Best Hair Dryer Brush Reviews 2023 – The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide

We have used, researched, and conducted surveys among users of different hair dryer brushes before determining the best hair dryer brush for thin/fine hair, thick hair, and for traveling based on their heat, speed, technology, material, and the outcome they provide. In each category, we have chosen different hot air brush because different hair type and texture requires different care and results.

This guide will help you to find out the right kind of hair dryer brush that would suit your hair type, hair length and help you to deal with several of your hair problems.

Quick Review

Hair Dryer Brush – Buyer’s Guide

What is a hair dryer brush?

A hairdryer brush or more commonly known as a hot air brush is an all-in-one hair tool that was specially designed to create different hairstyles while at the same time drying out each of your hair strands effectively. In simple words, it is a powerful combination of a conventional hair dryer, a round brush, and a curling iron in one single tool. With a hot air brush, you can enjoy lustrous blow dries, powerful straights and extraordinary curls, all without even visiting the salon.

What does a hair dryer brush do?

As we have mentioned earlier, a hair dryer brush is a 2-in-1 hair tool that dries and styles hair simultaneously. More specifically, a hot air brush can:

• Dry– The several tiny vents in the brush head blows hot air to each hair strands to dry them inside out without burning or damaging the hairs.
• Style (straighten and curls) – From striking straights to loose curls or waves, you can style your hair as like as you want using the round brush attachment of a heated hair brush. But then again, a hot air brush is not the best hair tool to create super tight curls.
• Add Volume- The even distribution of hot air through each stroke of this tool not only dries hair but at the same time adds amazing volume and bounce to your locks.

Differences between a hair dryer brush and other hair styling and drying tool

Some major aspects set the difference between a hot air brush and other hair drying and styling tools. Keep on reading to find out more:

Hair dryer: A hair dryer blows out hot air to dry and lift your wet, damp hair locks; almost all the hair dryers available in the market comes with a powerful motor of 1875 or more wattage to ensure fast and quick drying process by blowing in more heat and hot air to the hairs. Other than a gorgeous blow-dry, a hair dryer cannot create any other hairstyles. You can effectively use a blow dryer on any hair length. You can click here to know about the differences between a hairdryer and a hot air brush.

Hair dryer with brush attachments: A hair dryer with a brush attachment is insanely popular among professionals as well as people like us (ordinary, not hair experts) as they make blow-drying super-fast and easier. With a bristle brush attachment with your drying tool, you can not only blow dry your manes perfectly but at the same time also comb and detangle them for a completely blow-dried result. Furthermore, with a brush attachment, you can also add volume and body to your tresses to enjoy a fuller, bouncy outlook.

But the drawback of this bristle brush attachment is that, other than blow-drying and combing your tresses at the same time, it cannot adorn your tresses with any other hairstyles. Also, unlike any other hair dryer attachments (diffuser, concentrator, comb attachments), you cannot find a single universal bristle brush head to fit in any of your stylers.

Moving on, let’s talk about the best hair dryer with brush attachment available in the market; we would recommend you this Conair 1875 Watt 3-in-1 Styling Hair Dryer with Ionic Technology or the Revlon 1875 Watt 3-in-1 Styling Hair Dryer for their game-changing features and their ability to produce phenomenal drying results.

Both this styling hair dryer comes with 3 styling attachments (one detangling comb, one smoothing, and styling comb and one soft bristle brush) for users’ convenience and also has an ionic generator to condition your hair locks while drying and combing them.

Moreover, both the Revlon and Conair styling hair dries incorporate dual voltage feature so that you can use them worldwide with much difficulty.

Hair straighteners or flat irons: A flat iron neither dries nor curls your hair; it presses pre-dried hairs between 2 heated plates to straighten them. With a flat iron, hair straitening is super-fast and quick and remains quite intact for a long period. But this hair tool can burn and damage your hair with all the heat and pressing and therefore, you need to be extra careful when using a flat iron straightener. You can click here to know about the differences between a flat iron and a hot air brush.

Curling irons: As like a hair straightener, a curling iron can only create fabulous curls in your hair; from tight to loose and big to small, you can create every kind of curls in your hair with a curling iron. You round the heated rod with a lock of your hair to achieve the curls you want to enjoy. A curling iron might also damage your precious locks with a high amount of heat.

