Choosing the right hair dryer can be a minefield, with so many products to decide between. Our advice pages are a great place to start, as well as the reviews from our testers. We’ve also posted some of our readers’ questions here with our answers. If you have something else we could help with, use the ‘contact us’ form to get in touch and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Buying a new hair dryer
Main points are that different hairstyles may well require different hairdryers. A narrow nozzle for a smooth blow-dry or a good diffuser for a boost / definition for waves. The Dyson hairdryer for example is brilliant for thicker and longer hair but so not good for fine, curly hair which needs to dry slower to set the curls.
Travel hairdryers are another consideration. Think about the weight of your hairdryer. If you need to buy a small and light dryer for travelling, it's probably worth the investment.
In terms of changing your old dryer for safety, this is an important question. Our hairdryer advice is to look out for the obvious hairdryer warning signs are: smell and heat. If you smell any burning, or a fishy kind of smell, turn off and unplug your hairdryer immediately. Burning could be an electrical fault (or your hair overheating!), and fishy smell is often associated with a blown fuse, so be really careful with both. If you can see into your dryer through the air vent, you may notice the element glowing. This is quite normal for metal coil heated hairdryers although you shouldn't notice it on a ceramic hairdryer as the metal coil is encased in a ceramic layer. Most modern hair dryers have a removable filter at the back. If it gets clogged up, airflow is reduced and the element may overheat. You might want to check if you can remove the back and clean the filter. If the plastic body of the hairdryer is getting too hot to touch however, this is absolutely not ok. As a general rule of thumb, carry out quick safety check from time to time: also make sure the cable is not exposed and is properly attached to the plug,
Hair dryer technology
Hair types, hair care and styling
Attachments and accessories
It's not common nowadays to be able to buy separate nozzles for an older hairdryer. To be honest, you're better off buying a new hair dryer which comes with a narrow concentrator nozzle. The best ones we've found, after consulting with hairdressers and users are: Mid-budget professional hairdryer - Parlux 385 Powerlight (reviewed here), or if you're on a smaller budget, the cheaper Remington Pro-Air Turbo D5220 Hair Dryer (reviewed here).
Hair dryer maintenance
We've written a useful page with our best advice about hairdryer maintenance and safety, so for more tips look here. Alternatively, you can go to the Electrical Safety First guide which has been produced specifically to address consumer's concerns with electrical goods like hairdryers.
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