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Hey! so...I went investigating which is the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair.
Because:
If you're like me, you want the best hair natural products for the best results, right?
And I have good news for you, I'll show you the best blow dryer for 4C today:
As I also did when I wrote the ULTIMATE GUIDE for finding the best flat iron hair straightener...
...I put in alot of work for today's guide and I'm gonna share what I found with you.
You'll know which new blow dryer for natural hair will help you dry and style without damaging your hair...
And:
Which is the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair that will have you looking amazing because of MUCH less heat damage and less breakage.
So I'm going to show you some smart details to consider when you're shopping for a new blow dryer for natural hair.
I'M ALSO GOING TO:
By the end of this article, you'll feel a lot better about making your decision on new blow dryer for natural hair
So let's get to it:
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BaBylissPRO Porcelain Ceramic 2800 Dryer |
BaBylissPRO Ceramix Xtreme Dryer |
RED Kiss Tourmaline Ceramic 1875 Pro |
Awards |
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Overall Score |
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Star Rating |
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Pros
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Highest scoring Ionic blow dryer cuts time it takes to dry 4C hair, Natural ions eliminate static, rated "Luxury Beauty Class" at Amazon Online |
Very affordable, unique Ionic construction, lighter-weight than the 2800, strong air flow. Professional grade blow dryer. |
Lightweight and cheaper option. Comes with detangling comb options. |
Cons . |
A little heavier & higher priced than it's contemporaries. |
Doesn't come with diffuser. You'll need a conair pro diffuser or nylon mesh sock diffuser for best fit.... |
No ionic technology. Power cord is a bit short. Some reviews complain of overheating. |
Bottom Line . . |
The highest scorer because the combo of Porcelain & Ceramic ionic technology. One of the biggest breakthroughs in styling. Powerful & priced right. |
Professional-grade blow dryer where power meets technology. A stellar choice for those looking for faster dry time and comfort. See more real reviews at Amazon. |
A value buy even if it doesn't boast the same Porcelain Ceramic Ion technology. A long time economical favorite of Nappy Fu. |
So the BaBylissPRO Porcelain Ceramic 2800 hair blow dryer comes out on top as the best blower dryer for natural kinky hair.
And according to the reviewer below:
The the BaBylissPRO Porcelain Ceramic 2800 works especially well for long, thick and coarse 4C hair.
To top that off:
The Babyliss PRO on 4C hair is also rated the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair because it's very durable, as you'll read below, this reviewer uses her blow dryer multiple times weekly...
Beware though sis:
As I spent days and days researching factory manuals, articles, Youtube videos, stories from other natural hair honeys giving blow dryer reviews, and more...
...I found a waaaaay overhyped hair dryer that I REFUSED to put on my list for the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair...
It's not that it doesn't work, but it's definitely overhyped.
So let's talk about this foolishness real quick...
Over Hype Alert!
"The REVAIR Reverse-Air Hair Dryer"
If you are out here searching for a new blow dryer for natural hair, you have likely seen Youtubers from the North to the South reviewing the REVAIR Reverse-Air Hair Dryer, some even claiming it's the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair.
But nawww... This thing is more gimmicky than flat irons with buit-in comb teeth.
This company has been sending this hair dryer to a bunch of big natural hair Youtubers in order to get some viral attention.
Folks aint falling for the Oke Doke though, lol....
Look:
And girrl.... Top it all off:
This thang cost more than $400 dang dollars! Hecky naaaaw...
I wouldm't care if IT REALLY WAS the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair, I'm not paying the 4 (**Martin voice**).
To be fair, I'll give your THEIR product claims:
The REVAIR Reverse-Air Hair Dryer company says that their hair dryer is:
Here's my thing though:
Their website talks about being proven by "3rd party trials", it doesn't say 3rd party STUDIES though.
And honestly, I don't see it working for kinky Black natural hair, when I visited their website, I got the sense that this would work for Asian and Caucasion hair better.
No offense though:
Maybe it works, but honeyyyy...
Shouldn't nobody need to pay in installments for a doggone hair dryer!
They tried it though:
We don't believe you you need more people...... Anywhoo...
Let's talk about:
So here's the thing
When talking buying a new blow dryer for natural hair, heat, and applying heat to natural hair...
