Best hair dryers 2024: quick and frizz-free drying for all hair types

The best hair dryers are essential if you want to quickly dry your hair, give yourself an at-home blow dry or create a basis for further styling. But with so many models on the market, which do you choose?

For example, which hair dryer will make light work of the often tedious and mundane job of the humble blow-dry? Which are easy to hold and handle and make that shiny, frizz mane an obtainable day style? Well fear not, we’ve sought out the best hair dryers this year has to offer, from the likes of Dyson, ghd, Shark and more.

If you're looking to completely update your hair care routine, make sure to also read T3's guides to the best hair curlers and the best hair straighteners.

WRITTEN BY

WRITTEN BY

Bethan Girdler-Maslen

Beth is Home Editor for T3, covering style, living and wellness. Beth has made it her mission to get better at styling and looking after her hair, and she's lucky enough to get to test out the latest and greatest hair dryers, straighteners, curlers and multi-stylers... so you don't have to!

The top three

Best hair dryers ranking

The best hair dryer overall

The fact that Dyson has put the Supersonic’s motor in the handle is a game-changer for hairdryer design.  For users it means that the weight is better balanced – no arm ache with this sleekly styled beauty, and it won’t overheat at all either. Both the quietness and modest weight of just 618g are to be commended. 

The Supersonic was an absolute joy to use. We loved it’s high-end stainless steel magnetic interface – the two differently sized nozzles and the diffuser just snap into place magnetically, so you can choose the direction and angle that’s best for your style. It’s super simple to use and boasts an in-built regulator so you’ll never overheat, and in turn damage, your hair. Using this our hair felt salon perfect – shiny and bouncy with absolutely no frizz. There’s no denying it’s expensive, but it is brilliant, and we think totally worth it.

Check out our full Dyson Supersonic review and to get the best deal, check our Dyson discount codes.

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The best hair dryer for attachments

The Shark Style iQ is the rival to the Dyson Supersonic... and it does a pretty good job of giving it a run for its money! It provides a powerful performance and perfectly blow-dried hair for almost half the price. If you don't want to stretch to the Dyson, this Shark hair dryer is a powerhouse product which won't disappoint.

Combining powerful airflow performance with intelligent technology, the Shark Style iQ allows you to dry and style your hair in one hit, which dramatically reduces styling time, the risk of heat damage, and leaves hair looking and feeling healthy, sleek, and shiny. See the full Shark Style iQ review for all the details.

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The best powerful hair dryer

Designed by celebrity hair stylits, Nicky Clarke, the AirStyle Pro is an impressive 2-in-1 hair dryer and styler that might be more powerful than the Dyson and Shark combined. Its infrared and ionic technology works to keep your hair in a healthy and frizz-free condition, and it also protects your scalp from heat damage.

The powerful motor cuts your drying and styling time down, even if you have extremely thick hair. It comes with an array of attachments to play with, and despite its size, the Nicky Clarke AirStyle Pro is surprisingly lightweight... oh, and it doesn't make too much noise either!

In our Nicky Clarke AirStyle Pro review, our reviewer couldn't find anything wrong with it, other than the expensive price tag. Highly recommended by the T3 team.

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The best budget hair dryer

The Remington PROluxe hair dryer promises 24 hours worth of salon-worthy hair thanks to a new intelligent OPTIheat technology and the unique Style Shot feature. Combined, these two technologies cleverly uses heat to shape, sculpt, and lock your style in place. The exclusive styling concentrator shape has been designed specifically to enhance airflow and heat distribution, allowing you to target the heat to where your hair needs it most.

We love that Remington is a reliable brand, and that this dryer is much more affordable than others on this list, making it the perfect budget option.

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The best quick hair dryer

The ghd Helios Hair Dryer is the brand’s newest addition to it’s hair styling range. The Helios is powerful and works with ionic technology to fight the frizz, so if you’re prone to flyaways, you can’t go wrong with ghd.

If you’re looking for an investment, The Helios is set to last as it comes with a new brushless motor which promotes longer life as well as making it powerful and speeding up your drying/styling routine. Compared to other hair dryers, The Helios is said to have unique acoustic technology to make it quieter which is ideal if you live with other people. 

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The best volumising hair dryer

The mdlondon BLOW won Best Hair Styling Tool at the T3 Awards 2024, and for good reason. With its powerful yet lightweight design and super quiet styling, the mdlondon BLOW is the best dryer we've tried for extra volume and shine.