Hair dryer brush: It is a combination of all the hairstyling and drying tools mentioned above; with this tool, you can dry, blow dry, straighten and curl your hair locks in no time and without any harm and damage to the hairs. Then again:

1. It has a less powerful motor than a hairdryer and therefore, it is comparatively slower and requires more time to dry hair locks compared to a hair dryer machine.
2. Many of the hot air brush models in the market come with auto-rotating brush heads which is absent in a hair dryer with brush attachments.
3. This hair tool doesn’t provide as flat and straight hair locks as a hair straightener.
4. With this tool, it’s not quite possible to create tight curls.

How to choose the right hair dryer brush?

Before choosing and buying your ultimate hair dryer brush tool, you have to keep in mind about the following aspects to achieve the best outcome form your hot air brush:

• Hair type
• Hair length
• Brush type

Down below we have discussed all these aspects in detail so that you have a clear idea about how to choose your ultimate hair dryer brush.

Different types of hair

In this part, we will not only talk about different hair types but at the same time will also discuss the various problems associated with them and how this tool can deal with these problems.

As we have mentioned earlier, we classified hair in two major categories: a) Fine/thin hair and b) thick (curly, wavy, Natural or 4c) hair. A hairdryer brush meant for thick hair type won’t do justice to fine/thin hair and therefore, each of this hair type requires different hot air brushes with different features and components.

But then again, there are some common hair problems that everyone tends to suffer from and one of the most common problems that affect both these hair types is frizz, flyaways, and lack of moisture.

To deal with these problems, you need a hairdryer brush that comes with ionic technology; most of the tools available in the market incorporate ionic technology which features a built-in IONIC ® generator that emits plenty of negative ions to each hair strands to establish a balance between positive and negative ions of the hair and make them shiny, smooth and frizz-free; more specifically, your hair becomes more manageable and luxurious with the ionic technology.

Moreover, negative ions make the drying process a lot faster and help to lock in hair moisture while reducing heat damage by several notches.

Another feature that is a must for all the hair dryer brushes is the cool setting button; this button is an absolute blessing as it can hold hairstyles in place for a very long period.

Usually, hairstyle tends to go back to original shape shortly after being styled, but the cool setting blows out cold air to cool down freshly styled hairs immediately to retain the shape for an extended period.

The other problems and solutions of both the hair types are discussed in the table below:

If you have thin/fine hair, we would suggest you choose a hot air brush that:

• Can provide luxurious body and volume to the hair locks
• Has a powerful motor for a high amount of airflow to lift the hair roots for volume
• Must have a brush head with narrowly placed soft nylon bristles that can comb through and style fine hairs effectively
• Has a built-in Ionic generator
• Can be placed very close to the scalp to blow air to the roots
• Comes with ceramic or titanium coated brush head for safely distributing heat through each hair strands
• Must have a low heat setting to safely dry and style hair without any heat damage

And,

In case you have thick ((curly, wavy, Natural or 4c) hair type, go for a hair dryer brush that:

• Has wide-spaced anti-static bristles to reduce tangles and knots as well as frizz and flyaways
• Comes with a powerful motor to cut down drying time by several notches
• Most preferably has a titanium coated brush, but ceramic and tourmaline can also do the job of heating the brush and evenly spread heat
• Incorporates an ionic technology to control frizz and retain hair moisture
• Comes with a high heat setting for a quick-drying process

Different types of hair lengths

When choosing a hair dryer brush, hair length also plays a major part as the barrel size of your hot air brush depends on the length of your hair. Usually, hair lengths are categorized into: a) short hair and b) medium to long hair. And below we have discussed how barrel size changes depending on the hair length.

Medium to long hair

Short hair

Different types of hair dryer brushes

There are several different varieties of hair dryer brushes available in the market. But here we will only discuss the main categories of hot air brush types:

Paddle hair dryer brush

Rotating barrel hair dryer brush

Auto rotating hair dryer brush

As for the paddle brush, it can dry and straighten your hair, but it cannot create any other hairstyles according to your needs.

Top Hair Dryer Brushes

As different types, textured and lengths of hair need different hair dryer brushes for similar results, we have used, reviewed and even surveyed a lot of models from several brands to present you with the following:

The only thing you need to add healthy volume to your thin, fine hair is a hot air brush that not only adds bounce and volume to your otherwise weighed down hair locks but at the same time can also style your hair according to your choice. Fine hairs are delicate and super prone to damage than any other hair types; that’s why you need a styler, more specifically, a hair dryer brush that keeps your hair healthy as well as damage-free from drying and styling.

There are quite a few qualities that you must look for when you go shopping for a hot air brush for fine/thin hair type; these qualities ensure shiny, healthy, voluminous hair locks that suffer zero-damage, even after excessive use.

