Cheryl Shops

Remember the scene in Father of the Bride where the fiancé buys Annie a blender and she freaks out? That's not quite what happened with me, but my boyfriend did buy me a Dyson hair dryer for my birthday a few months ago. Once I got over my initial shock (I thought he was getting me a dog, maybe) and overthink (Does he think my hair looks bad? Has our relationship lost all of its romance and now we just buy each other appliances?), I realized what a thoughtful and generous gift it was. I had this dryer on my wish list at Sephora for awhile, and I openly debated buying it last fall during the VIB 20% off period, but ultimately decided that $400 for a hair dryer was too indulgent. Which is why it was the perfect thing to receive as a gift—it was something I truly wanted but couldn't justify buying for myself. After three months of using it, here's how I feel about it.



First, a little background on my hair. 
It's very fine and very thin, color treated, and naturally curly (yes, really). I wash it twice a week and blow-dry it straight; I occasionally use a curling iron but rarely a flat-iron. I've used a BabByliss dryer for years, but it had been smoking lately, and I'm sure my boyfriend was tired of smelling burnt hair in our apartment. Anyway, with my old dryer, it took approximately 12 minutes to get my hair to a semi-decent state, but it would still often frizz (thanks, San Francisco fog). Twelve minutes was also about the maximum I could handle with my dryer before my arm got tired, which leads me to my first point.


It's super lightweight and very quiet.
The motor is in the handle, so it's more well-balanced than typical dryers. It's also so lightweight that while I spend the same time drying my hair (more on this later), I stop when my hair is actually smooth and dry, not because my arm is too tired to carry on. And this is more of a bonus than a reason to buy it, but the motor is muted enough that I can carry on a conversation while using it—not a deep conversation, but a conversation nonetheless. When you switch it off, the motor makes this cool ziiiip sound and it's done immediately. Pretty cool!


The motor is crazy powerful.
It took me almost a month to figure out the right settings to use for my hair. There are three heat settings and three fan speeds. I started out with the middle heat and the high fan, and my hair was so stick-straight, it had no natural body whatsoever. I tried the middle fan and the high heat, and my hair felt like straw. I then had a week or two of panic that this dryer was too strong for my hair and I'd have to return it. But after more trial and error—and patience—I found that drying on the middle fan and middle heat with a round brush for about 8 minutes is perfect, then I go over everything on middle fan and high heat with a flat brush for about 2-3 minutes to smooth it. If I use too much fan, it gives my hair this temporary hay-like dry texture that eventually smooths out. It's completely bizarre and I still haven't figured out why that happens. Long story short, the fan is so powerful, it's probably freaking amazing for those of you with thick hair.


It has made my hair healthier. 
Now that I have my drying technique nailed down, I can say that my hair is almost never frizzy. And while the Dyson hasn't really cut down on my drying time—it still takes me about 11 or 12 minutes—my hair is more throughly dried because the dryer is more powerful and I'm able to use it longer without my arm getting tired because it's more lightweight. (In other words, I probably needed to use my old dryer longer in order to get my hair as smooth as the Dyson does, but I couldn't because it was too damn heavy.) My hair is healthier than it's been in years—I've been able to grow it past my shoulders without breakage, and last week when I was getting my hair colored, without any prompting, my Stylist said, "Your hair feels great!" And if that's not validation, what is?


Is it really worth $400?
Yes. Knowing what I know now, I would have bought this for myself months earlier. If you have thin hair that can air dry, and/or biceps of steel, you probably don't need it. But if you straighten your hair, and it's damaged and/or thick, it's totally worth it.

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