10 Best Hair Dryers – Top Rated Blow Dryer Reviews

If you want more volume, waves, or a smooth, straight hairstyle, a blow dryer is a must in your arsenal of styling tools. Although most hair dryers are designed to do the same thing, they are not created in the same way. From ionic hair dryers that reduce frizz and speed up drying times to ceramic hair dryers that can help add volume, hair dryers come in different types and price ranges.

A high-quality blow dryer can help perfect your style, but an old-fashioned or low-quality blow dryer can damage your hair. Whether you want a luxury model or something cheaper, there is something for everyone on our list of the best hair dryers.

Our Top Pick

10 Best Hair Dryer Review

Things you need to keep in mind while purchasing the hair dryer

It will help if you keep these essential things while purchasing the hair dryer for your usage.

1. Your hair type

For thick and curly hair – Ionic or tourmaline hair dryers are ideal for such kind of hair. They release negative ions that assist the water droplets’ break-up on your hair, thereby facilitating faster drying and preventing them from becoming curly after drying.

A tourmaline dryer is generally more expensive than a regular ionic dryer due to its intense ionic action. However, it’s a good investment since it works just fine for any hair that’s difficult to dry.

For fine or dry hair – Ceramic or porcelain dryers are the ideal choices. Since they provide heat that’s less harsh and more consistent, they are the best choice for fine or dry hair, which dehydrates quickly.

They also use negative ions to prevent the curling of hair while drying your hair quickly. Some of these dryers use infrared technology, which means they use longer energy waves to better penetrate the hair and dry the hair inside out.

A head full of hair – Titanium blow dryers are best for you if you have much hair. They provide heat at a steady, even temperature, and can effectively help reduce your drying time if you have incredibly thick hair or lots of hair.

Due to the lower weight of Titanium compared to ceramic or porcelain, the dryer is also generally lightweight and hence more comfortable to use for a higher volume of hair.

Power capacity of 1000 watts and higher – The wattage of a hair dryer indicates the motor’s power inside. With increased wattage, more heat is generated, and thereby the process of hair drying is rapid.

Dryers with lower wattage are commercially cheaper, but they break down more quickly and require more maintenance. For personal use, you should purchase a dryer whose wattage is at least 1500W and can go up to 1800W, which you must go for, only in case you have difficult-to-dry hair.

A weight of preferably ~0.5 kgs or less – A lightweight hair dryer serves two purposes. It helps you evenly dry your hair throughout since it is less strenuous and adds less to baggage while traveling. If you are looking for weight in pounds, you should search for the whereabouts of 1 pound.

The option of dual voltage – This helps if you’re traveling across borders since different countries have different standard voltages.

Multiple heat settings – The amount of heat required by different hair types for getting dried properly varies. Therefore, you should prefer a dryer with adjustable heat settings like ‘low,’ ‘medium,’ and ‘high’ so you can use the required amount of heat that your hair needs. Fine, thin, or dry hair loves the low heat setting. The medium setting works well for normal hair, while the high setting is for coarse and thick hair.

3. Extra features

A dryer with a ‘cool’ setting – A cool shot setting allows you to blow your hair with cool air when you’re almost done with your hair drying, to seal the cuticle for smooth, shiny hair. You can switch between the ‘heat setting’ and ‘cool setting’ when your hair is almost dry, and that helps to dry your hair without overheating it.

A dryer with a diffuser – A diffuser is an attachment to the dryer that distributes the hot air instead of concentrating the heat in one area without disturbing your hair much. It is especially useful for curly or wavy hair. Also, it helps to keep the texture intact, slowly drying the curls while boosting the texture and volume. A diffuser generally adds onto the end of the hair dryer; thereby, it is removable and usable as per your requirement.

A dryer with a concentrator – A concentrator nozzle attached to the end of a hair dryer emits air in a concentrated stream. It is particularly useful if you like to straighten your hair with the blow dryer. It helps cut down on your hair’s curl formation and be more helpful if you have long hair. Use a brush along with the dryer with a concentrator nozzle for the best results.

A dryer with a comb attachment – A comb attachment attached to the end of a hair dryer helps stretch out the natural curl pattern while drying your hair.

Hair Dryers Buying Guide For Straightening Hair

What is Your Hair Type?

Knowing your hair type is very important because only then you would possibly understand if and how your hair actually needs to go through the straightening process.

The 4 main types of hair are:

Type 1

Type 1 hairs are straight and don’t have any curls or waves in them. And as these manes are already straight, you don’t need any tools or process to straighten them.

Type 1 tresses are generally classified in 3 different categories. They are:

• 1A: Very straight and fine; mostly of Asian descent.
• 2A: Very straight and thicker with medium texture and gorgeous natural volume.
• 3A: This hair is also super straight and thick but have a coarse texture.

Type 2

Hairs with gorgeous slight waves in them are considered as Type 2.

• 2A: Fine hair with slight “S” shaped waves; can be styled very easily with messy beach waves.
• 2B: Medium thick hair with waves; but this hair type is very prone to frizz and static.
• 2C: Way and super thick manes with coarse texture.

Type 3

Type 3 hairs are curly and have flatter or oval-shaped follicles, and have “S” shaped hair strands. These tresses tend to have more volume and character that give them a fuller look.

Like the other two hair types, Type 3 hair is also categorized into different sub-divisions. And all the 3 kinds of Type 3 hair are:

• 3A: Has defined curls and with volume and thick texture. This type of hair can be frizzy and needs incredible frizz control.
• 3B: The curls are tighter and have mixed textures. This type of hair is quite tough to style and is also prone to frizz.
• 3C: Have curls that are slightly tighter than Type 3B manes and are often referred to as corkscrew curls. The bouncy 3C curls are not as soft as you would want them to be and often have kinks in them.

