That $60 ion hair dryer from the beauty supply store actually outperformed my $400 Dyson on a thick-haired client yesterday

I kept joking with my coworker that this cheap thing would burn out in a week but it dried her 3c curls in 12 minutes flat without a diffuser, has anyone else had a budget tool surprise them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_wood5d ago

My sister bought that same ion dryer and it literally caught fire on her third use. I saw the melted plastic and smelled the burning wires. The heat distribution was super uneven too, it scorched the ends of her hair while leaving the roots damp. Meanwhile my Dyson has lasted three years with daily salon use and still runs like new. A cheap motor and thin plastic casing just won't hold up to regular professional use no matter how good that first dry feels. Have you checked the internal temperature consistency with a heat gun on that thing?

xena_taylor644d ago

Gotta push back a little on the "cheap motor" thing. In my experience, those cheaper ion dryers actually use a universal motor that can spin way faster than the Dyson's digital motor, but the tradeoff is they burn out quick when the brushes wear down. Your sister might've gotten a lemon with that fire hazard, no disagreement there. But I've seen plenty of salon owners who beat the tar out of their $30 dryers for six months then swap them out, treating them like disposable tools. The Dyson's better built for sure, but it's not like the cheap ones are automatically garbage for everyone. Your mileage may vary depending on how hard you use it.