Let’s look at the features that are “must-have” qualities in a hair dryer brush for thin/fine hair:

• Technology: Ionic
• Material: Ceramic
• Temperature settings: Low with cool settings
• Brush type: Rotating (Manual or Dual)
• Barrel Size: 1” (for short fine hair) and 1 ½” or 2” barrel attachments (for medium to long hair)
• Bristle Type: Narrow, soft bristles
• Motor Power: 1100 Watt or up

Through extensive research and reviews, we have selected some products that serve all the above qualities right and also create amazing bounce and body to the hair. But before going to that part, let’s compare the features of some of the top brand’s models for fine/thin hair type:

Our Suggested Product

The 3X Ceramic Smoothing & Volume 4 Piece Hot Air Kit from Revlon topped our list of best hair dryer brush for fine/thin hair because it possesses all the “must-have” features that are crucial to dry and style gentle, fragile locks of thin hair without causing any damage.

This kit comes with 2 thermal barrel attachments of 1” and 1 ½” which makes it suitable to use on both long and short fine hairs. It’s triple ceramic coating evenly spreads out heat throughout the surface to effectively penetrate each hair shaft to dry hair safely and quickly while the ionic technology releases more than 50% negative ions to your hair locks to control frizz and seal in hairs natural moisture.

Moreover, the 2 Heat and a cool setting option give a lot of drying and styling flexibility to the user.

Some additional features:

• Promises and offers gorgeous blowouts, big enviable waves, 2x more volume, and striking straight hair locks
• The kit contains 2 different sized brushes; most of the hair dryer brush set doesn’t come with dual brush attachments
• Comes with 1500 Watts of drying power for quick drying; can dry even the wettest hair locks in a couple of minutes
• This kit also possess a concentrator attachment that ensures smooth and precise hair drying
• The cool tip technology adopted by Revlon provides the comfortable grip of the dryer
• This Revlon hair appliance is virtually maintenance-free and therefore you need the least time and effort to maintain it
• Manual rotating brush attachment helps to create different hairstyles effortlessly without any frizz and mess
• The ion generator switch comes with an indicator light for further convenience
• Soft, narrow nylon bristles catch hairs easily and help to add volume and body quickly
• Comes with a tangle-free swivel cord for ease of use and ease of storage
• Backed up by 3 years limited warranty to ensure durability and great customer service

This Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumizer could compete head-to-head with our first choice of hot air brush, but since it comes with a single brush attachment and can produce the best styles in medium to long hairs, this model comes close second in our list.

This Revlon hair dryer brush is among a few of the hair drying appliances that can be placed closer to the scalp to blow direct hot airs to the roots to create the perfect lift and bounce.

Its oval-shaped brush head allows you to get super close to the scalp to break down water droplets into smaller ones to dry hair faster while its thinner edges create volume and curls for a salon-like hairstyle at the comfort of your own space.

Moreover, this model comes with a super powerful motor of 1100 Watts and can dry hair strand 4X faster than its competitors without causing any hair damage and sacrificing the drying quality.

Another great quality of this product worth mentioning is the types of bristles it possesses; the brush comes with a combination of two types of soft bristles, nylon and tufted. The narrowly placed long nylon bristles comb and detangle fine hair strands carefully and effectively during the drying session without creating any frizz or mess while the comparatively shorter tufted bristles, placed closer to the base, creates luxurious volumes, curls or other hairstyles with ease and much precision.

Some additional features:

• This model comes with 2 temperature settings, medium and high, to ensure versatility and zero heat damage of the hair
• The brush head features unique airflow vents that contribute to the quick-drying process
• The ceramic-coated barrel heats up quickly and spreads out heat evenly to each hair strands
• The 2inch wide barrel provides volume, shine, and smoothness to medium to long fine hair locks without creating frizz and flyaway
• Other than creating luxurious volume and curls, this model can also straighten your hair according to your styling preferences
• Can be even used on damaged or broken hair without resulting in any further harm to the locks
• The tangle-free, long swivel cord provides flexibility and ease of use; this also makes it easy to store
• Revlon offers 4-year limited manufacturer’s warranty for this blow dryer brush

A head full of thick hair is an absolute blessing; you have gorgeous volume, you can style your hair as you wish and your style holds up better and longer. But there is always a “but”; thick hair locks are more prone to frizz and tangle and can take hours to dry properly. Then again there are several hair appliances available on the market that can help you to reduce frizz and detangle your precious hair without causing any harm or damage.