...getting CORRECT info is critical to you having bomb hair and actually finding the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair.
There are so many beneficial ways to use heat on your natural hair, and for some of you natural hair honeys, using heat on your hair could be the missing piece of the puzzle that helps you achieve your natural hair goals.
So now that you see that the Babyliss PRO for 4C hair is NHP's vote for best blow dryer for natural kinky hair...
Let me explain this about cheap basic blow dryers...
Cheap blowers can't be considered the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair because your basic blow dryer is too "Plain Jane" and simple.
And the main reason you sit there wondering "how much time will it take to dry my 4C hair?"
It's because they have a simple motorized fan in the back that sucks air into the blow dryer through the metal heating coils and out of the front as hot air.
It is nothing fancy:
It's basically just blowing hot air and that's it.
This is what most of us have been using since we were young if you've ever blow-dried your natural hair, and that's part of the problem.
The basic blow dryer is a major reason why many natural women have cut out heat from their natural hair journeys and turned against blow drying altogether.
You may have thought ANY decent blower was the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair... wrong sis, ALL wrong...
So let's talk about some of the options that many kinky-haired naturals don't even know about...
...even if you've heard of some of these products you probably don't know what the difference is and how they give you an advantage over normal, basic blow dryers.
So let's get into it...
The best blow dryer for natural kinky hair will always be an ionic blow dryer.
Here's why:
Although the ionic blow dryer also has a fan in the back that sucks air in through hot coils and out of the front, the difference is that ionic blow dryers have additional materials in them like ceramic, titanium, porcelain, tourmaline or even pearls that when activated heat up and shoot out negative ions on to your hair.
These negative ions are great because unlike basic blow dryers, rather than just spitting out hot air which basically heats up your outer hair's cuticle layers until dry, which causes a ton of damage, these negative ions are charged heat which dries your hair a lot faster.
Ionic blow dryers do this in two ways:
First, certain types of ionic blow dryers send deep penetrating infrared heat waves that direct the strongest part of this heat to the inner layers of your hair instead of the outer.
PRO TIP: Drying your hair from-the-inside-out is much safer for natural hair.
Another awesome benefit of ionic blow dryers, especially for natural hair women, is that they replenish the healthy natural, negative charge in your ahir.
You see, even though your hair naturally gives off a negative and positive charge...
...due to over manipulating and normal wear-and-tear damage, negative ions are constantly being stripped from your hair.
When this happens it causes your hair to become hard to manage, wiry, frizzy, and prone to breakage.
So when the negative ions come out of your ionic blow dryer this helps to replenish the negative charge (This is a VERY good thing) causing your hair cuticle layers to become more flexible, relaxed and smoother.
Check out this image below to see how a hair strand looks after using the basic blow dryer compared to a hair strand after using an ionic blow dryer, which we rate as the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair.
As you can see, it's obvious that the basic blow dryer causes much more damage. you can see how the hair strand that had the basic blow dryer looks visibly more chipped and the cuticle layers are lifted, which is not good.
[RELATED ARTICLE: How Hot Does a Hair Dryer Get?]
Now please understand me:
No, ionic blow dryers are not 100% damage-free.
So even though ionic blow dryers do give you many benefits that a normal blow dryer won't, it's still super important not to overdo it.
You have to always pay close attention to what you're doing and be cautious with an ionic blow dryer.
Yes, ionic blow dryer are safer for your type 4 natural hair health and length-retention goals but not perfect.
You also must keep in mind that not all ionic blow dryers are of equal value.
Some ionic blow dryers are made with the materials that produce ions as an attachment to the inside on the front part of the nozzle, some other blow dryers Infuse the ion producing materials into the inner tube of the blow dryer, and some even coat the heater coils with ion producing materials.
These are all excellent options and if used correctly any of these ion blow dryers can benefit your natural kinky hair, helping you with the overall appearance and health of your hair.
PRO TIP: If I had to choose just one though, the best pick would be a blow dryer that has the ionic material on the heating coil or being used as the heating coil.
Here's the reason why:
The heating coil on a basic blow dryer is made of metal.
This metal is a major problem for your natural hair, and one of the reasons that kinky natural hair women all around the world are turning against heat on their hair when it's not necessary, and it could even be preventing their progress on their natural hair journey.
