Let’s talk hair dryers for a hot blow drying second, ladies. It’s a product that 99.9% of us use [I envy the .01% who’s hair has never seen a dryer and must look healthier than a stalk of celery] and it’s a product that 99.9% of us also don’t ever know which one[s] are best for our hair. I’ve totally been that girl who has used the same blow dryer for years and then on that random Monday morning when it decides to go out on me, I run to the nearest Walgreens and snag the cheapest one I can find hoping it lasts me ’til the following Monday morning.

It turns out that the hair dryer we are using plays a BIG role in the overall look and feel of our hair. I literally had no clue. Shine, frizz, smoothness, texture – it all stems from the hair dryer you are using. WHO KNEW? Apparently several of the beauty gurus on the team, that’s who. Once they started informing me of this news, I thought “wait a minute, I need to figure out how different hair dryers affect my hair and figure out which one[s] really are worth buying” And so that’s what we did. We put 7 of the top rated brands to the test, ranging between all different price points and we’re bringing you the results. You’ll find out our top pick overall, top pick under $100, top pick under $50, which one dried our hair the fastest and what we loved / didn’t love about each of them! Hopefully by the end of this post, you’ll be able to make a slightly more educated purchase on your next hair dryer and not rely on a scattered chaotic Monday morning Walgreens run to get the job done.

ps before we get started. If you’re interested in other beauty / fashion comparisons, You can see them all here!

THE HAIR DRYERS THAT WE TESTED

• Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer
• Kristin Ess Iconic Style Professional Blow Dryer – 1875 Watts
• L’ange Online Only Triomphe Hair Dryer
• Revlon Laser Brilliance 1875W Infrared Heat Dryer
• T3 Cura Luxe Hair Dryer
• CHI for Ulta Beauty Pink Pro Dryer
• Conair Infiniti Pro Tri-Ombre Dryer

HOW WE TESTED

Four of us girls on the team rotated each of the seven hair dryers so that we could each use every hair dryer for a day or two after washing our hair. Here are the four who tested and our individual hair types:

• Erin: Thick, coarse, dry, straight hair
• Lauren: Smooth, fine, straight hair
• Hannah: Thick, coarse, curly hair
• Claire: Thin, fine, straight hair

We each timed every hair dryer for dry time, rated every hair dryer on smoothness, shine and volume and then took our own notes on what we liked and didn’t like about each. We then compiled our ratings to bring you an overall average for each dryer.

HAIR DRYING TIPS 

Of course, having great hair goes beyond your tools, but product can make a huge difference in the overall health and look of your hair as well. Here are a few tips:

1. Before blow drying, use a heat protectant. I started using this Pureology Colour Fanatic Spray thanks to Claire’s recommendation and absolutely love it. It not only protects your hair from heat damage, but it helps smooth your hair, add shine, detangles and does 21 total things that are all great for your hair. Moroccanoil(R) Perfect Defense Thermal Protection Spray is another great heat protectant.
2. Another great product that I’ve fallen in love with over the years is Moroccanoil(R) Treatment which I apply when my hair is wet. Not only does it make your hair smell amazing, it speeds up dry time, boosts shine and have I mentioned yet that it smells amazing? This is also a great product to use when your hair is dry and you need to tame fly-aways. Note: a little goes a long way.
3. Do you need a little extra help in getting the volume you want at your root? Try Moroccanoil(R) Root Boost before you blow dry and be ready to go from flat to va-voom.
4. When blow drying, make sure to use a brush to keep your hair as smooth and tangle free as possible. I love using my Wet Brush EPIC Professional Deluxe Detangler when blow drying.

THE RESULTS

1. Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer

Ugh. We were mad that this was our favorite too. We had heard great things about this Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer but goodness, for the price, it better be pretty freaking amazing. We decided to try it because a) we were SO curious if it is really as good as people claim it to be and b) to prove to ourselves that no blow dryer is worth spending that much money on. The problem? We all want it now.

Average Dry Time: 5 minutes, 37 seconds

What We Liked:

• The weight – it is SO light and easy to hold. It also is perfect for travel due to its light and thin frame.
• The power – whoa, with the 3 different power settings, this hair dryer had major power without making our hair get too tangly. This hair dryer dried several of our hair in the fastest time.
• The shine & smoothness factor – all of us felt like our hair was incredibly smooth and shiny after using this.
• The heat – unlike several hair dryers, it doesn’t overheat. It also has 3 heat settings and a cool blast button. You don’t feel like you’re ever scorching your hair with this dynamite little thing!

What We Didn’t Like:

• The price. Woof. Santa if you’re reading…
• The noise. It’s not loud, but it is a little different. It almost sounds like you are in an airplane. After using a couple of times, you get use to the noise but at first it took us back a bit.

Would We Recommend This Hair Dryer? 4/4 of us would recommend this hair dryer. 4/4 would also ask for this for Christmas and pray that Santa saw only our good deeds we did that year 😉

2. Kristin Ess Iconic Style Professional Blow Dryer – 1875 Watts

Our second favorite? This Kristin Ess Iconic Style Professional Blow Dryer which also ranked the highest for favorite under $100!

