Is a $300 hair dryer really better than a $25 hair dryer?
Do you really need a better quality hair dryer? Well, it depends - do you really need healthy, strong hair that isn't brittle or frayed? We think paying a little more for a quality hair dryer is a reasonable investment.
Let's break down some of the features you should look for in a quality hair dryer - and more importantly, why.
The Heating Element:
Cheap hair dryers normally use metal or plastic heating elements that burn with intense and uneven heat. Essentially, they dry your hair by cooking the water out of it - literally boiling it off. That is why is important to soak and air dry most of the humidity first before really straight blowing it out.
With high-end hair dryers, ceramic heating is the standard. Ceramic has remarkable properties of heat conduction - which you may know, because modern space heaters and similar home technology tend to use ceramic.
This is because ceramic produces "far infrared heat" which is radiant - it penetrates the hair shaft safely, instead of heating from the outside in. This also explains why ceramic flat irons &; curling irons are the choice of professionals.
Ceramic, which can be infused with tourmaline or other elements, produces a gentle heat that means ceramic heating is safer - ceramic space heaters won't catch things on fire the way metal ones are prone to do, and ceramic hair dryers won't blast your hair with harmful energy.
"Ionic" drying:
Cheap hair dryers that use metal or plastic elements diffuse positive ions that cause the (normally neutral) cuticle covering of the hair shaft to open, causing frizz and dull appearance.
Ionic hair dryers produce negatively charged ions, which cause the cuticle to remain flat, "trapping" moisture, eliminating frizz and giving hair more body.
Plus, they dry hair faster than regular dryers and leave it shinier and smoother. This is because they don't "cook" your hair dry like the old metal or plastic coils did - they actually break down water molecules in your hair instead. Ionic dryers also banish the static electricity that results in a flyaway mess of hair.
Tourmaline:
Tourmaline was recently introduced to the hair science for its incredible capability to generate negative ions. With more negative ions, a hair dryer can dry faster (up to 75%) for unbelievably sleeker, shiny hair. We carry a number of high performance tourmaline dryers.
Tourmaline hair dryers can be combined with tourmaline treated brushes or other heat styling tools like tourmaline flat irons to add to the shiny, sleek effect.
Wattage:
While wattage varies among hair dryers, we always recommend something 1300 watts or above (unless a travel hair dryer). All of our professional hair dryers fit this category. Wattage directly affects how fast your hair dries (higher watts = more time to snooze in the morning).
Cool Shot options available on most hair dryers create a blast of cool air which is useful when setting finished styles - you can use it to dry finishing sprays or similar setting products.
I hope this post helps you a little. If you have more questions ask me here on a comment or email me too.
Thank you for reading,
Gisell xoxo