It may look like some "As Seen On TV" product, but this blow-dryer-paddle-brush contraption from Revlon is actually available in the hair-accessory aisle of your drugstore.
It’s not a completely unique idea to combine a hairbrush with a dryer, but there’s a reason most of those aren’t found in everyone’s bathroom: the Goldilocks conundrum of not being a good enough hair dryer or not being a good enough styling-tool attachment leaves most of us more puzzled than coiffed. Revlon wanted it done right and subsequently did it themselves, taking the no-brainer paddle-brush shape and attaching a powerful dryer mechanism in the handle to create their Pro Collection One-Step Paddle Brush Dryer.
I’ve had some fancy hair dryers in my day, but never a fancy heat-styling brush. As far as heat-styling tools go, I’m not really picky about blow dryers because hot air is hot air to me. When we’re talking about the damage of scalding-hot stainless steel versus scalding-hot ceramic, I’d opt for the more technologically advanced option. The "ionic" air from dryers seems a bit Emperor’s New Clothes to me, but some folks swear by it. Shrug. My hair tends to feel the same after heat-styling: dried.
What I am concerned with in my heat tools is how easy it is for me to use them, and what the likelihood is of the product being a burn trap. Naturally, a paddle brush that blows hot air at my hair sounds like a foolproof device.
It’s actually pretty lightweight considering its size, and the dial on the bottom offers a high, low, and cool setting. The airflow is pretty forceful on high—like a regular hair dryer but with a wider shot.
The bristles are flexible like one of those brushes for wet hair, so they don’t snag your wet hair as you drag it through. And yeah, Revlon even went so far as to put "ionic technology" into this device to cover all your anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better bases.
The airflow is right up against your hair as you drag it down the shaft, and since your hair is held by the bristles they’re not flapping every which way. I couldn’t help feeling a little wrong considering anyone worth their heat-styling knowledge knows to point the dryer nozzle down the shaft to smooth the cuticle. But while the idea of drying at a 90-degree-ish angle to my hair gave me the willies, the results were actually quite smooth.
Honestly though, the best thing about it? My arms are NOT killing me by the end of a blow-drying session, and it makes getting the back of my head thoroughly dried and styled really easy. I mean, how hard can brushing your hair dry be? I was wet to dry in less than 10 minutes—no sectioning.
If styling your wet hair makes you late every morning, this is actually a pretty good tool to have handy—but only really if you want a relatively straight style. You can turn it towards the bottom to flip your ends whatever way, and if your hair is much longer than mine, you can go nuts twisting the ends to gently wave or curve your ends. But for really curly hair, I can’t imagine dragging this through successfully, unless you wanted to straighten your hair. But since the paddle brush is so wide, I imagine this could possibly serve as makeshift diffuser? Maybe? No? I don’t know.
My boyfriend actually ends up using it more than me since I rarely heat-style (I’m hair-lazy) and he, like many men, enjoys technology that caters to one’s ineptitude with the original design. Plus, I refuse to blow-dry his hair with a brush and hair dryer because there are just some things I won’t do for love.
The cost of such specific convenience? Just about $50. Not too bad considering you’ll save money on a brush to blow-dry with, eh?
- Did any of you have one of those air-blowing round brushes? Did you get all your hair wrapped around it stuck like that, like I did when I was a kid?
- Do any of your significant others steal your styling tools?
- Where do you stand on the spectrum of drugstore hair appliances vs. pro hair appliances?
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