The Very Best Hair Dryers, According To Months Of Extensive Testing (2024)

The best hair dryers work quickly without damaging hair, leaving it smoother, shinier and more voluminous than air drying ever could. They’re quiet enough to still hear your favorite podcast while in use, and they’re light enough that they don’t tire out your arms. After testing for these factors, as well as temperature, speed settings and ease of use, I found the T3 AireLuxe to be the best overall for its higher-than-average number of settings and simple but effective design. The BaBylissPro Nano Titanium Hair Dryer is my top value pick because of its excellent performance and quality at a solid price point.

These are the top hair dryers according to my testing:

To find the winners, I tested 10 best-selling models and interviewed three professional stylists. Once I landed on my three favorites, I had expert hairstylist, Lola Doward of The Lola Look, test each one to expand on my findings. I continued to use these three models over the course of nine months to make sure they could stand up to everyday wear and tear—like getting tossed in the bathroom cabinet, packed in a suitcase or accidentally dropped. Below, read more about my experience with the best blow dryers, along with a detailed description of my testing process. (You can also check out my in-depth reviews of the T3 and BaBylissPro models.)

Lightweight, quiet, durable and attractive enough to leave out on display, the T3 Airluxe is my pick for the best hair dryer overall. It has features that rival those of models costing significantly ($100-plus) more, and it bests them in functionality. This blow dryer has the highest number of temperature settings—five versus the typical three so that you can fine-tune it to your hair’s texture—and its two included concentrator nozzles come with the clearest how-to instructions I’ve ever seen. (A diffuser and styling comb can be purchased separately.) All of this makes it supremely easy to achieve smooth, shiny hair.

Professional Technology

The T3 Airluxe has the technology that truly counts, according to the pros: It disperses negative ions for smoothness and a ceramic coating to spread heat evenly across hair. Per Becca Raziuddin, director of artist education for Blo Blow Dry Bar and stylist Quia Querisma, this T3 model is “a professional hairdryer for half the cost.” I found that assessment to be true in my experience. After using this model, my hair looked as if I’d just gotten it cut. It looked finished and polished, thanks to the nice bend I was able to get at the ends using the concentrator.

Ultra-Light And Easy To Control

The T3 blow dryer feels manageable because it’s so accommodating to use and works so quickly. It gives me sleek, smooth, reliable results that last for at least 2 days. Doward also notes that it’s lightweight (at 17.01 ounces, it’s just over a pound—not the lightest we tested, but lighter than the majority, which ranges from 1.5 pounds to just over 2 pounds) and leaves hair smooth, saying its slimmer nozzle gives the user great control. I found the volume boost and cool shot to be effective and ergonomic to use, and I liked the handy Velcro cord keeper for neatly bundling the dryer in my cabinet. Other practical benefits include great durability (it passed my drop test without losing its filter cover or getting scratched) and up to three years of warranty coverage.

Sleek, Luxurious Look

The matte black and chrome or white and rose gold finishes make it feel like a luxury to use. It still looks pristine and beautiful sitting in my bathroom, even though it has been kicked around in a basket with other hair dryers all this time. I love that it doesn’t look banged up or scratched after months of use. I do still get a bit annoyed by the cool shot button’s location and find that I accidentally hit it at least once every time I dry my hair. It’s not a big deal, but it does seem like a design flaw.

I also wish the concentrator nozzles snapped on and off a little more easily. I prefer when attachments slide over the nozzle of the hair dryer rather than fastening into it; it can be difficult to remove or exchange them when they’re hot. While Dyson, with its magnetic attachments, definitely has an advantage here, it’s not worth spending an extra $200 for that in my book—especially if you don’t blow dry your hair every single day.

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You can’t buy a better hair dryer for under $100 than this BaBylissPro. It has a higher wattage—2,000 compared with 1,875—than many of its peers, even ones that cost much more, which translates to more power. All the settings you really need are included: It has three temperature settings and two speed settings to tailor your blowout to your hair type and style. It gives you sleek results, emitting negative ions to smooth hair, and it comes with a super simple concentrator to focus the airflow and iron out even further.

