Blow-dry brushes have changed my life. That’s a little extreme to say, I’m sure, but it’s solved a quest I’ve been on since I was a teenager. I’ve struggled to get my fine hair under control for more years than I care to name, and while my hair is naturally wavy, those waves are delicate and easy to destroy with a simple night of sleep or a grabby toddler hand. Hair straighteners left my hair feeling flat and fried, while my dexterity in controlling a blow dryer left quite a lot to be desired. But lucky for me, the solution was out there: a blow-dry brush.
Blow-dry brushes, also called blow-dryer brushes and blowout brushes, combine a hairbrush and a blow dryer into one, funneling air out the sides and letting you style your hair with the brush and dry it at the same time. It tends to have fluffier results than if you used a standard blow dryer and hairbrush instead, sometimes leading to more frizz, but it’s much easier than handling two devices at once. Suddenly, I was able to achieve smooth, voluminous hair that didn’t look crushed and deflated the next day (or after wrestling my child) without needing three different tools and shoulder mobility I’ll never develop. Instead, I use one of these tools for somewhere between five and 10 minutes, and leave my bathroom feeling fantastic.
So that you can feel the same joy I do after giving myself a blowout, I’ve been testing blow-dry brushes for the past six months to find the best of the bunch. My favorites are clear after my testing: the Drybar Double-Shot ($155) and the T3 AireBrush Round ($160). The Drybar gives a fantastic, smooth blowout thanks to its oval shape, while the T3’s round shape is fantastic for shorter hair, bangs, or adding more of a curl to your blowout. Looking for something more specific, or curious how blow-dry brushes and infrared brushes compare? Read on to find out all of our recommendations.
Looking for more hair tools and products? Check out our guides to the Best Hair Dryers, Best Hair Diffusers, Best Hair Straighteners, Best Curling Irons, Best Heat Protectants, and Best Dry Shampoo.
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How to Use a Blow-Dryer Brush
You’ll be tempted to use a blow-dry brush while your hair is sopping wet, but it’s best to wait until your hair is mostly dry. Alanna Safarik-Ashby (also known as @folliclefatale), hair stylist and co-owner of Ivy & Luna Studio in Carlsbad, California, recommends waiting until your hair is 90 percent dry to protect it. “Your hair is its most fragile when it’s wet,” she says. “Think of when you pull on cooked spaghetti. It’s super elastic and breakable, right? Wet hair is the same way. So the more dry, the better.”
Similarly to other styling tools, it’s best to section your hair into three or four sections to use your blow-dry brush to style it. Taking one section at a time, you’ll start at the root with the blow-dry brush and pass through to your roots. I do this at least once on both the top and bottom of a section, if not twice for each side to create plenty of volume and fully dry the hair. Julie Chung, co-founder of T3, also shared her tip for getting the best volume in your blowout: “For extra lift at the roots, hold the brush under the roots for two to three seconds,” she says.
Play around with your hair and your brush of choice to figure out how you want your ends to look. With my shoulder-length hair, I find flipping out the ends easiest, but you’ll have to experiment with your own hair length and brush shape to see what works best for you. Whether you choose an oval or round-shaped brush can influence how this works as well.
Blow-Dry Brush Versus Infrared Brush
You might have seen two different kinds of brushes that promise blowout results. In this guide, the term blow-dry brush is exclusively used for devices that blow hot air out of the bristles onto wet hair to dry and style your hair. Meanwhile, devices for dry hair are called infrared brushes, as they use infrared heat instead of hot hair to style your hair in a smooth blowout. Blow-dry brushes are only meant for wet hair, while infrared brushes are only meant for dry hair. You can read more about infrared brushes and which ones I recommend below.
Photograph: Nena Farrell Drybar Double Shot Blow-Dryer Brush Drybar is known for its shops across the US where you can walk in and get your hair professionally blown out. The brand has since morphed into an entire hair care and product line, along with its storefronts. It’s no surprise Drybar specializes in hair drying tools, given the origin of the brand, and the popular Double Shot brush is the best I’ve tried on my hair. I have fine, curly hair that has tons of frizz, but the Double Shot makes it nice and smooth while giving it volume, and gives me less frizz than other models. Since I have shorter hair, I thought I’d prefer the rounded Half Shot from Drybar (more on that below), but the 2.4″ oval shape still gives my hair the nice bend I look for without getting overly curled, and still smooth results. My friends can always tell when I use the Drybar, and I get the most compliments on my Double Shot days. The Drybar has just three heat levels, and I tend to use the hotter setting to get a faster dry. Drybar gets the hottest of the brushes I’ve tested, reaching 275 degrees Fahrenheit at the highest level, but it doesn’t leave my hair feeling fried. I wish it had an option to customize both the heat and speed of the air, but I got just as good (if not better!) results with Drybar’s simpler settings compared to brushes with more options.
Best Oval Blow-Dry Brush
Best for
All hair types
Settings
Three heat/speed settings, highest level reaches 275 degrees Fahrenheit
What’s included
2.4″ oval blow-dryer brush
Warranty
Two-year limited warranty
Photograph: Nena Farrell T3 Airebrush Round Blow-dry brushes often have both oval and rounded barrels, and the smaller round barrel is often the best choice for my fellow short-haired folks who want to get a nice bend in their hair before, well, running out of hair. T3’s AireBrush Round is easily the best round I’ve tried, with both a nice range of settings—you can customize both the heat level and the air speed on this one—and a great little curl you can get on the end, even if your hair is barely chin-length. It’s a great option for those of us with shorter, finer hair, especially since the heat range is one of the lowest, so you’re at less risk of heat damage compared to hotter brushes. Now that my hair is a little longer, I get almost a curled result, looking like I did a gentle pass with a hair curler after drying it. You can get straighter results depending on how you angle the brush (I treat mine almost like a curler.) The rounded shape doesn’t force it to be curly, but it does make it easier. The slimmer design gives you more options with the style, though longer-haired folks might find the smaller barrel more of a hindrance than a help. It reminded me a lot of using a Dyson Airwrap with the slim size of the barrel. There’s also an oval version of the AireBrush ($160) if you want the same level of heat and speed controls for a larger blow-dry brush. I preferred the Drybar out of my oval tests, but the oval AireBrush did deliver similar results if you’d prefer to control your heat and air settings separately.
Best Round Blow-Dry Brush
Best for
Shorter hair, bangs, or a curlier blowout
Settings
Three heat settings and three speed settings, ranging from 170.6 to 213.8 degrees Fahrenheit
What’s included
2.5″ round blow-dryer brush
Warranty
Two-year limited warranty
