The 4 Best Hair Dryers of 2024 Reviews by Wirecutter

Table Of Content

• InfinitiPro by Conair Quick Styling Salon Hair Dryer
• Best with Diffuser
• How do you use a hair dryer diffuser?
• Rusk W8less Professional 2000 Watt Dryer
• Best for Frizzy Hair
• How can you use a blow dryer for a silky blowout?
• Budget pick: InfinitiPro by Conair 1875-Watt Salon Performance AC Motor Styling Tool
• How can you protect your hair from heat damage when using a hair dryer?

It also worked quickly, drying our thick, chest-length hair in a mere 15 minutes post-shower. In fact, once we tried different settings, we found that the "Care" option was ideal for drying our hair daily without inflicting long-term damage. After all, can we really say a skin-care product is the "best" for people over 50 if the only testers we’ve solicited opinions from folks who have yet to hit 30? Can we honestly deem a high-end diffuser hair dryer worthy of your hard-earned cash if it’s never been tested on curls? We’re proud that our staff spans a wide range of ages, skin tones, hair textures, genders, and backgrounds, which means that we are able to fairly assess any beauty product that comes into the beauty closet.

InfinitiPro by Conair Quick Styling Salon Hair Dryer

Dyson's upgraded Supersonic hair dryer promises better scalp care, but that's not what has me most excited - TechRadar

Dyson's upgraded Supersonic hair dryer promises better scalp care, but that's not what has me most excited.

Posted: Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

We are a family-owned full service, wholesale beauty distributor based in California, serving salon professionals throughout California and Nevada. Despite our positive experience, we wish there were more bells and whistles. Overall, we love the results it delivers, but would love it even more if it came with more attachments. She tested countless health and wellness products from 2016 to 2018. The Supersonic has a two-year warranty and comes in five color combinations.

Best with Diffuser

The only thing we didn’t like was the dryer’s cord, which was surprisingly thick, with a large, rectangular power strip right in the middle. It also felt trickier to pull around our sink corners than others we’ve tested. A true investment piece, the Dyson SuperSonic Hair Dryer arrived at our doorstep loaded with five different attachments and a high-powered, three-heat setting panel.

How do you use a hair dryer diffuser?

"The cool shot button feature is what keeps the hair at a good temperature, even when you've been using a hot setting." It's best to use the cool shot button when your hair needs to be cooled down. For example, if you're drying your hair with a heat setting, use the cool shot button as a final step to cool everything down and set it in place. For those who want to “take textured hair straight, you’ll need a concentrator attachment to smooth out strands and create shine,” says Giovanni Vaccaro, hairstylist and co-founder of the on-demand beauty service, GlamSquad. “I prefer a thin attachment that helps concentrate air on a smaller section.” The Pattern Blow Dryer comes with brush, wide tooth comb, diffuser, and concentrator nozzle and is great for curly hair. After using each tool at least twice a week for four weeks, we collected all of the data, and tallied the scores.

Familiar additives like aloe and argan oil help, too, sealing the hair cuticle for extra defense. It’s heavy, but you don’t have to hold it high like a conventional dryer. It has a 5.5-foot hose that attaches to a 9-inch heat-producing wand. At 2 pounds, the wand alone is heavier than any of our dryer picks.

Best for Frizzy Hair

Although this dryer is just as fast as pricier models, it’s the heaviest of our traditional hair dryer picks, and its attachments can be hard to remove. Equipped with one of the longest nozzle attachments we tested meant that we could direct heat in specific sections. We were particularly pleased that using the nozzle in such a targeted way didn’t result in a scorching sensation. Quiet and controlled, the airflow and temperature were reflective of the dryer’s professional standing, and our hair and scalp didn't feel scorched, or even slightly overheated, at any point during the trial.

With a 22-minute blow dry completed on fine, color-treated hair, the dryer delivered a sleek, salon-quality blowout with no heat damage reported. Taking home top honors, the GAMA IQ2 Perfetto hair dryer is just about, well, perfetto. With a promise to dry hair 30 percent faster, the IQ2 is designed intelligently, automatically going on standby when placed on its smart pad, outfitted with a micro-perforated filter and temperature sensor, and accompanied by magnetic nozzles. Our InStyle editor who tested this model has type 3B/3C coarse hair, with a mix of curls and coils that have only been relaxed once years ago, and found that the dryer took just under 15 minutes to diffuse and set her curls. To put it in perspective, our stylist estimated that a full blowout ordinarily would have taken about 25 minutes.