Recommended By An Expert

Doward told me that BaBylissPro is her go-to at the salon, and she ranked this one as her top pick. “It’s great for all hair types,” she says. “It’s very powerful and cuts the blow dry [time] in half.” The three temperature options also let you choose the lowest one for your hair, so you can avoid damage from frequent styling. She noted that its extra-long nozzle makes it great for people who have short hair, as it makes it easier to reach around the back.

Functional, Pared-Down Design

The toggle switch controls are easy to use and change with a sturdy, satisfying click—you won’t accidentally wind up on Lo power when you want Hi—and it stood up to my drop test without a crack or scratch. It was one of the lightest and quietest models I tried out, to boot. I love how the concentrator fits over the nozzle. That makes it much easier to put on or take off with one hand—and without burning your fingers—while styling your hair. The only feature I didn’t like was the cool shot, which you have to hold down continuously to get that blast of cold air to “freeze” any shape or volume you’ve just created. But I consider that a minor flaw, not a dealbreaker.

It has taken a bit of a beating in the basket where it lives, and the baby blue finish has gotten scratched and is peeling a bit. It’s not as sleek and resilient as more expensive hair dryers I tested. But if looks don’t matter to you, it’s a workhorse that will get the job done reliably well for a great price.

Let’s get this out of the way: Dyson’s hair dryer, like all of its home and beauty tools, is much more expensive than the competition. You don’t need to spend this much to get a good blow dry at home or to keep your hair healthy. All of the dryers I tested did the job in around 10 minutes and left my hair looking pretty smooth, with only a few exceptions (see below). However, it is a joy to use and a pleasure to look at. The air comes out much more forcefully than it does from other hair dryers, which gives you more styling power. It’s noticeably cooler too, which is healthier for your hair.

Innovative, Light And Quick

Dyson’s unique magnetic attachments are genius because they are truly effortless to attach and just feel really satisfying to click into place. It’s very lightweight (weighing around 1 pound—not the absolute lightest in our testing but a solid runner-up), and the unusual design with the short barrel puts less strain on your arm. It dried my fine but plentiful hair slightly faster than the competition. It also comes in a beautiful leather train case that anybody would be happy to keep on their countertop.

The weight and speediness might merit the price tag for you. I originally purchased one of these for my mom a few years ago after she had a mini-stroke. She has super thick hair, and I thought it might make it easier for her to style her hair while she was recovering; she’d tell you that it did. She did, however, end up buying an Airwrap to make styling even easier for herself.

The only things that detract from its performance are the thick and heavy cord—which makes it bulky to store—and the heat output. While it applies a lower temp to your hair, the dryer itself does get hot to the touch at the top. Doward and I both noticed this in testing.

Other Hair Dryers I Tested

I tested 10 products total, and seven didn’t make the cut—although some could be a good option for certain users. Here are the rest of the models I tested.

Bio Ionic 10X Ultra Light Speed Dryer: As a fine-haired person who usually uses a cooler setting, I didn’t like that this dryer has only one setting. The concentrator also fell off halfway through use for me. It is very lightweight though—truly under 1 pound.

Drybar Reserve Ultralight Anti-Frizz Blow-Dryer: This one felt plastic-y to me. And though Doward really liked it for use in her salon, she thought it might get too hot for home use. I noticed that it did dry my hair a little faster than some others. On a positive note, it is lightweight and quiet, and it has a unique light-up display.

GHD Helios 1875W Advanced Professional Hair Dryer: I love GHD hair tools in general—I’ve had the same curling iron for 10-plus years now—but I didn’t love this dryer. It was heavy and loud compared with the others I tested.

Shark HyperAir: The attachments that come with this dryer actually feel like they belong on a vacuum. They’re not intuitive to use on your hair, and the device is heavy—the heaviest I tested, at 2 pounds without any attachments—and loud.

