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Not All Hair Dryers Are Created Equal

I had lost touch of just how important my hair dryer has been in achieving quick, easy and great hair styles until my Solano hair dryer died last month.

“make a hair dryer effective as a hair styling tool”

A good hair dryer is the backbone of being able to create great hair styles quickly and efficiently. There are important features that make it effective as a hair styling tool, rather than just a hair dryer:

• Wattage (air speed)

  • Heat Settings ( Low and High) You should have at the low end 1500 watts and up to 1875 watts to get enough air flow and concentrated heat to dry your hair quickly. More wattage than this and you can blow the style right out of your hair. Your heat settings should be easy to use and should give you at least a low and high heat setting. A cool shot button is great for setting in the curl, however isn’t necessary if you are in a hurry. You just need to learn to allow a curl to cool before removing the round brush or it will fall out.

• Light weight nozzle hair dryers are easy to use and the nozzle can be more effective (especially with a nozzle attachment so heat and air are both more concentrated in one area) You can also attach a diffuser to a nozzle type dryer to style in curls. If you are using your blow dryer as a hairstyling tool, with a round brush to curl or with a flat brush to straighten the hair, read on:.

• Ionic vs. regular hair dryer

  • When my blow dryer died I decided to try a new ionic hair dryer. Ionic is a fairly new technology in the hair styling industry. Very few hair stylists can describe how the technology works. To cut to the chase, it will make a difference in your hair and hair styles. I could feel the difference in my hair the first time I used it.

    • The good: your hair will feel more conditioned, reduces frizzies, reduces static electricity, may promote more hair shine.

    • The bad: flatter hair, won’t hold curl. (that could be a positive for some of you)

  • So if you have trouble with dry hair, frizzies, or static , this hair dryer will help. Just realize you may be giving up the ability to get a lot of Ummmmph and styleability to your hair styles. You can always try it yourself, most likely you can return it if it doesn’t perform well for you.

What did I buy? After reading the reviews at Consumer Reports and the hair dryer reviews at Folica I decided on CHI Hair Dryer (I got a great price and free shipping)

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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