The metal doesn't hold heat evenly, so as it heats up it also sends uneven heat to your hair which creates hotspots that can cause great damage to isolated sections of your kinky natural hair. and that's exactly what you need to avoid, at least if you love your hair you would.
So when shopping for a new blow-dryer you need to find one that either has a ceramic coating heating coil, Preferably in infused with tourmaline, or blow dryer with titanium heating coils.
Overall, these two options are great but they do have their differences,
A ceramic coating heating coil Infuse with tourmaline distributes heat evenly and releases negative Ions.
The main difference is that ceramic has the unique ability to lower its temperature and response to the surrounding temperature, which is an amazing benefit that helps you avoid heat damage to your naturally kinky hair.
Blow dryers with a titanium heating coil also heat evenly and they release the most negative ions.
Be careful with a titanium heating coil though, because they are super powerful and they heat up faster, a lot faster.
So if you're not totally paying attention it will be easier to overdo the heating process.
If this happens you will cause heat damage even while using a much better blow dryer that is made to cause less damage.
Titanium blow dryers are really great though because they help your hair look alot shinier, smoother and you deal with a lot less static because of the negative ions.
Blow dryers with titanium heating coils were originally created for professional hairstylists because there are a lot lighter to carry and don't weigh as much.
Also, many hairstylists love blow dryers and flat irons with titanium heating coils because they can get a lot more done because of the fast drying capabilities, they don't have to sit up all day drying one person's hair.
So if you're a hairstylist, you should definitely look into getting one of these professional blow dryers.
As mentioned though, titanium blow dryers are extremely powerful and so you need to pay attention to what you're doing when you're using it to stretch your natural hair.
Even if you get a top-notch blow dryer for your home, you will have to pay attention to what you're doing as if you were a professional.
Here's why:
The professional dryers heat up fast, they go from 0-to-60 like a Porsche, lol...
So when drying or stretching out your natural hair your technique has to be much different than with your basic cheap dryer...
...using these types of pro stylist blow dryers can be a little more complicated because you have to be a lot more conscious of what you're doing throughout the process.
And alway remind yourself of that fact until it becomes a habit for you.
Remember:
If you're just drying or stretching your hair out, you're not trying to straighten it
Remember that you do not have to stretch your hair for it to be healthy, that's what's so amazing about our unique and wonderful natural hair, we can do so much with it.
I hope that this article is helping you to understand that you are allowed to step outside of the box and use heat.
if you use it correctly:...
...heat can help you instead of hurting you're naturally kinky hair.
I will be writing more articles to help you overcome any fears associated with using this heat and blow dryers for coarse hair, so that you're able to analyze what you're doing and use blow dryers for natural kinky hair as well as the best hair steamers to your benefit.
[RELATED ARTICLE: Best blow dryer for relaxed hair...]
So I'm sure you want me to just tell you which blow dryer you should buy right?
I know:
But YOU KNOW your hair better than me, so I want you to use the information that you have received to make the best hot tool purchase.
With the wealth of information given here and in the comparison table above...
You should now have the knowledge to explore and find the best blow dryer for natural kinky hair that suits you best.
You all the details.
So now it's on you, decide what you want for your naturally kinky hair.
As you have read above, the basic blow dryer will do the job of simply drying your hair and it is the cheapest option but it can potentially cause the most damage to your hair.
So you have to weigh the cost out of pocket versus the cost of damaging your hair.
A blow dryer with a heating coil that porcelain and ceramic, infused with tourmaline is the safest option by far, that's because it produces a more controlled temperature.
And a blow dryer with a titanium coil produces the most amount of beneficial negative ions for your natural kinky hair, that's why the Babyliss PRO 2800 is best for 4C hair and it's challenges.
And:
That's also the reason it dries your hair much quicker for better results, the problem is that it heats up very quickly, so you have to be on top of your game and know what you're doing, especially if your newly going natural.
I hope this helps, take care!
You can see more reviews of the Babyliss PRO 2800 at Amazon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Melissa Lee
Melissa Lee is a Contributing Editor to NHP and a former owner of the BlackhairOMG website. She formed 4C Trichology Growth Services, LLC., a US based hair care consultation service. She has also contributed as a writer and consultant for various hair and beauty websites. Melissa can be followed on Twitter here.