Kristen Ess Iconic Style Professional Blow Dryer: I loved the Instagram-worthy white-and-rose-gold finish of this one for the price; it looks much more expensive than it is. The dealbreakers: It was one of the heaviest and loudest dryers I tested.

Conair InfinityPro SmoothWrap Hair Dryer: For me, this dryer yielded noticeably frizzy results, perhaps because it felt hotter. Its coating also scratched easily in my testing, and I couldn’t find any information about a warranty. It was, however, among the quietest I tested, and it includes a diffuser and a concentrator.

Remington Hair Dryer with Damage Protection Styler: This one gave off a noticeable chemical plastic burning smell when I used it the first time (yuck). When I did my drop test, the filter popped off immediately. It was very lightweight and quiet, and I liked that it came with a concentrator and diffuser and had a hanging loop.

How I Tested The Best Hair Dryers

I evaluated hair dryers based on several factors, including effectiveness, features and experts’ opinions. Here’s a breakdown on each.

Effectiveness

I used each dryer two to three times on my own hair, testing all of the settings and many of the attachments. The first time around, I let my hair air dry by about 80%, then I finished it with the blow dryer (this is how I usually style it). For the second round, I used the hair dryer to rough dry my fresh-from-the-shower hair and smooth it out. I clocked each session to gauge the model’s efficiency, then assessed my hair’s shine, smoothness and volume, noting any significant benefits or shortcomings. (My fine, straight lobbed hair wouldn’t tell you much about a diffuser’s effectiveness; however, read on for how Doward tested these dryers and their attachments on different hair types.)

Standard And Special Features

In addition to checking on my hair, I wanted to test for some objective features. A great blow dryer should have multiple temperature settings so that you can choose the lowest effective one for your hair, and be powerful enough to dry your hair reasonably quickly, although of course that depends on your length and texture. I noted each model’s wattage and number of temperature and speed options as well as the locations of the controls. (Pro stylists prefer having all the buttons on the side of the handle, where you’re less likely to press them accidentally; few actually have this design, though. I found the next best thing to be having them all on the back.)

I tried out special features like volume-boosting modes. I also weighed dryers and noted if they made my hand feel tired during use; I had just had a baby and was experiencing serious carpal tunnel symptoms, so I was extra sensitive to this factor. For a durability test, I also dropped each hair dryer on my porcelain sink to check how it held up to potential wear and tear.

Noise Level

The quieter, the better, when it comes to hair dryers. But this factor might not be a dealbreaker for you. Still, less noise can make one of these tools more pleasant to use. I tested these 10 hair dryers using the Decibel X app on my iPhone, holding each dryer the same distance away from my phone while turned on. Most of the models hovered around the mid 70 decibels on their most powerful and loudest settings. That’s similar to a vacuum cleaner.

The loudest models I tested—the Kristen Ess and Shark models—topped 80 decibels, which veers into heavy traffic territory. Prolonged exposure to noise levels over 85 decibels can actually damage your hearing, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Of course, you won’t be using your hair dryer continuously for hours on end—but still, that’s loud.

Expert Approval

Finally, I shared my four top contenders with Doward, to test on my family as well as clients in her New York City salon to see how the dryers worked on different hair types. Doward started making house calls during the pandemic to cut the entire family’s hair: We run the gamut from thick and curly to fine and color-processed to unadulterated toddler hair. At her salon, Doward sees clients of varied hair types regularly, and she specializes in adding and styling extensions.

How To Pick The Best Hair Dryer

Ultimately, the best hair dryer for you depends on a variety of criteria, including how it’s built, the technology it contains, the way it feels in your hand—all of these matter. After all, you’re investing in a tool you’ll probably use every day. It needs to perform well and hold up to wear and tear.

Wattage

Wattage refers to electrical power and heat; you’ll see the wattage listed on the package. “Higher wattage means a hair dryer is a more powerful dryer,” says Querisma. You want power, but higher wattage and temperature isn’t necessarily better. Most hair dryers range between 1,800 and 2,000 watts; 1,875 is most common, but anywhere in that range is fine. “If you have coarse or curly hair [which tends to be thicker], high wattage will help you get it dry faster,” says Raziuddin.