Type 4

Natural, Black, or Afro-American hair is referred to as Type 4; these tresses have the most flatter follicles and have a zig-zag pattern right from the scalp, making them look super dense, coily, thick, and voluminous.

Like all other hair types, Type 4 also has 3 sub-categories, and they are:

• 4A: These comparatively soft manes have well-defined, tightly packed curls or kinks. But people with such hair might face dryness very often.
• 4B: The very tight coils of 4B hairs have more of a Z-shaped pattern (rather than the S-shaped one). Even though these curls are less defined and are really soft to touch, they are fragile and might break extremely easily.
• 4C: The 4C curls are quite similar to the 4B ones, but these have the tightest z-shaped coils and might not even look curly at all.

Even though both the Type 3 and Type 4 hair locks are incredibly gorgeous, lustrous, and sexy, people with such hairs might want to style them and make them straight every now and then to enjoy versatile hairstyles and new looks. And to do so, they will need a good quality flat iron and a hairdryer tool (among other products)  to achieve that awesome look.

The issue is that manufacturers don’t really produce hair dryers or any other hair tools according to each sub-category of hairs. Hence, we only considered the blow drying tools suitable for Type 3 and Type 4 hair types.

How to Choose the Best Hair Dryer for Straightening Curly Hairs

With several different brands and models of blow dryers available in the market, it’s only natural that you might get extremely confused about which one to buy that would suit the need of straightening your naturally curly hair.

Taking into consideration the following pointers can ease the selection process for that blow dryer you’ve been considering to get:

The Construction Material

Usually, hair dryers are constructed from various materials like pure ceramic (also hybrid of ceramic material), tourmaline, tourmaline ceramic, and titanium.  Manufacturers might also use a hybrid of tourmaline and titanium material for convenience and better efficiency.

But all these construction and coating materials are not suitable to dry and straighten curly, kinky, and natural hair. According to several hair experts, you must opt for a blow dryer made from Titanium, Nano Titanium, Titanium Ceramic, Pure Tourmaline, or Tourmaline Ceramic to straighten your curly hair.

Ceramic is the classic and most common construction material.  However, we do not recommend ceramic, Nanoceramic, or porcelain ceramic constructed or coated dryers for straightening curly black hair.  This is because these components cannot generate very high heat temperatures (because of their high heat resistance), required for Type 3 and Type 4 manes.

On the other hand, we are especially giving importance to titanium and tourmaline and the various hybrid components of these materials, as they can absorb the highest amount of heat in the shortest possible time. At the same time, these materials can retain the heat level constantly so that you can dry and style your hair uniformly without any disruption.

We all know that black hair is very tough to straighten. Hence, these construction elements are a must-have feature for blow dryers to enjoy their best benefits when you want to straighten your curly hair locks effortlessly within a short period of time.

The Technology Used

To keep your delicate curly manes protected from heat damage and also to fight frizz, flyaways, and statics actively, you should look for a blow dryer that comes with ionic technology.  This modern-day technology uses a built-in ionic generator to release plenty of negative ions to your hair that saturates the balance between your hair’s ionic condition.  It also forms a defensive layer to protect your precious manes from any types of heat burns and damage.

The negative ions also seal in the hair’s moisture to fight away frizz and also make sure that they are silky and smooth when you style them.

Another technology, which is not a must have but is quite beneficial for your black hair is the far-infrared emission.  Experts favor this technology because it transfers the heat energy to the core of each hair to dry them from inside out, cuts the drying time by several notches, and ensures that your manes are less exposed to heat and are less likely to suffer from heat damage.

What Should Be the Wattage?

Higher motor power means that the dryer will blow more air at a given time. That would not only cut down drying time considerably, but it would also ensure a precise and perfect drying session, according to many hairstylists.   For naturally curly or thick hair, you should choose a hairdryer that comes with a 2000 or more wattage motor because these hair types are very densely packed and need more air and power to dry them out accurately for the straightening process.

Anything less than 2000 watt motor won’t be suitable for these hair categories.

Let’s Review the Must-have Feature of a Hair Dryer for Hair Straightening

Must-have Features	Thick (Natural, Black, Curly) Hair
Technology Used	Ionic Technology (Must) Far-infrared Emission (Optional)
Construction Material	Titanium, Nano Titanium, Titanium Ceramic, Tourmaline, Tourmaline Ceramic
Heat Settings	Preferable 3 Heat/speed Settings or More
Motor Power	2000 Watt or More

Conclusion:

Our fashion divas are always in a hurry while getting ready as they have to maintain their home and office at the same time. In that case, hair dryers come to their rescue. These incredible products indeed give you salon-like results. 

But some of these products are responsible for damaging your beautiful hair as well if you are not using them correctly. At the same time, all the products cannot give you that desired result. 

Now the question is how to make the right choice? We all need the best result in minimum time.

Well, for that, we have created this perfect list to make your job easier. You don’t have to search for hours by investing your valuable time as we have already selected the best hair dryers under Rs 1000 for you. Also, these are excellent gifts for yourself or to your beloved ones.

Professionals who are experts in creating your desired perfect hairstyles love these tools because of unique features.

The best part is these products don’t damage your hair even if you are using them daily. On the other hand, ergonomic design makes these products flexible and convenient for travel freaks. 

When it comes to the best choices at an affordable price, you should definitely check out these staller options. Also, don’t forget to comment on which one is your favorite?