Hair Dryer Lightweight
A good hair dryer should be lightweight for easy handling. It should also be durable enough to withstand regular use and frequent trips in and out of your bag. It should also have a wide variety of heat and air flow settings to accommodate all types of hair, from straight to wavy to curly. And, most important, it should leave your hair looking shiny and smooth after drying.
The GH Beauty Lab has tested hundreds of models to find the best-performing, most comfortable-to-hold hair dryer. To ensure the right balance of power and ease of handling, we consider the size of the electrical motor, the number and type of heating elements, the speed of the fan blade, and the size and shape of the handle.
For most of the models we test, we look for an electrical motor that produces at least 2,000 watts. Higher wattages generally mean faster drying speeds, but they can also add to the weight of a dryer due to their heavier AC (alternating current) motors.
Is This Hair Dryer Lightweight For Easy Handling?
Another factor in determining how light or heavy a hair dryer is is the design and materials used to make the body of the model. Some of the newest models use advanced technology that makes the body of the dryer lighter. For example, the TYMO Airhype Compact uses a BLDC digital motor that provides high-speed airflow and is more energy-efficient than traditional hair dryers.
Hair dryers are assembled from a variety of components, including the electric motor, the fan blade, copper wiring, and switching mechanisms. Injection molding, a process that involves injecting hot, molten plastic into a die, forms the exterior shell of many modern hair dryers. The shell is then divided into two parts to create the front and back of the dryer. During manufacturing, short pins align the parts and hold them firmly together.
In addition to the electric motor and fan blade, other key components include a filter for the blower to suck in air during operation, an on/off switch, and a pair of buttons that control the temperature and rate of airflow. In some models, a third button controls the ionic or tourmaline technology that emits negative ions to help reduce frizz and speed up evaporation of moisture from the hair shaft.
When choosing a hair dryer, it is a good idea to check for safety verification emblems like those from ETL (Electrical Testing Laboratories) or UL (Underwriters’ Laboratory) on the packaging. This helps ensure that the dryer has been independently tested to meet government safety standards.
With its ionic technology and T3 RapidAire IQ technology for fast drying, this dryer from Shark is among the most powerful lightweight hair dryers we’ve tested. It earned top scores in our GH Beauty Lab tests for both its drying speed and the quality of the results it produced. Testers loved that it was lightweight, comfortable to hold, and that its attachments were simple to install and navigate. They also praised this hair dryer’s quiet operating noise and its versatility.