Whether you're searching for your first hot air brush or upgrading your current device, our comprehensive guide to hot air brushes will help you choose the perfect tool.
Hot air brushes dry and style your hair with one simple tool while giving you a voluminous, shiny, salon look. Styling takes time and often leaves heat damage, but a hot air brush reduces all of that. But, not all airbrushes are alike. These are some important factors that you have to pay attention to if you are looking for a hot air brush. Take a look:
The degree of curling will always be dependent on the diameter of the styling barrel or rod. If you are looking for the simplest guide to choosing the right airbrush for a specific degree of curl, the thinnest hot air brush will provide more intricate curls. Those with stouter barrels will produce fewer curls.
On the other hand, the best hot air brushes for creating the most body and lift are the hot air brushes that have stout barrels. So, if you want a Shirley Temple kind of hairdo, choose a hot air brush dryer that is one inch in diameter or smaller. If you want a good volume like Dolly Parton’s and the rest of the folks in Texas, choose an airbrush with a 2-inch barrel.
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If you are going to choose an air brush with a barrel that’s 2 inches in diameter, your hair should be at least shoulder length or longer for it to be of good use. If your hair does not reach your shoulders as in a bob cut, stick with a hot air curling brush that is 1 ½ inch thick or thinner.
(Photo courtesy: Revlon)
A hot air curling brush with widely spaced and longer bristles will be good for long hairstyles and thick hair textures. Brushes with short and fine bristles will be better for shorter hairstyles.
With regards to bristles, be careful when choosing a product whose bristles, especially the tips, heat up. There is one particular product on the market that cannot actually take its own heat and melts its own bristles. This strong statement is with regard to the Jilbere Hot Air Brush.
Women who are well versed and experienced in the art of hair curling will benefit from the flexibility of a hot air styling brush with a variable heat setting. A skilled artist can experiment with different settings to produce a distinctively unique curl and style that will be self-satisfying.
On the other hand, somebody who is not that particular about the process and just wants the best curls will benefit from the convenience and safety of preset settings. While experimentation on duration and thermal settings can produce creative results, it can also cause hair and scalp damage. Our hair and scalp are very sensitive tissues, and most of the time, it is best to just follow the standard presets found in reputable branded hot air brushes.
If you enjoy the process of hair curling, choose a manual airbrush that you can twist and turn in whatever direction you like for a specific curling effect. If you are one who wants the fastest and most convenient tool for producing, not really curls, but sexy waves on your long locks, choose a rotating hot air brush so you can easily coil and uncoil your hair over and over again to produce lasting waves and bounce.
If you want the fastest and most convenient gadget that can produce intricate curls in the shortest time, choose a hair styler that uses a mechanized curler that will spin and coil your hair one small segment at a time to produce very intricate spiral curls.
The price of hot air brushes will always vary. The main factors that will influence the price will be the features and conveniences that go along with the hot air brush. A manual hot air styling brush will always be cheaper than a rotating hot air brush. The choice of what to buy really depends on the hair styler. Women who have a lot of time and patience can work with a manual hot air brush dryer. A woman who is always on the go will probably prefer a rotating hot air brush.
The size of the hot air brush is also a very important consideration when a woman is a frequent traveller. More than ever, the modern woman needs her styling tools on business trips and leisurely vacations. The bigger more sophisticated and convenient hot air brushes will probably have a hard time fitting in a light luggage. The only option is for the practical woman to have both the bulky convenient hot air brush dryer for home use and the slim and sleek hot air styling brush to take anywhere.
(Photo courtesy: iStock)
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Here are the top five hot air brushes on the market today:
The Infiniti Pro Spin Air Rotating Styler is a very efficient and easy-to-use styler for shoulder-length hair and longer. It works well for any kind of hair texture. The reason why it can’t do much for shorter hairstyles is because of the diameter of the round brush. The barrel is two inches in diameter.
Two very sensitive control buttons work the round brush to rotate going in and going out. It is very easy to use. You just have to set it at the tip of your hair and press the rotate button to coil your hair all the way to the roots. Hold it there for a few seconds and then, press the other button to release.
