If you have curly hair, you’ll know that finding the perfect styling tool is key to keeping your spirals at their bouncy, springy, shiny best.
It’s hard to know which tool to choose though, and you’re probably torn between a hair dryer and diffuser. To make the choice easier, we’ve rounded up the key differences and similarities between the two tools, so you can feel fully clued up before investing.
Unfortunately for us curly-haired curls, traditional hair dryers have been designed with naturally straight hair in mind, and to create smooth and sleek styles, rather than ones that are big, bouncy and brimming with volume.
Curly hair that’s been dried with a normal hair dryer will look flat, frizzy and dull – plus it will feel dry and crispy rather than silky soft. These are the reasons why a hair dryer comes up short compared to a hair diffuser:
The main problem with using a traditional hair dryer to dry curly hair is that the nozzle is narrow, which makes the airflow very concentrated.
This is great if you want to dry your hair with precision and smooth it into submission at speed, but not so much when you want to slowly and gently dry your curls without disrupting their natural pattern.
Most hair dryers come with a choice of attachment heads, some of which make the nozzle even thinner – making matters worse for curly hair by straightening out and flattening your spirals. A solution is to add a diffuser attachment to a conventional hair dryer, as the wide, bowl-like shape will help to disperse the flow of heat and air over a larger surface area.
Even with a diffuser attachment in place, the wattage of traditional hair dryers is still unnecessarily powerful.
Blasting straight, fine hair with this amount of oomph isn’t a big deal – firstly as this hair type dries quickly so you won’t be using your hair dryer for long, and secondly as the shape of straight hair allows the hair cuticles to slot neatly together to prevent damage and moisture loss.
Curly hair, on the other hand, is denser, meaning it can take longer to dry, and the spiral shape doesn’t allow for the cuticles to sit flat, making it more susceptible to breakage and dryness which then leads to frizz.
Basic hair dryers (like the kind you find in a hotel bathroom) have very limited speed and temperature settings – and the ones they do have are normally very high.
This increases the likelihood of damaging your hair, leading to dryness, dullness and split ends, and also stops you from tweaking the settings based on important factors like your curl pattern, the health and thickness of your curls or the finished look you’re hoping for. Essentially, you’re less in control of styling.
A final gripe with traditional hair dryers is that their shape means they’re fine to hold in one position, but not necessarily intuitive to use at different angles, which makes switching between diffuser techniques tricky.
The weight of the larger motors also means they can be heavy, so you’ll probably be suffering from arm-ache by the time you’ve dried one half of your head.
Identifying your exact curl type is the first step to finding the perfect hair care routine for you! Read our guide "Discovering curl types and hair styles"
A traditional hair dryer and diffuser are alike in some ways and different in others. On a basic level, they’re both designed to dry your hair, but the key distinction is that diffusers have been made especially for curly hair.
This means they have extra features that work overtime for this hair type, maintaining its texture, boosting your curls and keeping frizz at bay. The stand-out differences between a hair dryer and a hair dryer diffuser are:
The wattage of some of the most popular traditional hair dryers on the market is between 1200 and 2000W, whereas dedicated diffuser tools are around 770W.
Curly hair requires a less gung-ho and more softly-softly approach, so there’s no need to overdo it with excessive power. Gently drying your curls will preserve their pattern and won’t compromise their health.
The exact number of heat and speed options will vary depending on the diffuser you choose, but either way, you can rest assured that they’ll operate at lower temperatures and slower speeds than a traditional hair dryer will.
This makes for more considerate drying, so you’re not zapping the moisture from your strands or blowing them around so much that they merge into one big frizzy ball.
A standard hair dryer won’t have a built-in diffuser head but should have the option to attach one. All diffuser heads look pretty much the same, with a wide, bowl-like surface area peppered with a series of holes to evenly disperse airflow and allow you to dry large sections of hair at once.
The design will prevent you from accidentally straightening your curls out, or from concentrating the heat too much in one area.
Diffuser heads also have finger-like nodules which can be used to encourage curls in type 2 hair or to stretch out type 4 hair as an antidote to shrinkage.
Snapping a diffuser attachment onto your hair dryer will allow you to enjoy all of these benefits, but as it’s not supported by things like lower voltage and gentle temperatures (and can fall off mid-styling) the finished result won’t be as good.
A dedicated hair diffuser will have a built-in head that can’t be removed.
The Diffon Supreme is a premium hair diffuser choice when drying curls, boasting all of the essential features of a diffuser like a gentle power system, low heat and speed settings and a specially shaped head – with added extras to enhance your styling even further.
These bonus features include digital heat control to ensure a consistent temperature and Ion Care Technology to neutralise positive ions triggered by damage so that your strands are left shiny, rather than dull and frizzy.
If that wasn’t enough, the ceramic diffuser head is coated with argan oil to transfer moisture into the hair, and there’s a cool air shot to seal your finished style in place. The ergonomic design also makes it easy to use at all angles and in all directions, especially with the help of a professional length three-metre power cord that lets you switch up the distance from your hair without getting in a tangle.