While it's definitely not inexpensive, the mdlondon BLOW is a brilliant (and slightly cheaper) alternative to the Dyson Supersonic which sits in number one spot in this list. It's excellent at calming flyaways for frizz free styling, and it even has a self0cleaning function, so it can stay in premium condition for longer. For more details, read our full mdlondon BLOW review.

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The best lightweight hair dryer

Despite its stupidly long official name, the – deep breath – Revamp Progloss Hydro Shield X Shine Hair Dryer is a masterclass in efficiency. It's compact and lightweight, but packs a serious punch when it comes to getting your hair dry quickly. There are various slick sounding features, including four heat and three power settings, plus an 'ultra cold freeze shot' for cooling your head down. Or setting your style.

The Revamp Progloss Hydro Shield X Shine Hair Dryers uses 'Ionic technology' to reduce frizz, and the front ceramic grille is infused with keratin, argan and coconut oils, which are transferred into your locks for ultimate smoothness. Our tester is not wholly convinced by features like these, but the Revamp Progloss Hydro Shield X Shine Hair Dryer did leave her hair nice and smooth, so you can make your mind up for yourself on that one.

The only down side is that, probably because it's designed to be featherlight, the Progloss 3950 doesn't look especially premium. But it does perform at least as well as we'd expect for that mid-range price tag, and the lightness makes it easier and more comfortable to use, so it's a trade-off we'd be very happy to make.

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The best hair dryer with cool shot

Cloud Nine’s Airshot Hairdryer is designed to give you that salon fresh feeling at home. It comes with variable temperature control which adapts to your hair, protecting it from harsh blasts of hot air.

Whether you’re wanting to dry it straight and sleek or with bouncy waves, the cool shot button will ensure your style is locked in place, whilst nourishing and protecting the cuticles. This product also features anti-static technology which deters frizz and flyaways.

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The best reliable hair dryer

While Panasonic may not seem like a brand that mixes with hair care, this Panasonic Nanoe Hair Dryer works with super intelligent technology to lock in moisture and leave your hair feeling soft and smooth.

This hair dryer comes with a quick dry nozzle for those who are short for time, and a diffuser for those of you who like to try different styles. The different speeds and temperatures can be selected based on the condition of your hair, with a setting called “healthy” which will dry your hair at 50 degrees for a far less harsh blow dry. Overall this hair dryer is nicely designed and great value for money! 

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The best silent hair dryer

If you're looking for a true salon-quality hairdryer, then step this way. The Elchim 3900 claims to be the hottest and most powerful on the market, thanks to a 2400W power output. This, the company says, can reduce drying time by over 30%.

All that power is contained with an integrated silencer to keep the noise down, and at 570g it's pretty lightweight too. With its smart gold detailing, the Elchim 3900 has two speed and heat settings.

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The best men's hair dryer

After noticing a gap in the market, HEiST invented the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer, the first men's focused hair dryer. Designed for men's hair concerns, like balding and thinning, the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer is equipped with clever sensors that adjust accordingly when it gets too close to the scalp.

In our HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review, we tried it on thick and thin hair, and it worked exceptionally on both. The design is lightweight, sleek and has magnetic attachments that click on satisfyingly. The buttons are in an odd place and can be tricky to access, as the heat is extremely hot but it's a very powerful hair dryer that protects hair and encourages growth.

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How to choose the best hair dryer for you

A good hairdryer is an investment in terms of your personal style and the health of your hair. You need to consider the type of hair you have, whether it’s thick or thin, long or short, and what you want to achieve. Do you simply want it to dry your hair or do you want to use it for styling too?

Our hair is in its most fragile state when it’s wet, which is why it’s so important to choose the right hair dryer for you, and to take the necessary steps to protect your hair when drying it. This includes using heat protection spray, and always starting out on a low temperature when drying. 

From here you can select a high temperature setting to style, without damaging your hair. Most dryers have a cold shot, designed to lock finished styles in place. 

So check out our final list, which includes some old favourites that have been tried and tested, plus some of the newest models on the market that consumers are raving about.  

Of course, only one hairdryer can take the crown of THE BEST on the market and that accolade goes to the Dyson Supersonic. Yes, it’s the most expensive on test but it’s also the best on the market – it made hairstyling a doddle – we achieved our chosen style quickly and comfortably with maximum shine, no frizz and we were able to listen to the radio while we dried too – a revelation!