If you consider that the world’s first salon hair dryer was connected to a gas stove, any dryer you’ve ever owned is a miracle of modern science. These days, the options are truly high-tech, with dryers designed to slash drying time, protect hair from heat damage and combat frizz. To navigate the new landscape, we turned to the people whose careers depend on having the best possible tools: celebrity hairstylists. Top pros—from Oprah’s stylist to “Queer Eye’s” grooming expert—say these are the blow dryers that belong on your radar.
The cult favorite
The Dyson Supersonic is the antidote to slow, heavy and noisy hair dryers. “As someone who’s noise sensitive, I love that it’s not so loud,” says Los Angeles-based stylist Marcus Francis, who has worked with Julianne Moore, Gemma Chan and Olivia Colman. The lower-decibel level (77dB) comes courtesy of the brushless digital motor. But Francis’s favorite part is the diffuser—one of five included attachments that pop on and off via magnetic technology. All too often, air blasts out of a diffuser, he says, “but with this one, there’s strictly heat, so you don’t disrupt the curl.”
Melissa Dezarate—a groomer in New York City and Los Angeles who works with Kumail Nanjiani, Jeremy Strong and Kenan Thompson—is a fan of this dryer’s superior heat regulation: Internal monitors prevent scorching, as one of our writers noted in his ode to the Supersonic that he tried in a Tokyo hotel. Note: The filter requires regular (ideally monthly) cleaning or the motor can overheat. On the plus side, the motor is in the handle, so your hair won’t get sucked into the vent.
The Dyson dupe
Often compared to the Dyson Airwrap, not least because both come from famous vacuum makers, this dryer-styler combo costs about half the price of the Dyson equivalent. But even among pros with access to every tool in existence, this one is gaining a following. The Los Angeles-based Adir Abergel, whose FlexStyle-facilitated red carpet look for Anne Hathaway actually made headlines after the 2024 SAG Awards, says “I love it for my clients or for anyone doing their hair at home because of the ease of DIY styling it offers.” The lightweight, compact high-speed dryer turns into a styler with the attachment of a paddle brush, oval brush or curler. “The attachments allow you to create many different looks, from curls to waves to straight styles,” says Abergel, who has also worked with Florence Pugh and Kristen Stewart.
Sophie Gutterman, a Los Angeles-based stylist known for her touch with curls such as Malika Andrews’s, says she’s obsessed with the tool. “One of the best things about it besides the power is the shape,” she notes, referring to the rotating nozzle. “You can also use it bent or straight,” the former ideal for a traditional blow-dry, the latter for styling. Though a curl-defining diffuser is sold separately, the included attachments work well when you want to blow curls out, she says, adding that “on day-two hair, I like to use the round brush attachment to keep the volume and help control frizz so I can get a few days out of my blowout.”
The gloss enhancer
A quiet powerhouse—it also boasts a brushless motor—the GHD dryer is a go-to for New York City-based Takisha Sturdivant-Drew, who works with Kerry Washington, Nicole Ari Parker and Ariana DeBose. “With the contoured nozzle, it leaves the hair nice and smooth while drying it quickly,” Sturdivant-Drew says. The focused airflow enhances luster by improving hair alignment (when hair fibers fall along the same orientation). The dryer is also lightweight, with a comfortable grip for easy maneuvering.
The workhorse frizz fighter
This Elchim dryer is big in salons: Miami-based Danny Jelaca—who has styled everyone from Bethenny Frankel to Padma Lakshmi—relies on this model above all others to stand up to humidity. The negatively charged ions in the dryer’s air stream eliminate the positive electrostatic (read: frizz- and flyaway-inducing) charges, according to Elchim. Jelaca also loves the cold air button. “That blast is key for setting a style,” he says—though in extreme cases, he’ll also do a quick pass with this cryotherapy brush, a tool that uses freezing temperatures to seal the cuticle.
