If you take your hair care regimen seriously, you know that half the battle when it comes to getting that fresh-from-salon look is using the right hairdryer on your wet hair.
The trouble is that many domestic-grade handheld dryers are just not up to the job of replicating the salon experience, leaving your locks looking lusterless and flat.
The good news is that manufacturers of salon-quality dryers are increasingly aiming their high-end, salon-grade products at the consumer market.
That means dryers are now available that boast powerful AC motors, built-in ionisers and a lightweight, ergonomic design you have hitherto only found at the hairdresser.
So if you are ready to learn what to look for in a hairdryer capable of giving you that just-from-the-salon look, read on.
High Wattage
Salon-quality hairdryers really ramp up the power or wattage of the appliance compared to domestic dryers. When we talk about a high-wattage hairdryer, we mean one capable of kicking out 1800–2400W of energy.
By using a hairdryer with a wattage in this range, you can be sure you’re exposing your wet locks to a jet of air powerful enough to dry them efficiently and smooth your hair cuticles.
This reduces the risk of damaging your hair by exposing it to a lower wattage dryer that requires more drying time at a higher heat to evaporate the water in your hair.
Multiple Speed Settings
Home-use hairdryers tend to come with a couple of speed settings, but toggling between the low and high settings often fails to produce an appreciably different jet of air.
In a salon-quality hairdryer, you should expect the appliance to produce very different quantities of airflow when switched between its two speed settings.
The difference in air flow is not just a nice-to-have – drying hair must be submitted to both high and low airflows at the different stages of hair drying.
The high speed is required when the hair is wet, to rapidly evaporate the moisture and remove the bulk of the water, while the lower speed comes in handy when you need a gentle flow of air to style the hair in the later stages of drying.
Ionising Technology
Powerful motors are just one – albeit important – element of the secret sauce of giving your hair that salon look. However, the technology at the heart of the latest generation is really what sets them apart from previous generations of domestic hairdryers.
Today, salon-grade hairdryers make clever use of physics to reduce the static electricity that often makes hair drying a frizzy nightmare. The two ionising technologies you will find in modern hairdryers are:
- Current-produced ionisers: Use an ion generator to produce charged particles that help combat static electricity in the hair, helping cuticles lie flat so that frizz is reduced.
- Ceramic or tourmaline ionisers: Use the semiprecious mineral Tourmaline to produce supplementary ions, again helping to minimise frizz and making the freshly washed hair less fly-away.
Ergonomic Design
You might think that because modern hairdryers are stuffed with powerful motors and clever ionising tech, they are necessarily bulky bits of kit.
But this isn’t true – modern salon-grade hairdryers nowadays come with sleek ergonomic designs that are lightweight and easy to wield, even for long periods.
This will allow you to use the dryer for extended periods, ensuring you get the hairstyle you’re after, even if it needs a bit of trial and error to get there.
Cool Shot Button
The signature of a hairdo done by a professional stylist is that it remains in place for hours after it has been set. The cool shot button on salon-grade hairdryers is responsible for fixing the hairstyle in place.
It does this by closing hair cuticles after they have been exposed to the heat of the dryer and ‘locking’ the styling in place.
Conclusion
More and more consumer suppliers stock salon-quality hairdryers, boasting high-end motors, precise speed controls, and the technology that ensures hair is as lustrous and frizz-free as if you’d just stepped out of the salon.
And if you’re still unsure of what to look for in a salon-quality hairdryer, CoolBlades compared the top hairdryers for you.