We found the position of the speed and heat buttons on the back of the dryer’s head less than ideal, and the cool-shot button is in an awkward spot at the very top of the handle. If you don’t change speeds and temperature a lot, though, the button locations might be a bonus, as they are hard to hit accidentally. Meanwhile, the cord has a small power bar near the plug, which itself is bulky. We love a good multitasking product, and the Shark HyperAir Hair Dryer is certainly no exception to the rule; it’s an ideal choice for those seeking the best dryer-brush combo. Our fine, dense and wavy hair benefited from a 30-minute blowout, which left it smooth, without any noticeable flyaways.

They gave it top marks for its easy-to-reach controls and comfortable shape, and both Lab assessments and consumers found it to be quiet. The Revlon 1875-Watt Infrared Hair Dryer produced a wind speed of 45 mph (measured directly in front of the nozzle), slower than the speed we got from our picks. It weighs just over a pound, has a cord measuring 5.5 feet, and comes with a concentrator and a diffuser.

"In addition, you can use a heat protectant or serum prior to blow drying to protect your strands," she says. Bumble and bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Heat & UV Protective Primer is one of our favorites because it provides heat and UV protection, moisturizes, detangles, and cuts down frizz. According to celebrity hairstylist Joel James, a cool shot button is a must to prevent burning and to lock your style in place.

All you have to do is simply press 'volume' or 'smoothing' and let the ionic blow dryer do its thing. I personally went for the smoothing option as my wavy hair was looking particularly unruly on the testing day. I'm happy to report that the smoothing option does exactly what it says it will — I was left with a sleek blowout, even on a humid summer day in New York City. Even on the lowest setting, the airflow proved powerful; and across each of the settings, it remained consistent and even.

The price is a little steep, but it works as well as other T3 blow dryers, except that it folds up. The dryer also has auto-dual voltage, meaning it can be used anywhere in the world — so no matter where your travels take you, a sleek blowout will always be available. It's worth noting that the highest heat setting isn't super hot, but it didn't bother us, as it kept us from burning our hair. The accompanying attachments make it one of the best blow dryers for curly hair for creating different looks. Use the higher heat and speed settings along with a brush, held taut.

It’s the small differences between models that can make a big difference overall, particularly with daily use. You should always take hair damage into consideration because you don't want to make matters worse by frying your hair. According to Stewart, if you have heat damage, try drying hair on a low setting with warm or cool air instead of with hot air on a high setting.

Style your hair in the perfect way with the amazing range of hair dryers available at Target. Use a volumizer one-step hair dryer for brilliant shine in one single step. With three speed setting and options for styling flexibility, one-step dryers give your hairstyle a professional touch with ease. Volumizer hair dryers can be placed close to the scalp for that perfect hair lift without causing any heat damage to your hair strands. Looking for salon-like results at home with a professional hair dryer? The Infiniti Pro hair dryer comes with Ionic technology that gives you smooth and shiny hair that looks gorgeous.

✔️ Adjustable heat and speed settings, which allow you to customize the level of heat and power the hair dryer emits according to your hair type and preferences. The winner of the GH Beauty Lab's travel hair dryer test, Drybar’s top-of-the-line dual voltage model delivers fast-drying power in a portable package. It scored perfectly in Lab evaluations for having easy-to-use controls, dried hair samples fast and had strong airflow. The retro-looking Conair Pro Yellow Bird Hair Dryer is one of the hottest dryers we’ve tested (reaching over 245 °F). But at a pound and a half, it also ties for the heaviest dryer we’ve looked at. Its buttons are strangely placed and unlabeled, and it doesn’t have a cool shot.

A diffuser is great for enhancing curls, while a concentrator nozzle is ideal for smoothing hair and creating a straighter look. Consider your hair type when choosing a hair dryer and attachments,” says Uehara. “For example, if you have fine or damaged hair, you may want to opt for a hair dryer with a lower wattage and a diffuser attachment. If you have thick or curly hair, a higher wattage dryer with a concentrator nozzle may be more effective." If you're a novice when it comes to blowouts, the Pro Artist Black Gold 2000 Watt Ionic Hair Dryer might sound intimidating, but it's actually as user-friendly as it gets.