It has two heat options and one cool setting to help dry your hair. However, know that it doesn't work the same as a hair dryer. If you are coming from the shower, you have to dry your hair with the blow dryer until your hair is about 90% dry before you can use the Infiniti Pro Spin for styling.
This product is great especially if you are in a hurry because it is really fast and so convenient to use. It cannot produce intricate curls; but, it can put a lot of body and bounce to your hair; hair volume that will last for the whole day. It’s a big hair styling tool that can fit in a small travel suitcase. But if you can manage to take it along on your trips, the bristles will be safe as it comes with a hard plastic cover.
The John Frieda Salon Shape is a manual hair styler. The main advantage of a manual hair styler over an automated one is that they are priced lower, like this product. Since it is expected that you’ll be twisting this product a lot for curling your hair, the manufacturer included the feature of a swivel chord that will not twist and tangle.
It has two heat settings and one cool setting. The barrel is 1.5 inches in diameter. Now, this is still a bit too stout to produce intricate curls, but it can add a lot of body and volume to your hair especially if you let your hair set in coil for about twelve seconds before uncoiling.
Some customers are saying that the setting switch is set too deep in its mounting on the handle creating some inconveniences in moving the switch. Aside from these issues, the John Frieda Salon Shape Hot Air Brush is reasonably priced for a good hair volumizer.
The Babyliss Pro Nano Titanium Rotating Barrel Hot Air Brush is another 2-inch rotating hot air brush with the same basic features as the Infiniti Pro Spin Air Rotating Styler. The main difference is the price. The Babyliss version of the 2-inch rotating air brush is more expensive by almost double the price of its Infiniti Pro counterpart in the Amazon.com price list. But when compared to its lower priced counterpart, customers are saying that the Nano Titanium Technology of Babyliss provides more shine than what the Infiniti Pro can provide.
Based on this hot air brush reviews some customers are saying that the rotation control buttons of Babyliss Pro Nano Titanium are more responsive to the stop and go commands in both directions. With the 2-inch diameter brush, the Babyliss Pro Nano Titanium Air brush cannot be expected to produce intricate curls but will provide lasting volume mainly because it is so convenient to use that you can apply as many retouches as you want to make the waves firmer. This product will work best for hairstyles shoulder length or longer.
The Vidal Sasson VS433C Tangle-Free Styler and Dryer is a manual styler air brush. The diameter of this hot air styling brush is only one inch, so it can create intricate curls. It can be used as a hair straightener and a curling iron.
The best feature of this product is its “lock” and “unlock” option for the brush. If you want to use it as a hair straightener, you can keep it locked and brush through your hair slowly. If you want to use it as a curling iron, lock the brush as you curl and unlock as you release. This unlocking feature eliminates the chances of your hair getting tangled in the bristles.
Though the Vidal Sasson VS433C cannot replace the hair dryer in its function, you can use it to relax your hair and remove the frizz by using it as a loose air brush. When the barrel is unlocked as you brush through your hair, the Vidal Sasson VS433C functions as a gentle hair relaxer that creates zero stress on your hair roots.
The Calista Tools Perfecter Fusion Hair Styler is another manual hair styling air brush that’s backed up by a lot of TV ads. The brush has a diameter of 1½ inches and has variable heat settings of up to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. What is very surprising about this product is that it is almost twice as expensive as one of the motorized stylers that were earlier mentioned.
This product’s main feature is its variable heat setting. While this feature will provide more flexibility for well-trained home iron curlers, it won’t provide any advantage for the average amateur who wants only the easiest and simplest to use.
This product will produce more intricate curls than the 2-inch fully automated air brushes we have mentioned earlier but won’t offer the same conveniences. The Calista Tools Perfecter Fusion Hair Styler will give you lasting bounce and curls. It is also a useful hair straightener.
There are no right and wrong in choosing a hot air brush. Every version has its own personality that will best fit yours. Later on, you’ll find out that it is not just a matter of which brand produces the best styles but the one that you actually like using every day.
So if you find yourself smiling and humming a tune while you are using your hot air styling brush then that tool is exactly what you need to look pretty everyday.