Buying a new hair dryer.
A hairdryer can be lots of things but most of all it has to do the job quickly and make drying your hair a pleasure.
** warning – not all hairdryers do this well **
What should you be looking for when you choose a new hairdryer?
I need a hairdryer that gets the job done with a minimum of fuss and sits comfortably in my hand when I use it. I personally prefer a hairdryer that is balanced and lightweight. It needs to have a reasonably powerful motor and it needs a variety of heat and air speed settings. Important – It should have a cold shot function. (more later) It needs to have the switches in a position that means I don’t keep catching them and switching heat and speed settings.
Hair Dryer’s I recommend
Miraki Cyclone
The Miraki Cyclone is a powerful dryer with a nice comfortable grip and good front grip mounted controls. Its a reasonably light hairdryer, not as light as the Parlux lightweight but not as heavy as the GHD .
You have a of choice of three heat settings 1,2 or 3 and two drier speed settings 1 or 2 . I tend to stay on 2 heat and 2 for speed. These buttons feel solid and change with a nice click and no wobble. It has a nicely positioned blue cold cut out button above the speed and heat buttons . The Miraki Cyclone cold shot button is the best I have ever used! It changes hot airflow quickly to cold so I can easily set hair over the brush quickly to give added volume. It is not as light and compact as The Parlux dryer but its a favourite of mine. Great value for the price mark of under £40. 8.5 / 10
220 -240 v – 50/60hz – 1760 /2100 W
Miraki Cyclone
Parlux Lightweight
The Parlux lightweight is a powerful extra lightweight hair dryer its a professionals choice as a salon use dryer due to its feather like weight. It comes in a variety of nice colours with a couple of nozzles to direct airflow included. One long one stubby for control. The dryer is well balanced with controls easily accessible on the side. I personally find these a bit confusing and the slow airflow combined with medium heat is still a little too hot for my liking. This is a small negative point as offset because the cold shot is not far away in response time to the Miraki dryer previously reviewed.
It dries hair in seconds. My daughter used one that I have as a spare at home when she was visiting over Christmas time and she was highly impressed by the amount of time she saved drying her long hair with the Parlux dryer. cost around £95 – 8/10
GHD Hairdryer
The GHD hairdryer is quite a heavy hairdryer ! However It is robust and nicely designed with good airflow and easy controls. The controls are recessed switches that give good control ratio of heat at low airflow or at fast blow for quick drying. Its not too noisy either. The coldshot is pretty responsive getting to cold quite quickly. Its a pretty expensive dryer which will sell based on customer loyalty to the straighteners GHD do.
Cost from £90 – £130 Overall 7/10
ETI Hairdryer
The ETI is a dryer I have used for many years until quite recently. It gives a good airflow with comfortable control swithches. The Coldshot is not as responsive as the other hairdryers listed here. A very reliable hairdryer at a good price. I have had clients buy this hairdryer and tell me they are still using it 20 years later. It comes in a multitude of colours and weight wise is reasonable but certainly not lightweight. cost from £45 -55 7/10
this was super helpful. I’m trying to think of gift ideas for my wife and she’s always complaining about her hair dryer. But I have 0 expertise or opinion when it come to hair care products.
Would she like this one? what is the most attractive reason you like this hair dryer?
Hi Darren – the ones I recommend here are all a bit more expensive than the normal store bought ones however they are designed for professional use and will last years and years. The three hairdryers I have reviewed are all in my salon and I avoid the heaviest even though I have arms like a docker 🙂 If its for your wife choose a lightweight models shown … the Parlux or the Miraki would make your wife a happy lady because of the quality and forever last ability
I’d recommend Karmin!!