What is a travel hair dryer?
A travel blow dryer is the difference between a hectic morning with a hotel blow dryer and a morning routine that goes quietly.
The best travel hairdryers are distinguished by the fact that they weigh less than a traditional hairdryer. They are also designed so that the handle of the dryer itself folds up, so the travel dryer takes up less space in a suitcase or weekend bag.
There’s a big difference in what you should expect from a travel blow dryer. The travel blow dryers I’ve included here are all travel blow dryers that give you the same hair styling experience as with a regular blow dryer.
When so many people have bad experiences with travel blow dryers, it’s because unfortunately there are a lot of bad models on the market that are not worth using.
After all, price and quality are often linked and it is simply not possible to make a quality product that can compete with a cinema product for the price. On the other hand, they beat cinema products by many miles.
Make your holiday a success with the best travel hair dryer in your suitcase
When packing your holiday suitcase, it’s great to have a good travel hair dryer. Many hotel rooms are equipped with a hairdryer, but they are rarely very good. When finding the best travel hair dryer, keep your focus on your needs and on efficiently.
I have now presented you with a selection of the absolute best travel hair dryers on the market and in what follows I will make you aware of what you should keep in mind when choosing travel hair dryers.
Take a few minutes to read through my advice and guidelines so you’re super well equipped to choose the right travel hair dryer for your needs and budget.
Always blow dry alongside your hair – When blow-drying your hair, you should do it lengthwise. It gives a sleeker look and makes hair look more well-groomed because hair doesn’t frizz.
Why you should buy a travel blow dryer
There’s a reason why so many travel hairdryers are sold every day around the world. If you’re used to styling your hair with a blow-dryer, a travel blow-dryer is incredibly practical and indispensable.
A few of the many advantages are that:
- A travel hair dryer can be folded and does not take up much space in your suitcase.
- A travel hair dryer is usually cheaper than a regular hair dryer.
- A travel hair dryer weighs less than a regular hair dryer.
- A travel blow dryer can dry your hair efficiently and quickly.
- A travel hair dryer has a universal power supply, which gives the same performance no matter where you are in the world.
- A travel blow dryer allows you to style your hair as usual even if you are on holiday.
- A travel blow dryer can be used on holiday.
- A travel hair dryer can be used after the bath at the gym.
- A travel hair dryer is perfect for business travellers.
Heat protectant spray for hair is essential – Even though your blow dryer doesn’t come into as close contact with your hair as a straightener or curling iron, the heat is still hard on your hair. You should therefore always use a heat-protecting spray or cream on your hair before styling it with heat.
What to look for when choosing the best travel blow dryer
It’s always a good idea to make considered purchases. But sometimes we don’t have the time to get to grips with what we should be considering when we shop.
I personally know how annoying it is to buy a travel hair dryer and go on vacation, only to find out that the hotel hair dryer was actually better.
In the following I review the things that you should keep in mind when buying a travel hair dryer. That way, you won’t find yourself in the same annoying situation I did.
Choose a powerful motor – it’ll save you time in front of the mirror
When choosing the best travel hair dryer, my advice to you is to focus first on how many watts the travel hair dryer is rated at. It’s SO important that a dryer can dry hair reasonably quickly and that requires the travel dryer to have a powerful motor.
The powerful motor is the most expensive component of a travel dryer and it is also where the cheapest travel dryers are often compromised.
In my opinion, that money isn’t worth saving when in turn it means you can stand around drying hair for ages and get nowhere. Your hair doesn’t benefit from prolonged exposure to heat either. Not even if the heat level and blowing force aren’t very high.
A good regular blow dryer is between 2000 to 3000 watts. This gives a good blowing power and the possibility of higher temperatures. When buying a travel hair dryer, you should aim to buy a model that is as good as the hair dryer you use for everyday use, or as close as your budget allows.
There’s no doubt that the best investment you can make is to buy good quality. In this case, a powerful motor.
Pay attention to the weight of the travel dryer if you fly often
When it’s time for a holiday, it often involves a flight back and forth to the holiday destination. You may also fly a lot for work. In either case, a travel hair dryer can be super handy and, in many people’s eyes, indispensable.
When you buy a travel hair dryer with the intention of flying with it, you should pay particular attention to the weight. You are often limited by an upper weight limit of between 6 – 10 kg for hand luggage and 15 – 20 kg for suitcases.
This means you really need to think when packing your suitcase. It will make a big difference here whether you’re packing a blow dryer that weighs 2.5 kg or one that weighs less than 1 kg.
