11 Best Hair Dryers of 2024, Tested by Experts

Table Of Content

• Best Hair Dryer for Curly Hair
• What hair dryer is best for curly hair?
• Best for Styling: Shark SpeedStyle RapidGloss Finisher & High-Velocity Hair Dryer
• Dyson Supersonic
• Best travel hair dryer: Conair Compact Folding Handle Hair Dryer
• Best Bonnet Dryer: Gold 'n Hot Professional Ionic Soft Bonnet
• Best Paddle-Brush Dryer: Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer and Styler

Nobody wants to feel like they’re weightlifting while styling their hair in the morning. Below, we rounded up expert-recommended hair dryers, as well as ones we have tried ourselves and highly rated options that align with our experts’ guidance. The following blow dryers all have a number of settings for airflow and temperature control, and they’re good for a variety of hair types, including straight, wavy, curly and coily (defined ringlets that are springy and dense). The best way to prevent a dreadful bad hair day is to level-up your post-shower routine with one of the best hair dryers.

Best Hair Dryer for Curly Hair

If you’re on a budget this hair dryer from Hot Tools is worth considering. Although on the lowest temperature setting, after six minutes we gave up as our hair wasn’t anywhere close to dry. Let's start with the basics—look for a lightweight dryer with a sturdy grip that you can hold comfortably in either hand and a long cord to give you freedom of movement as you dry the back, front, and side sections of your head. A blow dryer with multiple heat and speed settings or attachments is only a good investment if you'll use them.

What hair dryer is best for curly hair?

Rather than raising the dryer to your hair, however, you insert sections of your hair into the wand; the device then quickly and gently sucks the damp hair dry. It offers seven suction power levels and three heat settings (high, low, or the no-heat cool shot). “Nearly all dryers come with concentrators, but because I work with a variety of texture types, I need my dryers to either include a diffuser and comb attachment or be compatible with universal models,” says Querisma. You can usually buy compatible attachments separately even for budget hair dryers, in case you lose yours. “You manipulate the hair with heat, but you actually set it with the cold shot. Most devices have one, but the best hair dryers don’t require you to hold it down continuously to keep the air cold.

Best for Styling: Shark SpeedStyle RapidGloss Finisher & High-Velocity Hair Dryer

From skincare to protein powders, Maddie is committed to providing honest and helpful reviews to help guide readers to the best product for them. Maddie has a BA in English Literature and Language, which stemmed from her lifelong interest in reading and writing. She started her post graduate life at Hearst UK within a marketing capacity, which quickly turned into a desire to fulfil a writing career. If you bleach your hair, you’ll know that applying heat to fragile strands can be troublesome.

Put to use on our very thick, long, wavy hair (which historically takes forever to dry), the Harry Josh Ultra Light Pro Dryer proved its prowess as the best professional-grade tool in its class. This mint-green, French-made dryer weighs in at under a pound, yet produces a powerful airstream that goes virtually unheard, thanks to its patented silencer that drops the noise volume considerably. 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. But with so many brands on the market and seemingly endless factors to consider, from your hair type and concerns to each blow dryer's technology and your desired features, it can be tricky to know where to start.

Best travel hair dryer: Conair Compact Folding Handle Hair Dryer

Many hair dryers come with (or are compatible with) attachments that allow you to tailor your blow-out experience to your needs. Abergel noted that, for example, using a concentrator nozzle that precisely hits hard-to-reach areas is key to achieving salon-level results. "It concentrates the air and aids in directing the airflow exactly where you want it to go," Abergel previously explained. This concentrated airflow also helps the cuticle of the hair lay flat so that it will be shinier and less frizzy, according to Los Angeles-based hairstylist Kiki Heitkotter. Its tourmaline ceramic technology helps seal in moisture and prevent frizzy hair, experts told us. Other attachments include the brand’s Double-Layered Detangler Pik and Single-Layered Detangler Pik that help smooth and straighten hair, according to Kiss.

No matter how strong your arms are, the Instyler Blu Turbo Ionic Hair Dryer feels lightweight in your hands and makes blow drying the top of your head a painless process. The Panasonic Nanoe gave us a voluminous and sleek blowout, thanks to its oscillating nozzle, which gently moves back and forth to distribute heat efficiently, dry hair fast, and prevent hot spots along the way. In our test, the oscillating nozzle did exactly what it claimed to do, dispersing heat evenly across our frizzy, wavy hair so that no single section of hair felt burnt no matter how long the heat was directed its way. This hair dryer may not have all the bells and whistles of the fancier (and pricier) options on this list, but it gets the job done beautifully. We found this dryer to be one of the most powerful we’ve ever tested and were shocked that it dried our thick, wavy hair in less than 10 minutes. Our fine hair tends to get frizzy, but this hair dryer tamped down on our flyaways while amping up our much-needed volume.

22 best hair dryers – ghd, Dyson, BaByliss and more - Good Housekeeping uk

22 best hair dryers – ghd, Dyson, BaByliss and more.

Posted: Thu, 11 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

This highly rated Revlon tool has nylon and tufted bristles designed to detangle and get close to the roots to create volume, according to the brand. Revlon’s One-Step has three heat settings and three speed settings, along with a cooling feature to help your style last longer. It has both ionic technology to dry your hair quickly, as well as ceramic to distribute heat evenly, according to the brand.

Best for beating frizz

"For longer and thicker hair types, I recommend looking for dryers that are more lightweight to avoid arm fatigue, with a powerful motor to speed up their drying time." “There are two speed settings  and two heat settings as well as a cool shot, which all come in useful for blow drying,” says Timothy. It’s important to use the right heat setting and attachment to suit your hair type.

We know it doesn't look like a hair dryer, but the Dyson Airstrait is one of a new wave of innovative wet-to-dry stylers, (alongside the ghd Duet below), meaning it's essentially a hair dryer and straightener in one. It does it with the help of a high-pressure and precise airflow rather than traditional heated plates. Its smart heat control technology also regulates the airflow temperature every 30 seconds to ensure there’s no excessive heat damage and leave your locks looking healthy and shiny instead. Higher wattage means stronger airflow and therefore a faster dry time. However, higher wattage hair dryers tend to be heavier and harder to control.

It also comes with a removable filter, which Lothrop says is important to clean regularly. Katy Olson is a beauty buff and professional journalist with naturally curly hair. For this article, she consulted four leading hair experts, each with 10 or more years of experience using the best (and worst) hair dryers out there. If your hair is on the finer, side you should be using medium heat and speed settings.” T3 Aireluxe has five heat settings and three speed settings. Our one caveat is that the blow dryer wasn’t exactly easy on our arms. While this hair dryer works with all hair types, those with thick hair will especially love the blend of power and performance that this option provides.