Fan Speed

Fan speed, which pros say is more important than wattage, refers to how forceful the air is coming out of the hair dryer. It’s what “is going to make or break your drying time,” says Querisma. Most models aside from Dyson’s or pro brand Laifen’s, which clock in at 110,000 rpms (rotations per minute), don’t tell you the fan speed—but you can feel how forcefully they propel the air. That helps blow moisture off the surface of your hair instead of heating and evaporating it.

Ionic And Ceramic Features

These buzzwords appear on practically every hair dryer package. Do they make a difference? Pros say yes: “Ionic [technology] is best for combating frizz and flyaways,” says Raziuddin. “It means that the blow dryer neutralizes positive ions that create frizz.” Unfortunately, there’s not a solid basis for the benefits; I went looking for independent research explaining the benefits of negative ions for hairstyling and came up empty-handed. The basic idea, as I’ve come to understand it, is that negative ions neutralize the positive ions from static in your hair, making it look smoother.

Meanwhile, a ceramic coating “helps to distribute heat evenly for faster and healthier drying,” Raziuddin says. This works the same way on hair dryers as it does on pots, pans and grill grates. Blow dryers with a ceramic coating are gentler on hair, and less likely to cause damage.

Temperature And Speed Settings

“For speed, look for high, medium and low,” says Querisma. This gives you options for styling your hair when it’s fully wet or air-dried, or when you want to achieve different textures. For temperature, there should also be high, medium and low options, plus a cold shot. “You manipulate the hair with heat, but you actually set it with the cold shot,” Querisma continues. “It is critical when creating volume in a blowout.” It’s also great for diffusing hair. Most devices have one, but the best hair dryers don’t require you to hold it down continuously to keep the air cold.

Attachments

The attachments you need will depend on your hair type. If you have straight hair, you’ve probably used a concentrator—it’s the narrow piece that fits over the end, concentrating the airflow. A diffuser is a wide, flat cone for drying curly hair to result in less frizz. A comb attachment lets you untangle and smooth curly or textured hair.

Ergonomics

The location and type of controls and the hair dryer’s weight determine whether it is comfortable in the hand and in use. After all, if you have really thick or long hair, you might be using and holding this tool for quite a while. For location of controls, our pros all agree that having them on the side of the handle is most convenient. “I prefer this so I don't accidentally change them with my fingers when I’m working,” says Querisma.

Warranty And Return Policy

A two-year warranty seems to be pretty standard among the dryers I tested. Take note if it’s significantly shorter, especially for an expensive dryer. Also look to see if you get any extra warranty by registering your product. With our top pick, for example, registering gets you a full extra year of coverage.

If you try out a hair dryer and simply decide that it’s not for you, Amazon has a very generous return policy, as does Sephora. Both offer a full refund within 30 days for any reason, even if the packaging has been opened and the item gently used.

My Expertise

I’m a veteran lifestyle journalist who’s been covering hair tools, among other topics, for over a decade for outlets like Elle, O, The Oprah Magazine and Martha Stewart Living. I’ve had my hair every color and length, and I’ve gotten spiral perms twice (including once when I had baby bangs). I’m a frequent Forbes Vetted contributor, with bylines on over two dozen beauty and grooming stories, including the extensively tested best electric razors for women and the best self-tanners.

This tested package (including our in-depth reviews of the T3 and BaBylissPro winners) was assigned and produced by deputy editor Jane Sung, who oversees the beauty and grooming section. To report this story, I interviewed three beauty pros who pay serious attention to hair tools and the technology that goes into them. I spoke to Becca Raziuddin, director of artist education for Blo Blow Dry Bar, and Quia Querisma, a texture specialist who can be booked on Swivel Beauty, a platform specializing in finding Black hairstylists. I also consulted my family’s expert hairstylist, Lola Doward of The Lola Look, who regularly works for TV and film actors including Kristen Wiig and Kristin Chenoweth. Doward tested out my favorites in her salon on real clients and provided feedback on the winners.

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