Best Hair Dryers

Ionic hair dryers seem to do the best job

You'll see three buzzwords these days when shopping for a hair dryer: ionic, ceramic and tourmaline. Ionic dryers use negative ions to shrink water droplets in the hair. Makers claim this dries wet hair faster with less heat damage, creating smoother and shinier strands. Ceramic dryers contain ceramic coils. Unlike metal, this material is said to self-regulating to prevent overheating. Lastly, tourmaline, a gemstone which is added to the heater of tourmaline hair dryers, is thought to generate a higher number of negative ions than regular ionic dryers. Many dryers combine two or more of these features, but it's important to note that the mere presence of these features isn't enough to make a dryer perform well. Rather than buzzy marketing, we relied on professional tests and user rating to form our conclusions.

The reasonably priced Revlon RV544 Tourmaline Ionic hair dryer (*Est. $20) uses two drying technologies, ionic and tourmaline. A professional review by Good Housekeeping magazine finds that the 1,875-watt Revlon Tourmaline Ionic hair dryer beats more expensive tourmaline models. Editors applaud the product's lightweight build, quiet performance and fast drying times. Reviewers at Amazon.com also give the Revlon Tourmaline Ionic great feedback, citing short drying times and sleek hair -- particularly positive comments come from those with longer and thicker hair. However, a few finer-haired users say this dryer left their hair feeling limp. The Revlon RV544 hair dryer features two settings for heat and speed, an ion indicator light (which illuminates when ions are emitted) and a diffuser attachment (designed to be used on curly hair in order to keep curls soft and natural-looking). It comes with a two-year limited warranty.

The similar 1,875-watt Conair Infiniti Tourmaline Ceramic Ionic Styler 207P (*Est. $35) offers the same features found in many higher-priced blow dryers. It includes four heat settings and three speed settings as well as a cool-shot button; a soft finger diffuser, which allows you to get closer to the scalp for better hair-sculpting control; and a concentrator attachment, which is designed to direct airflow for styling purposes. It has a three-year limited warranty. Conair also makes a similar, though slightly heavier, professional version that boasts a longer cord but fewer heat and speed settings. It has a five-year warranty, though. This dryer, The Conair Infiniti Professional Tourmaline Ceramic Ionic Styler 213X (*Est. $30) also fares well in user reviews at Amazon.com. Julyne Derrick, About.com's beauty guide, calls it the "best inexpensive hair dryer." Although we chose the Revlon version for ConsumerSearch Best Reviewed because of its lower price, we read good reviews for all three of these budget hair dryers.

Professional hair dryers are more expensive but there are some other differences. First, professional hair dryers tend to have a longer lifetime -- generally about 1,200 hours, compared with 500 for inexpensive dryers. These products are also generally larger, heavier and able to generate more airflow than consumer-level blow dryers so that they dry hair faster. They generally have a longer warranty, as well.

We found good reviews for the T3 Tourmaline Professional Featherweight (*Est. $200) at both Good Housekeeping and InStyle magazines. The T3 hair dryer uses tourmaline, which is infused into the dryer's components and is said to generate more negative ions than any other mineral. The T3 also has a ceramic coil to prevent hair damage caused by overheating. Other features of the T3 hair dryer include two speeds, an 1,800-watt motor and a weight of 13 ounces. Users at Amazon.com and Folica.com also report fast drying times and shiny hair with the T3.

Fans of the T3 hair dryer are passionate, with many users at Amazon.com and Folica.com saying they'd happily this dryer again. A number of these same reviewers did report that using the T3 seems to result in sleeker, shinier hair and a quicker drying time than other dryers. The Tourmaline T3 hair dryer line also includes the top-of-the-line blow dryer for professional stylists, the T3 Evolution (*Est. $300), which is boasts a more powerful 2,000-watt motor and an additional heat setting. The T3 Overnight travel hair dryer (*Est. $130) has components infused with tourmaline as well, and also has dual voltage for international travelers and a collapsible handle. User reviews for the T3 Overnight, however, aren't as positive as reviews for the full-size T3 hair dryers. Many owners at Folica.com say their Overnight dryer broke within just a few months. Several consumers say they experienced the same problem with each replacement dryer they received through the warranty program.

It is important to note that T3 Micro, the manufacturers of T3 Tourmaline hairdryers, will not honor their dryers' four-year warranty for products purchased from unauthorized retailers, a caveat stated clearly on the manufacturer's website. We've seen a few scathing owner-written critiques at Amazon.com -- which is not an authorized seller -- and elsewhere regarding that policy. You can find an authorized dealer by calling T3's customer service hotline at (866) 376-8880 or by buying directly from the company.

We've also seen good reviews for the CHI Pro GF1505 Ceramic Anion Infrared Low EMF at Amazon.com (*Est. $75). Farouk Systems, the manufacturers of CHI products, claims that it has low electric and magnetic field (EMF) radiation levels (some studies link EMF radiation exposure to cancer) but its unclear whether EMF radiation emitted by hair dryers is a actually a hazard. One professional review gives this dryer its highest overall score compared to nine other models tested and says that it is among the quietest. It also has an extra lint filter. User reviews at Amazon.com are also positive; several owners say the CHI Pro is quiet and lightweight.

The CHI Pro GF1505 Ceramic Anion Infrared Low EMF hair dryer combines ionic and ceramic technology like the consumer-grade Conair hair dryer above, but the CHI dryers are professional-grade models that have a life expectancy of 1,200 hours versus the 500 hours of most retail blow dryers. It only has a one-year warranty, however. Reviewers at Amazon.com say the CHI is quieter than many other hair dryers, though it doesn't have any separate heat settings, whereas the much less expensive Conair and Revlon basic dryers have three heat settings and two speeds. The T3 Featherweight hair dryer also has two speeds. One remarkable difference between the CHI and the T3 Featherweight is weight: the CHI Pro weighs 2.4 pounds, nearly three times as much as the slightly more expensive T3 Featherweight blow dryer.

The Remington Airwave Style System (*Est. $30) is also new on the scene and is getting good feedback, so far, from editors at Cosmopolitan magazine and BellaSugar.com, as well as users at Amazon.com, for its ability to create natural-looking waves. The system consists of an 1,875-watt ionic ceramic hair dryer with a unique AirWave attachment that twirls hair, creating loose curls as it dries. Users at Amazon.com say that it takes a while to get the effect, but the dryer really does work. The Remington hair dryer can also be used without the AirWave attachment. It has two speeds and three heat settings and comes with a concentrator attachment. It has a two-year warranty.