One of the best hair care devices that can be used on your thick hair is a hair dryer brush that not only dries out thick hair easily and quickly but at the same time controls frizz, effectively detangles and minimizes static and flyaways. You can also use a hot air brush to style your hair according to your preferences.

When shopping for a hairdryer brush for thick hair, you need to keep in mind about moisture and frizz control among several other vital features. Some of the important factors that need to be considered before purchasing your ultimate blow dryer brush are as follows:

• Technology: ionic
• Material: Titanium, Tourmaline, Tourmaline ceramic
• Temperature settings: High temperature with cool settings
• Brush type: Manual rotating, automatic dual rotating
• Barrel size: 1”, 1 ½”, 2”
• Bristle Type: wide-spaced, tangle-free anti-static bristles

After using several of the hot air brushes for thick hair that fulfills all of the above conditions to the “T” for quite some time, we have decided that considering all the aspects, two of the hair dryer brushes are the best for thick hair.

Before going into details, let’s compare our selected hot air brushes with other brushes to understand the difference and our motivation behind our decision:

Our Suggested Product

The INFINITI PRO BY CONAIR Wet/Dry Hot Air Styler emerged as the winner of the best hair dryer brush for thick hair because it not only full-fills all the important aspects we look for in a hot air brush but also comes with few more amazing features to satisfy our styling needs.

It incorporates a Triple Action Styling System that straightens, provides healthy shines, and successfully controls frizz of your thick hair locks that are more sensitive to knots and crimps.

Its unconventional brush head with plastic detangling bristles goes right through the hair locks and very close to the scalp to dry every hair strands from the roots effectively.

Even though it blows really hot air and can be placed very close to the hair roots, this styler doesn’t damage hairs because it has a combination of infrared emission and ionic technology, where the ionic generator releases 100x more negative ions to each hair strands and the energy released from the infrared emission protects hair’s natural luster and moisture to deliver damage-free, salon-quality hair locks.

This product can be used to dry and style both long and short hairs.

Some additional features:

• The tourmaline-infused brush of this hot air tool dries out hair strands super gently and quickly
• At 16 ounce weight and 12.3 inches length, this model is lightweight, compact and therefore super easy to store and carry around all the time
• This INFINITI PRO hair dryer brush includes a salon length power cord attached to a swivel end that ensures severe freedom of movement
• The detangling comb can successfully reduce knots and stop hair snagging and breakage due to constant pulling
• Anti-static bristles tend to tame flyaways and staticky hairs effectively
• Features 2 speed settings, high and low, for maximum drying and styling flexibility
• The cool shot button incorporated in this styler releases cold air to lock in your style in place for a long time
• Unlike many other models, you can use this Conair hair styler on both wet as well as dry hair for effective styling
• The unique “tension” control system adopted in this product makes it perfectly suitable for all types of hair; can be used even on the most damaged hair locks
• The settings are incorporated in a slide switch for more convenience; super easy to use

Our 2nd choice of hot air brush for thick hair is none other than the Infiniti Pro by Conair Rotating Brush Hair Dryer; this brush is budget-friendly and provides everything we look for in a hot air brush.

But this model couldn’t take the first place because the auto-rotating brush head it features sometimes snags and pulls the hair. Other than this slight glitch, this brush head spins in both directions to create curls, waves, volume and bounce while simultaneously drying the hairs out.

You can also use this brush in a stationary position for more convenience and versatility.

To add more, the nylon made anti-static bristles of this hair tool are “thick-hair-friendly” and can reduce knots, tangles and statics with every stroke of the brush to ensure less hair breakage and healthier and smoother locks.

Furthermore, this Infiniti Pro hot air brush promotes safe drying by incorporating a tourmaline ceramic constructed barrel and ionic technology that releases up to 100x more concentrated true ions to each hair strands during the drying process to retain them from damage and burns.

Some additional features:

• The ergonomic design allows using this product from any desired angle and can even style at the back of your head effortlessly
• This tool comes in combo packs of different barrel sizes to meet your various hairstyling demands; Conair also sells this hair tool with single barrels of 1 ½ inch or 2 inches
• The brush doesn’t need any charge or require any pre-heating time before using
• The 2 heat option with cool settings provide the users with variety and freedom of choice
• Features rocker switches to change between settings in an easy flick; conveniently placed switches
• Comes with brush cover for protection and hassle-free storage
• Conair offered a variety of different bright, eye-catching color options of this product to match your style and personality
• The removable filter that this Infiniti Pro hot air brush feature is extremely easy to remove and even easier to clean; regular cleaning extends motor life
• Conair offers 3 years Limited warranty on parts and machine

If you want to travel with your hair dryer brush, then it’s better to buy a sleek, lightweight and compact one because they take up a little space in your luggage and are easy to carry around. Also, look for dual voltage capability in a hot air brush as it spares you from buying and carrying a voltage converter.

