If you’ve looked at TikTok or Instagram even once in the last month, you’ve probably been inundated with videos and pics of people blowing out their hair with a hair-dryer brush. You know, the things that look like fat round brushes, but with a cord? And even though these hot-air brushes aren’t exactly new (they’ve been around for decades—just ask your mom), they’ve recently become incredibly trend and popular again, thanks to, shock, social media. But wait…
Yeah, let’s get on the same page. A hair dryer-brush is a corded round brush that blows heat from the inside out to dry your hair as you brush, twirl, and style it. Basically, it combines your blow dryer and your round brush so you legit only need one tool to blow-out your hair (plus, obviously, a very good heat protectant spray). The result? Straight, yet bouncy hair.
It depends on your hair texture and skill level. If you’re someone who absolutely cannot give yourself a professional-looking blow out at home—especially if you have curly or thick hair—then yes, a hot-hair brush is definitely a good tool to try. But if you’re someone who is pretty skilled with a round brush and a blow dryer already, you might not find that it leaves your hair as smooth and sleek as your usual combo. K, now onto what you came here for: The 13 best hair-dryer brushes for every hair type, preference, and budget, including one on sale for Amazon Prime Day (which is today, ICYMI).
Some hair dryer brushes can weigh you down—literally. Opt for a lightweight option with the L’ange Hair Le Volume brush. Coming in at just over two pounds (!), you’ll never have to choose between a sore arm and a killer blowout again. And if you promised yourself you’d stick to your budget this month, DW, ’cause this one’s on sale for Amazon Prime Day 2021.
A cult-icon for a reason, personalize your blowout with three heat settings and three-speed settings. The nylon pin and tufted bristles get deep under roots to lift hair for maximum volume.
So this heated round brush doesn’t dry your hair—it actually gives your already-dry hair a blown-out finish. Whether you’re trying to revive a day-three blowout, or you wanna give your flat hair some major volume (and, um, hide the greasy roots), you can hold this skinny round brush against your scalp, wrap your roots around the base for a few seconds, and get an added inch of height.
Most hot-air brushes just…literally blow hot hair. Which is great! It’s fine! But they also won’t give you the shiniest, bounciest waves unless you keep twirling and pulling the brush yourself. This one solves the issue by having a brush head (in two sizes: 1.5 inch and 2 inch alongside an additional paddle-brush shape) that can rotate in both directions to really smooth and curl each section of hair like you’d get with a legit, salon-level blowout.
Um, this hot-air brush has an insane 9,000 reviews on Amazon, and for good reason: It’s pretty affordable, and it just freakin’ works. With shorter hair, you don’t necessarily want to use a thick, clunky brush head to blow out your hair, since you won’t be able to get as close to your scalp with it. Instead, try this one-and-a-half-inch barrel that has short, mixed bristles and a gentle ceramic base (ceramic = less damaging heat) to help you add volume and smooth flyaways to your lob or bob.
This blow-dryer brush is similar to the Revlon One-Step, but with one key difference: its bristles. Rather than a mix of bristles scattered across the head, the flat sides of this brush have just plastic bristles, making it easier to brush and detangle your thick hair or curly hair while you blow it out.
You know how during a blowout, your hairstylist will pull and wrap the same section of hair over and over (and over) again? Yeah, that’s all to flatten your hair cuticle and make it hella silky. It’s also really hard to do on your own—unless you have a rotating hot-air brush like this one, which spins your hair around a frizz-smoothing base to really sleek it out and add shine.
In an ideal world, we’d all be able to go to a Drybar every other day for a (free) professional blowout, right? Dreams. The next best thing? This blow-dryer brush, which has three heat settings (cool, medium, and high) along with an ionic base (sounds fake, but ionic technology really does help seal your hair cuticle and curb flyaways) to help you get a shiny blowout on your own. And that baaaaasically justifies the price.
K, this brush is TINY, meaning if you’ve got long, coarse, or thick hair, please mosey on by. For everyone else? Meet your BFF. Because the brush heads are so skinny (1 inch and 3/4 inch), you can easily nestle them right up under your roots to volumize your fine hair (pro tip: Spritz on a volumizing spray, first). Or, if you’ve got a bob, lob, or pixie cut, just twirl small sections of your damp hair around the brush to create waves and curls.
Spending an hour blowing out your hair only to have it fall flat and greasy by the end of the day is insanely annoying—and yet, there’s only so much you can do when you have a naturally oily scalp. Which is why this hot-air brush is kinda awesome: Its bristles are infused with charcoal to naturally soak up excess oils while you blow out your damp hair or refresh your dry, day-two hair. Just save the dry shampoo for after you style, or you’ll gunk up the bristles.
Let’s be honest: If you’ve got a spare $500+ laying around, then yeah, the Dyson Air Wrap is going to be the best hot-air brush to fulfill all of your wildest hair dreams. Aside from the fact that it comes with three wand-like heads to curl your hair, and a mini dryer head to quickly get your wet hair damp, it also comes with three different bristled brush heads (two paddle brushes and a round brush) to give you the exact customized wet/dry look you could ever want.
For all those days when your hair looks like sh*t, or your blowout fell flat, or your flat-ironed hair got a little puffy and frizzy, there’s this hot-air brush. It’s meant to be used on dry hair to ~revive~ your straight-to-wavy hair hair, adding shine, volume, and smoothness, without requiring you to shower. Dreams. Blast your roots with dry shampoo, wrap sections of hair around the brush for a few seconds, then unwind. Boom—fresh, bouncy hair.
Okay, so not technically a hair-dryer brush, but if you’re looking at all of these round brushes and realizing what you really want is just…straighter hair, not a bouncy blowout, then try a hair straightening brush instead. This brush has seven heat settings and 65 little heated ceramic plates that gently smooth bumps, waves, frizz, and flyaways as you brush it through your dry hair.