UPDATE: Jul. 18, 2023, 5:00 a.m. EDT We updated this guide based on our latest product testing, reviews, and availability. Mashable writers hands-on tested all of the products featured below.
We promise: Once you start using a professional hair dryer, you'll never be able to go back. The next time you're forced to use a cheap hotel blow dryer, you'll feel like you're drying your hair in slow motion. So, if you want your hair to look its best — and we know you do — then we highly recommend investing in a hair care tool worthy of your hair.
A good blow dry is the foundation to a good hair day, after all. The fanciest hair straightener or curling wand in the world won't do you much good if your hair was singed with a crappy blow dryer beforehand.
It's common knowledge that pressing hair onto a sizzling hot flat iron or curling iron isn't great for it. We're quick to blame those tools for split ends and frizz, but less often, we consider that part of the problem may be the way the hair was dried in the first place. If your lifelong dream has been to give yourself the same glossy blowout that you get at the salon, your skills might not be totally to blame — your stylist's professional blow dryer is a lot better than your drugstore one.
To prove it, we put the best professional hair dryers to the test. Of course, that includes the famous Dyson Supersonic, widely considered the best hair dryer in the world (which we can confirm), as well as some popular Dyson Supersonic alternatives.
Are expensive professional hair dryers worth it?
Do you care about your hair looking great and being healthy? Then yes.
"Does it actually matter? Hot air is hot air, right?" Well, it's not that black and white. Beauty YouTube is a sucker for comparisons between high-end and budget-friendly dryers, but what's not being shown in that single demo is the effect of frying your hair with a cheap hair dryer on a daily basis.
However, that damage will make itself known as your hair becomes increasingly resistant to a silky blowout and when those flyaways refuse to lay flat.
Hair taking forever to blow dry is the number one red flag in the world of hair dryers. Most low-quality ones don't have adjustable heat settings, and if they do, both are too hot and are literally burning your hair dry. That extreme heat probably doesn't even speed up the process, as their motors usually aren't strong enough to create the velocity or targeted airflow necessary for a thorough job.
Speaking of cheap motors, affordable hair dryers don't really save money in the long run when they need to be replaced so often. Budget-friendly dryers aren't meant to withstand all-day use like a professional one, but this also means they have a tendency to blow out (no pun intended) after a few months of daily use. They're also super loud, have short cords that are prone to breaking when tugged (like a non-Apple iPhone charger), and have filters that are hard to clean. It takes guts to drop the cash on a professional model, but it'll last for years.
Related Video: Here's how to cut your hair at home
How do you blow dry your own hair professionally?
Pro tip: Dry before you dry.
If you can wring your hair out and see water droplets falling, it's too wet to blow dry. Moisture causes the keratin in hair to create weak hydrogen bonds that stretch when combed or blown around. The protective cuticles around the keratin stretch, too, and they don't bounce back to normal after drying. Instead, wet cuticles can crack or lift, making the hair inside more susceptible to damage. It's the same reason why you shouldn't go outside with wet hair in winter. Air dry or towel dry as much as possible.
Direction of airflow also matters. We asked stylists on Instagram, read tips from celebrity stylists, and watched review vlogs, and one unanimously-backed technique stood out: Keep that dryer pointed down, honey.
Amy Loveland, a stylist at Platinum Salon in West Chester, Pennsylvania, finds that clients aren't getting the smoothness they want at home because they're blowing in the wrong direction.
"Instead of properly closing the cuticle, they blow the hair so that the cuticle stands up and their hair becomes fluffy rather than that fresh, blown-out look," she told us. "Blowing hair in the opposite direction while still keeping the airstream pointed down the hair shaft will give you the most volume while keeping smoothness."
The goal is to create a silky bounce in a single pass (aka using as little heat as possible). Zooming through your whole head with the dryer pointed all over is just asking for a puffy 'do — and not in the wind-blown, voluminous way that everyone wants. Blowing downward is also key in making those static-y ends lay flat.
Don't forget that heat protectant, y'all. Jonathan Van Ness suggests Oribe's Foundation Mist.
With these tips in mind, here are the best professional hair dryers of 2023 tested by Mashable:
