To answer the question, “Why are professional hairdryers better?”, one needs to ask the question, “do I want my hair to look like a million bucks or do I want it to look like $9.99?” Obviously, this is a drastic difference but hopefully you get my point.
When the uninformed consumer starts shopping for hairdryers, typically they start looking by price. Secondary to that are features. This makes sense, however, what the consumer forgets to take into consideration is the long term goal. Do they want to have to replace their hairdryer periodically, or do they want something that is going to last hopefully for several years? Putting the pricing issue first, many consumers shy away because they just don’t want to spend more than $20.00 or $30.00. Well, did you know that there are some professional hairdryers out there in this price range?
Historically, professional hairdryers were created for hair styling experts. Let’s face it, they are doing hair for a living and need all the help they can get in the hair styling appliance arena. But, as consumers, we too can take advantage of these professional hair styling tools and should not have to think twice about it.
Let’s talk about what’s important in factoring in whether or not you should buy a professional hairdryer:
Heat
The heating process of any blow dryer is very important when it comes to the health of your hair. The traditional dryers or less expensive dryers are made with plastic or metal heating elements. The affect this has on your hair is that these elements burn with uncontrollable heat. After prolonged use your hair will get brittle and break off. Professional dryers typically are made with ceramic, ionic, and/or tourmaline features. (See Below)
Features
Probably one of the key features of a professional hair dryer is that it has a durable, strong motor that will last twice as long, if not longer, than the traditional hairdryer.
EMF
An EMF is the electromagnetic field that is produced by the hairdryer. For environmentalists the lower the EMF the better. The traditional dryers still produce EMF levels that could be considered potentially dangerous while most of the professional dryers are now manufactured with extremely low EMF levels. The lower the EMF level, the safer it is for you and our environment.
Ceramic
Ceramic technology generates infrared heat, which gently dries your hair from the inside out. Ceramic blow dryers also heat evenly and do not get too hot for the hair. It uses radiant heat which penetrates the individual strand instead of drying the outside of the hair first. Additionally one of the benefits of ceramic is the fact that your hair will dry up to seventy percent faster.
Ionic
Ionic technology in a hairdryer means that the tool is releasing negative ions onto wet hair. The negative ions break apart the water molecules, which make them smaller and more easily absorbed by the hair or dried through evaporation. This process helps keep the hair shiny and moisturized and also helps reduce hair frizz. The result is shinier and sleeker looking hair.
Tourmaline
A plus factor for ceramics is that they can be infused with other elements like tourmaline crystals. The tourmaline nano particles generate far-infrared energy when heated. This penetrating form of heat passes through the hair cuticle, going directly to the cortex of the hair to dry it first. The cuticle is not over-dried and resists brittleness and cracking. This helps hair to maintain its shine and softness. Tourmaline hairdryers also helps cleanse hair of odors and impurities.
Settings
Bottom line on this feature is the more settings you have the better it is for you. It is all about options/choices because we don’t all use our hairdryers just to dry our hair. And, we all have different types of hair that need to be taken into consideration. So, if you have fine, thin hair and your hair starts to dry before you even turn on the dryer, you can use a lower setting. If you have thick, long hair, you obviously are going to want to use the max heat setting on the dryer. Many of the professional dryers come with a separate Cold Shot button which is used to help set the style. If you have completely dried one section of the hair with your styling brush, you can then press the cold shot button and it will lock in the style.
Wattage
Most consumers think that the higher the wattage of a dryer, the faster your hair will dry. While this is a true statement, it is still important to take a look at what type hair you are going to be styling or drying. The higher end wattage dryers (1875 and above) are basically designed for people who have thick, course, and longer hair. For fine, thin, and short hair that is not necessarily thick, a lower wattage dryer from 1300 watts up to 1875 would be appropriate.
Weight
While it makes sense for the professional hair stylist who is blowing out hair all day long to have a lighter weight dryer, there are those of us at home stylists who also prefer the lighter weight models. The nice thing about professional dryers is that there are many in the marketplace that are lightweight and have all of the features that we are looking for. Additionally, the lighter weight dryers provide much more flexibility for the user in terms of being able to easily maneuver the dryer in the styling process.
Attachments
The attachments that accompany a professional hair dryer typically include a concentrator. This is used to focus in on specific areas of your hair while drying with a styling brush. They are great to have because it gives you better control over your hair and restricts the dryer from blowing hair that you are not yet ready to style. Another attachment that comes with some of the professional dryers is the diffuser. A diffuser is great to have as it helps in creating more volume and waves. If you have curly hair it is almost a neccessity to have a diffuser if you are blow drying your hair. The diffuser helps with the volume but also provides more control over the hair and keeps the curls intact with less frizz. Some dryers even come with an additional bonus attachment, which is the styling pik. This attachment lifts, shapes, and smooths curly hair while drying.
In summary, take a look at all of the options that a professional hairdryer has to offer. Check out prices and you will find that they will be all over the board. However, there is one that will catch your eye that you will be able to afford and inevitably once you have used a professional dryer that will be all you will want to use going forward.