Hair dryer brushes have become one of my favorite beauty tools over the past year. They save time by achieving wet-to-dry styling that leaves your hair sleek and polished, looking like you just left the salon.
“Blow dryer brushes are the easiest way to achieve a professional blowout at home,” says Tiffanie Richards, hairstylist and master colorist at Louise O’Connor Salon in New York City.
A typical blowout is created using a round brush and a hair dryer — and when you know what you’re doing, you can use these for a variety of styles. Marilena de Graaf, Balmain Hair’s product manager of Balmain Hair Tools, loves the brand’s ceramic round brush collection for creating “a sleek, straight look, giving your hair a polished finish. But also, they are excellent for adding volume, bounce and body to your hair.” However, this requires advanced techniques, multiple tools and lots of coordination.
A blow dryer brush can give you the same results without the fuss. “Using a blow dryer brush can be easier for those who find it hard to style their own hair at home by eliminating the coordination between how to hold a hair dryer and brush correctly at the same time,” explains Fabian Linguin, hairstylist and founder of Rahua hair care.
By combining the drying power of a hair dryer with the styling capabilities of a round brush, blow dryer brushes become surprisingly intuitive to use. They can make wavy hair sleeker, straight hair more voluminous and increase bounce and shine overall. Plus, many models come with interchangeable attachments that expand the possible hairstyles you can achieve with one tool.
A tip from Linguin when picking a tool: “Generally, dryer brushes have the longest durability when the power is 1200 watts or higher.”
How to use a hair dryer brush
Richards recommends rough drying your hair before using a blow dryer brush to help avoid damaging your locks. Some blow dryer brushes may come with an attachment for this, but otherwise you can just make sure your hair is towel dried very well or use a traditional hairdryer for a few minutes.
According to de Graaf, the next step before actually using a blow dryer brush is applying a heat protector spray (her favorite is Balmain’s Thermal Protection Spray). While a blow dryer brush doesn’t use as intense direct heat as a typical curling iron or hair straightener, it’s still a hot tool so it’s smart to use some protective hair care.
When you’re ready to start styling, you’ll want to work in sections. You can hold the hair dryer brush under the roots of the hair to add lift and volume. Then, as you run your hair through the brush, you can twist it towards or away from your face to add a curl to your ends. Work section by section until your hair is completely dried and styled — and don’t forget to finish it off with hairspray to set your blowout.
Now that you’re ready to give it a go — check out the best hair dryer brushes below, including expert recommendations and picks I’ve personally tested.
A personal favorite, also with Richards' and Lliguin's stamp of approval, "You can achieve any look from wavy to straight with the Airwrap," Richards says. "It comes with several attachments including one to use the device as a normal blow dryer." Going above and beyond a singular styling tool, the multi-use Airwrap easily morphs into a blow dryer, hair dryer brush, curling wand and more — making the high price point a bit more justified.
"The Shark FlexStyle is a close second," Richards says. "With a much softer price than the Dyson, it’s quite up to par quality-wise." We agree — we actually tested the two hair tools against each other and found that the FlexStyle's drying, curling, smoothing and volumizing features measure up for its price point.
This under-$50 tool is a personal favorite and Underscored's choice of best affordable hair dryer. It quickly dries and styles hair with simple settings and a big oval-shaped brush to amp up the hair's volume. Just be cautious — the One-Step gets quite hot, so you'll definitely want to use a heat protector spray.
A new offering from Shark, the SmoothStyle has a wet styling mode and a dry styling mode. "What sets it apart is that the wet-to-dry styler never reaches heat-damaging temperatures, so you get that bouncy, voluminous look without the frizz or damage," says celebrity hairstylist and Shark Beauty global ambassador Chris Appleton. "Plus, the price point is hard to beat for a product of this quality."
Celebrity makeup artist and hairstylist Danni Katz recommends this budget-friendly option. It features three heat/speed settings and a lightweight body that makes it a great travel-friendly hair tool.
Katz also likes Drybar's blow dryer brush. It comes in several barrel sizes, but the oval-shaped Double Shot is the most popular for achieving bouncy, voluminous blowouts at home. "It’s also super cute in the yellow shade!" Katz adds.
Linguin recommends the T3 AireBrush Duo, which comes with a round brush attachment and a paddle brush attachment. I've personally tried it and love the wide range of heat and speed settings, along with the sleek, attractive design.
Richards says this is a great straightforward yet versatile option for giving "a smooth, sleek look" when you want, but "you can also achieve big waves and bounce with this brush," she notes.