A shine-boosting multitasker
This dryer is famous for creating Gisele Bündchen’s loose waves, but what appeals to pros like stylist Jonathan Van Ness, of “Queer Eye” fame, is its well-engineered nozzle. “For thicker, coarser hair that has more texture, I’m attracted to concentrators or nozzles that are very narrow, to really direct the air down the hair shaft for a smooth blow out,” he explains. It has eight settings, with the ionic feature reliably cutting drying time and lending shine and frizz control. Nicole Mangrum—the onetime Chicago salon owner now best known as Oprah’s hair stylist—deems the Harry Josh “perfect for travel,” since it’s lightweight (1.16 pounds) but surprisingly powerful.
The dryer that straightens thick hair, fast
The Speed Freak pairs ionic technology with far-infrared heat—a wavelength that generates moderate heat, evaporating moisture from within. This reduces the time and heat required for a blowout. Mangrum especially favors it “for dense, coarse and curlier hair types because it’s healthy on the hair, smooths strands and dries faster when I need to move quickly on set.” While you may not have that time constraint, you’ll still appreciate saving precious minutes and avoiding heat damage.
The sensitive-scalp savior
Another tool that uses “infrared light energy” to evaporate droplets from your hair’s surface rather than a blast of hot air, the extra-gentle Zuvi Halo heats to 111 degrees Fahrenheit, max (versus conventional alternatives that can blow right past 200 degrees). “It’s a great tool for people who have sensitive scalps,” says Dionysiou, a stylist at New York City’s Marie Robinson Salon who has worked on Jessie J and Elena Kampouris. He also suggests the dryer for the “‘I just-woke-up-like-this’ person who embraces natural texture,” or the beachy look, a seemingly natural outcome of a blow dryer designed to mimic sunlight and balmy breezes.
The stress reliever
Another dryer to incorporate infrared technology for efficient and gentle drying, this one also has two of the aforementioned features that Francis loves: a quiet motor and an outstanding diffuser. The scalp massaging attachment is a bonus attribute that he particularly enjoys. “It looks like a mini diffuser, but it vibrates and brings circulation to the scalp,” he explains. Doctors debate the degree to which that kind of increased blood flow affects hair health, but he finds the stress release to be unquestionable—a whole new kind of multitasking to consider while you’re drying your roots. Francis also loves how lightweight (less than a pound) and adaptable the dryer is, and that “it’s dual voltage, which is huge for traveling,” especially important given that you generally can’t use a hair dryer with an international power adapter.
The go-to for stylists and colorists alike
“My favorite dryer is a Parlux,” says Benjamin Mohapi, owner of Benjamin Salons in L.A. and New York City and Billie Eilish’s stylist. He hails the airflow, optional silencer attachment (although if noise is your concern, you’re likely better off investing in a quiet-from-the-start dryer) and wide nozzle “that’s great at banging out quick blowouts.” That speed is also invaluable to Rita Hazan, owner of the eponymous New York City salon and colorist to Beyoncé and Thalia. After doing a single process before putting in highlights, Hazan uses her Parlux 3500 Supercompact to dry the freshly-washed hair “quickly without a lot of heat so there’s less damage,” she says. With colored-treated hair in general, the quicker the blowout, the better.
The space-saving travel dryers
T3
AireBrush Duo
Dezarate turns to this 12.2-oz travel dryer when she’s short on luggage space or afraid her bag will be overweight. She likes that the tool—which weighs less than most travel dryers and is about 50% lighter than T3’s AireLuxe—takes a few pounds out of her kit while retaining great features like a 9-foot pro-length cord, three heat and two speed settings, an ion generator for smoothing and automatic dual voltage for international travel. It’s ideal for anyone with uncomplicated and/or short hair, she says. If she’s on the go with fewer weight and space restrictions, odds are, she’ll also have a T3 AireBrush Duo in tow. “You can throw it in your bag for those moments when you just want to run into the bathroom and redo your bangs,” she says.