Another advantage of a travel-friendly hot air brush is that it is an all-in-one product; you can dry, straight and curl your precious locks with one single appliance other than carrying 3 different products.

We have researched and reviewed quite a few travel-friendly hot air brushes before selecting our ultimate choice.

Let’s compile and compare some of the best travel-friendly hair dryer brushes available in the market:

Our Suggested Product

This Conair Instant Heat Styling Brush topped our list as the best travel-friendly hair dryer brush because it is super sleek and lightweight, and it full-fills all the qualities people tend to look for in a travel-friendly hair tool. Its dual voltage features make it a perfect hair dryer and styler for international travel also.

This salon-caliber hot air brush incorporates a barrel that is constructed with Multi-layer technology for versatility and ease of use; this multilayer combines the elements of chromium, nickel, copper, and steel that provides maximum heat to your hair locks just with the push of a button. With its 25 heat settings, you can create striking straights and defined curls in all types of hairs.

Even though this product has a variety of heat settings and can reach up to 36°F in minutes, it still is very safe for hair locks as the Smart Technology adopted by Conair stabilizes heat and eliminates hot spots during the styling process to ensure zero damage to the hairs.

Some additional features:

• The slender, ergonomic handle of this product fits into the palm easily for easy maneuverability; ensures a non-slip grip
• This model offers two different barrel sizes, 1 ¼ inch and ¾ inch, to choose from according to your preference and styling needs
• The anti-static brush head of this product has ball-tipped bristles that prevent tangles and knots
• Comes with a swiveling cord to provide freedom of movement; this cord also assures easy storage
• The extra-long cool tip feature makes sure that the handle doesn’t get too hot to handle
• The brush head can be removed for easy clean up; regular cleaning boosts the machine’s lifespan
• For added safety and convenience, this tool comes with an auto shut-off feature that turns down the machine after 60 minutes of un-attendance
• Very much affordable price range
• Backed up by 2 years Limited warranty

This Helen of Troy Hair Dryer with Brush scores a second place because it is not as lightweight as our top favorite hair brush for traveling and comes with only American standard voltage. The 110 V is perfect to use all over the country, but if you want to use this hair tool outside the USA, you must require a power adaptor and dual voltage converter. You can use the Foval Voltage Converter as it is compact and can be used in over 150 nations across the globe.

Moving onto its features, this slim and sleek hot air brush comes with a perforated barrel with soft, flexible, ball tip plastic bristles that can eliminate tangles and knots and style hair with curls and volumes without any damage and breakage. These bristles also massage and stimulate your scalp when you use it to comb through the hair locks.

Moreover, this manual rotating brush head of this appliance features a locking system to create luxurious curls easily and quickly; you just have to lock-in the section of hair you want to curl in the barrel and then wait a few seconds before releasing them using the unlock switch to see soft, bouncy curls in your hair.

Pros:

• This product is the perfect tool for detangling and easy, everyday hair styling
• Comes with 2 adjustable heat settings and cool tip option for safe and versatile styling opportunities
• This model doesn’t come with any extra attachments for ease of storage and carrying anywhere and every
• 8-foot long tangle-free swivel cord provides a lot of freedom to the user to move around the machine freely
• The barrel can be easily removed from the machine for easy cleanup; regular cleaning improves durability as well as usefulness
• Available with 2 different sized barrels to choose from; you can either choose a 1 ½ inches or a ¾ inch brush head according to your preferences
• The ergonomically designed soft grip handle is super comfortable to hold on to, even for an excessive amount of time
• This model is super safe; comes with an automatic shut-off feature to prevent over-heating and ensure maximum safety
• Can be even used as an ordinary brush to comb through your hair locks

Conclusion

All of the hair dryer brushes we have recommended above are the best for their respective hair types and can effectively accomplish their job of drying hair as well as creating different hairstyles. You have to take proper care of your hair dryer brush for better performance and longevity.

They deliver all the features they have promised and even more to make your hair look salon quality shiny, bouncy and smooth at the convenience of your home.