hair needs a high setting to get it dry. Switching to the cool blast setting when your hair is slightly damp will keep it from overheating.
• Weight: It may seem obvious, but you should be sure to pick a dryer that’s lightweight enough to not tire your arm out while styling your hair.
• Attachments: Curly hair needs a diffuser attachment, while straight hair benefits from a concentrator nozzle. A comb attachment can be used to loosen curls as well. A good blow-dryer will have multiple attachments to make your life easier.

What’s the best way to prep your hair before blow-drying it?

Always start with a heat protectant. Whether you have straight, wavy, curly, or coily hair, heat damage is a real risk. A heat protectant will help to minimize the risk of heat damage, which can manifest in more textured hair types as sections of hair that refuse to return to its original texture or curl pattern. As you dry, you can detangle your hair with a brush or comb.

Our Picks for the Best Hair Dryers

Pros: Whether you have curly or straight hair, you should like the Revlon 1875 Watts Infrared Heat Hair Dryer. Along with being incredibly affordable, you’ll like that it comes with a vent and diffuser attachment as well as three alligator clips to help you section and work through your hair. The infrared heat helps to dry your hair faster without sacrificing your hair’s natural moisture levels or shine. You’ll get two speed settings as well as a cold shot button.

Cons: While you’ll get consistently fast drying times, the straightening attachment struggles to stay connected to the blow-dryer when you’re using it. Conversely, the diffuser can be difficult to remove.

Bottom Line: If you’re short on time, the infrared heat can make drying your hair take significantly less effort. It has a reasonable price and a high quality.

 

Pros: A common complaint with blow-dryers is that they’re clunky and a pain to store in your bathroom vanity cabinets. The Yiiho Ionic Hair Dryer fixes that thanks to its slim linear design. You’ll get 1,800 watts of power and a dual ionic technology for smarter hair drying. Along with three intelligent heat settings, this hair dryer has a faster drying time and a straightening and diffuser attachment.

Cons: Although there are multiple heat settings, you can’t control the fan speed. This can be problematic for people with fine hair, as using too high a fan can encourage frizz.

Bottom Line: If you don’t use a blow-dryer often or aren’t as concerned about fan speed, the Yiiho blow-dryer might be an excellent option for you. With three heat settings and a sleek design, it’s different from most blow-dryers on the market.

 

Pros: If your hair is your pride and joy, the T3 Micro Cura blow-dryer is the way to go. It comes with three heat and two speed settings, ensuring that every texture and hair type can benefit from this hair tool. While it only comes with a vent attachment, it’s designed to be wider to boost drying time. In particular, this is a blow-dryer designed with straighter styles in mind.

Cons: There’s no ignoring that the T3 Micro Cura is a pricey upgrade—making it potentially unattainable for many beauties. Additionally, as this only comes with a straightening attachment, curly heads might be annoyed that they’ll need to buy the SoftCurl diffuser attachment separately.

Bottom Line: If you’re ready to upgrade your hair care routine, the T3 Micro Cura is a smart way to go. Three heat settings and two fan speeds offer plenty of customization, along with a wide straightening attachment. Just don’t be surprised if you experience a little sticker shock.

 

Pros: Traveling with a blow-dryer can be a pain. Thankfully, this Conair folding handle hair dryer is designed to fold down into a manageable footprint that can easily fit in your luggage or a carry-on bag. More importantly, it offers dual voltage, meaning you can take it abroad.

Cons: Compactness is nice, but it also means the heat and speed settings are combined. Similarly, there are no attachments included.

Bottom Line: Whether you’re hitting the friendly skies or just want to maximize space in your bathroom, this Conair hair dryer is a great space-saving solution that works effectively to dry all hair types with dual voltage support. However, you’ll get limited customization, and it doesn’t come standard with attachments.

 

Pros: Straightening curlier hair can be a real process on wash days. If you want to combine the blow-dry and straightening step, this InfinitiPro by Conair Ceramic Styler is a great alternative. It’s a ceramic blow-dryer that features brush and comb attachments, allowing you to blow-dry and straighten your hair simultaneously. You’ll get three heat settings, two speed settings, and a cool shot button. Note that it’s a tourmaline ceramic styler, so it works to reduce frizz and speed up drying times.

Cons: Although this styler can help to stretch your hair’s natural texture, depending on how curly or coily your hair is, this may not be a one-and-done solution. In particular, heads of curly and coily hair may find that they still need to go back over their hair with a flat iron to achieve truly straight hair.

Bottom Line: For those with straight and wavy hair, this all-in-one solution allows you to blow-dry and straighten your hair simultaneously to cut down on styling time. However, super curly and coily hair types might want to look elsewhere.

Final Thoughts

Blow-dryers are essential, even if you don’t use them that often. A good blow-dryer should be able to effectively dry your hair without encouraging frizz. More importantly, it should work with your hair type. Check out these selections to upgrade your hair routine.