At the same time, though, be aware that a quality travel hair dryer that has a powerful motor will weigh a bit more than a cheap china model with a different quality of components.
However, the extra grams are in my opinion always worth it to get a powerful and thus efficient travel hair dryer.
Small and handy should be the focus when it comes to travel hair dryers
Your third focus point should be the size of the travel hair dryer and whether it allows you to fold it up so it takes up even less space.
When it comes to a travel hair dryer, size really does matter. A regular dryer takes up too much space in a suitcase or weekend bag, and that’s the challenge the travel dryer is designed to solve.
Many travel hairdryers are designed so that the handle can be folded, so the travel hairdryer takes up very little space when not in use. I like this type of dryer myself, because it takes up much less space in a suitcase or sports bag.
Because the handle of many travel hairdryers can be folded, the travel hairdryer needs to be of a decent quality, otherwise the handle can easily feel unstable and this makes for a poor user experience.
Again, I can only stress that it pays to buy good quality. If you buy a good quality travel hair dryer, you may well have travel hair dryers for the next many decades.
A travel hair dryer with a very short cord creates unnecessary challenges
In hotel rooms, holiday homes and the like, the location of electrical outlets is not always well thought out. The length of the cord on the travel hairdryer is therefore more important than you might think.
You should never choose a travel hairdryer, regular hairdryer, straightener, curling iron or similar with a cord of less than 1.20 metres. 1.20 metres is the length of cord that experts say gives you great freedom of movement, no matter where on the wall the socket is placed.
It also gives you a greater opportunity to stand comfortably in front of the mirror and style your hair.
If you choose a travel hairdryer with a really short cord then you’ll need to start your holiday by hunting down an extension cord.
Travel hair dryer with ion technology
If you choose a travel blow dryer with ionic technology, you get a dryer that dries your hair faster and more gently than a regular blow dryer.
The reason why an ionic dryer dries your hair faster is due to the reaction that occurs when negative and positive ions meet. Water is positively charged, meaning that it contains positive ions.
A travel blow dryer with ion technology works by sending negative ions into your hair. When the negative ions hit the positive water ions, the positive water ions are pushed away from the hair and therefore the hair dries much faster.
GUIDE – 5 great tips on how to blow dry your hair
When we blow-dry our hair, of course we do it to get our hair dry, but we do it just as much to style our hair into a certain style.
Hair is different and that can present different challenges when it comes to blow drying your hair. I’ll get to those in a moment, but first I want to give you some general tips on how everyone can get more out of their travel or regular blow dryer.
1. Always use a good heat protectant on your hair.
It’s super important that you prepare your hair for the heating that happens when you blow dry your hair.
Therefore, you should always start by using a good heat protectant spray or cream on your hair. It goes in and forms a protective sheath on each hair strand and helps the hair retain moisture.
2. Use hair styling products – they really do make a difference
If you have hair that lacks body or stubborn hair that tends to frizz, the right hair styling products can make a huge difference.
If your hair lacks body, you can use a mousse or perhaps a saltwater spray, which also gives good body.
If you have frizzy hair, a leave-in conditioner or hair oil can work wonders. You should use hair styling products on wet hair.
3. Start upside down
If you want to create extra volume in your hairstyle, you can start by blow-drying your hair upside down. This allows your roots to dry while your hair is lifted from your scalp, giving your hair a little extra lift even when you stand back up.
When blow drying your hair upside down, however, you should always blow along the length of the hair. That is, towards the floor. Whether you’re standing upright or with your head bowed.
When you dry the hair strands lengthwise, you smooth out the hair shaft, but also the small “scales” on the hair shaft that or can give the hair a frizzy look.
4. Always remember to dry your hair completely!
When blow drying your hair, always continue until you are sure that your hair is completely dry. When you blow dry your hair, you are also creating volume in your hair. This is what makes your hairstyle look full and light.
If you stop blow-drying your hair while it’s still slightly damp, all your hard work will be for nothing because your hair will clump. Of course, it doesn’t matter if you’re only blow-drying to avoid walking around with wet hair, but most people who spend time blow-drying also want fullness and volume in their hair.
5. Use a blow dryer instead of a straightener
If you practise and are a bit handy with the brush, you can actually do without your flat iron and avoid the damage a flat iron causes to your hair.
If you buy a round brush and roll your hair up while blow-drying it, you’ll not only get a lot of volume out of it, but you’ll also lay down all your strands so that they have a smooth, shiny finish. When you see the shiny hair of movie stars, the effect is achieved with a good blow dry and not with a straightener.