hairdryer?

November 12, 2005 10:32 AM

My hair dryer just bit the dust, and now I need to buy a new one. Any recommendations? Are those tourmaline dryers worth the $200 price tag? I have long, hair....

(its three inches past my shoulders, but on the thin side) and I intend to let it grow out some more, so a fast dry time is really important to me. The last one was a Bayliss, which was good, if on the heavy side.

posted by lilboo to clothing, beauty, & fashion (8 comments total)

My hair is not quite as long (nearly to my shoulders), but is very thick. I've switched to a ceramic/ionic dryer (about $30 at Target) in conjunction with a ceramic/ionic brush (about $16 at the local beauty supply) and my drying time's been cut down from ~20-25 minutes to ~8 minutes.
posted by scody at 11:46 AM on November 12, 2005

I love my Revlon ionic one - I don't know that I buy the whole ionic thing, but it dries my hair faster than any dryer I've ever had and leaves a nice shine (I use a ceramic brush as well).
posted by biscotti at 1:17 PM on November 12, 2005

Okay, okay, this one is definately MAS: The Shopping Bags on hairdryers...
posted by Chuckles at 1:57 PM on November 12, 2005

I have a Conair ionic hair dryer. Two notable things: it's very quiet, and it blows fairly gently. Oddly, it dries my hair in the same amount of time as a hurricane-strength blower. My hair is smoother when I use it (and not another dryer), but i figured it's because they hair isn't being whipped around all over the place.
posted by wryly at 4:35 PM on November 12, 2005

If you have a friend who's a licensed cosmetologist, have him or her take you to your local "professional" shop. Based on the zip in your profile, these are the closest ones to you. Most of these businesses have agreements with vendors not to sell to the general public, so you need to have a licensed friend do your shopping. What you want is a Farouk Chi Pro. You want to buy it new and you want to buy it from a reputable distributor. You do not want it to be remanufactured, unless it comes with an explicit warranty from Farouk. (I'm not sure I'd buy it online.) If you can spare the extra dollars, you may want to go for the Turbo or the Rocket, but that may be overkill in your case. If you previously owned a Bayliss, this is a step up. (Bayliss also makes pro models.)

Why do you want a Chi Pro? It's quiet. It's not the quietest on the professional market, but it shames anything you can buy at CVS. It's hot. Very, very hot. It gets hot in a few seconds flat. You also have excellent control of the temperature with one hand. It comes with a diffuser and a concentrator. You'll probably never need to buy other accessories. The warranty is okay, but the unit is cleanable and it is serviceable. This means if you ever have a problem, you can have it serviced.

For the money, this is the best hair dryer per dollar. We can argue about which brand is better, of course, because it is a matter of opinion and budget. You can pay $100 more and get a slightly better hair dryer with a similar life expectancy. You can also pay a sixth as much and replace your hair dryer several times a year and waste hours a month while it heats up.

Imagine the amount of time it would take to do your laundry by hand. That's the CVS bought hair dryer. Imagine the amount of time it takes you to have your laundry picked up at your door and then returned clean, folded, pressed, and/or hung. That's the professional model.

For what it is worth, yes, I am a man. Yes, I shave my head. No, I'm not a stylist. I happen to be spending my life with a very talented stylist from whom I've learned way more than I ever thought possible about hair.

One more thing, ionic in hair care products does not mean ionic in the scientific sense of the word. In fact, it is marketing speak. If you have dry or brittle hair, you shouldn't be using any heat on your hair without some sort of product that will keep the heat from doing further damage. Ionic products do just as much damage to already damaged hair as non-ionic products.
posted by sequential at 9:28 PM on November 12, 2005

Awesome. I'll go check that out and report back to the thread.
posted by lilboo at 8:27 AM on November 13, 2005

Ditto on Farouk. Dries the hair quickly, and makes it smoother and shinier. If you haven't already, buy some kind of styling product to put in your hair before blowdrying to protect it from the heat.
posted by radioamy at 10:20 PM on November 14, 2005

Got it, and it works great. my hair is super smooth now. Thanks dudes.
posted by lilboo at 7:38 PM on November 30, 2005