Average Dry Time: 5 minutes, 54 seconds

What We Liked:

• The weight & visual appeal – while it isn’t as light as the Dyson, it is still nice and lightweight and we loved the white with rose gold detail #fancy.
• The price – at $100 it is a great option that should last for a long time without breaking the bank.
• The shine and smoothness factor – all of us felt like it did make our hair smooth and shiny after using it! Hannah uses a round brush when drying and noted that the attachments hugged her brush perfectly leaving her hair straight enough to not have to use a straightener afterwards.

What We Didn’t Like:

• The ergonomics / button placement. Several of us found ourselves having problems with our hands slipping while using this hair dryer and accidentally hitting the buttons while using it. The material of the handle feels nice, but is slightly slippery.

Would We Recommend This Hair Dryer? 3/4 of this would recommend this hair dryer.

3. CHI for Ulta Beauty Pink Pro Dryer

After reviewing our notes, I’m not sure how it received the score it did, but coming in at 3rd place is this CHI for Ulta Beauty Pink Pro Dryer which is also in the $100 range. While the average score wasn’t too bad, as you’ll see below there wasn’t much that we loved about it.

Average Dry Time: 5 minutes, 40 seconds

What We Liked:

• The color. Pink = fun.

What We Didn’t Like:

• No heat settings – this is a one and done type of dryer, giving you zero control over how hot or cold you’d like it. A few of us felt like it fried our hair and gave off a burnt smell.

Would We Recommend This Hair Dryer? 0/4 of us would recommend this hair dryer.

4. L’ange Online Only Triomphe Hair Dryer

Fourth on our list was this L’ange Online Only Triomphe Hair Dryer [majorly discounted!] which was exciting for me as I use and love the L’ange wands! This hair dryer won fastest dry time and had a lot of positives with it!

Average Dry Time: 5 minutes flat

What We Liked:

• Dry time – this was the FASTEST blow dryer that we tested.
• Smoothness – We all felt that our hair was quite smooth after using this hair dryer with a couple of us feeling like we needed to use our straighteners only minimally after drying.
• The look and feel – We loved the blush pink with rose gold details. It also had great ergonomics and is pretty lightweight.
• The price – For under $100, it’s a great quality!

What We Didn’t Like:

• Noise – the only negative was that one of us noted this hair dryer seemed a little louder than the others.

Would We Recommend This Hair Dryer? 3/4 of us would recommend this hair dryer.

5. Revlon Laser Brilliance 1875W Infrared Heat Dryer

And now for the top pick under $50, we have this Revlon Laser Brilliance 1875W Infrared Heat Dryer.

Average Dry Time: 5 minutes, 5 seconds

What We Liked:

• The price – for under $30, it’s hard to argue the price of this sucker!
• The weight – we all noted that this hair dryer felt pretty lightweight to us.
• Dry time – this was our second fastest blow dryer!

What We Didn’t Like:

• Button placement – the buttons are on the back of this hair dryer, unlike most that have them on the front. This took some getting used to and also caused some of us to shut off the dryer accidentally while using.
• Hair quality – none of us felt that our hair was nearly as shiny or smooth as the other top rated hair dryers.

Would We Recommend This Hair Dryer? 1/4 of us would recommend this hair dryer.

6. T3 Cura Luxe Hair Dryer

Well, there’s not a lot of great to say here about this T3 Cura Luxe Hair Dryer but here you have it 😉

Average Dry Time: 6 minutes, 45 seconds

What We Liked:

• Smoothness – several of us felt that our hair was quite smooth after using.

What We Didn’t Like:

• The sensor – this hair dryer takes some serious getting used to. It has a sensor on it that needs to be covered [or not covered, told you, – confused] or it shuts off. This resulted in many of us having a hair dryer that was turning off constantly while trying to use it. Also read: many of us wanted to throw this through the wall while trying to use.
• The price – for nearly $300, no thank you.
• The weight – you would get some serious biceps if this was your hair dryer [maybe a perk?] It was the heaviest of the dryers that we tested!
• The dry time – this was our SLOWEST hair dryer that we used.

Would We Recommend This Hair Dryer? 0 out of 4 of us would recommend this hair dryer.

7. Conair Infiniti Pro Tri-Ombre Dryer

Last but certainly not least, this Conair Infiniti Pro Tri-Ombre Dryer.

Average Dry Time: 5 minutes, 21 seconds

What We Liked:

• Price – under $40 making it a budget-friendly option!
• Visual – who doesn’t love a good ombre once in awhile?
• Power – this dryer does have great blow power for the price!

What We Didn’t Like:

• Tangles – this hair dryer does have some serious power, but unfortunately it’s not controlled. Several of us noted our hair seemed tanglier than normal after using.
• Frizz – our hair wasn’t the smoothest after using and a couple of us noted some frizz sightings.

Would We Recommend This Hair Dryer? 1 out of 4 of us would recommend this hair dryer. 

And there we have it, our hair dryer comparison COMPLETE. We’d love to hear what your go-to is to get the job done. If you’re in the market, which hair dryer are you excited to try? We hope that this comparison post helps get your hair from a to dry in no time!

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