9 of the Best Quiet Hair Dryers
If you are like me, you’re an early riser. You enjoy quiet mornings before work, with your nice quiet kettle or coffee maker, and morning news. Your family is glad you’re quiet during those mornings, and do not disturb them.
However—there is one household item in that I use every morning that is just too loud before I have fully woken up, and is far too loud for family members who are still asleep: my hair dryer.
It’s nice, it works, but it disrupts my morning and theirs every day. And, while I can probably handle it, my family loves to grouch about being woken up about it.
We also expect the dryers to protect our hair and help us achieve a certain level of style and fashion. Because my family gets up later, they’re often in a rush, with little time for a hairdryer that does not work quickly.
When ours broke, I wondered: could I find a hairdryer that met my needs of low noise with my family’s needs of style and speed? What’s the best quiet hair dryer out there?
I looked into options and luckily there are many hair dryers out there on the market that promise to achieve all these goals.
How to make sense of them all? Do I need to spend a fortune? Can I balance hair style and protection with speed and silence? Are they actually as quiet as they promise?
Below, I will go through the best quiet hair dryers to help you make a decision.
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Related: Best Quiet Kettles
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Overview of the Best Quiet Hair Dryers
Why should you get a quiet hair dryer?
Hairdryers are part of everyday use. They’re the type of item you often do not give too much thought to, and expect that they will “just work.”
However, if you are reading this you are probably looking to upgrade your hairdryer.
If you let your hair air dry it will probably come out a tangled mess and take forever.
Many people take very good care of their hair and use it to express their style and accentuate their appearance.
Chances are you value your time, appearance, and hair health, and have no desire to trade those in for a quiet dryer that might be far too slow, damage your hair, or not help you achieve the style you want.
Chances are it has also been a little while since you bought a hair dryer. With new materials, technology, and customization, hair dryers are markedly different from what the older or baseline models.
Want to find the hairdryer that strikes the right balance between all of these for you?
This article will help you do exactly that. I will look at a number of hair dryers and examine how they strike a balance between several key features: Noise Level, Speed of Drying, Hairstyling, and Ease of Use
Key Feature 1: Noise level
This is probably the most important factor to most of you.
You want the quietest blow dryer on the market. Is there such as thing as a silent blow dryer?
Most high-end hair dryers are a quieter than the standard ones you might find in a traditional department store. New and specialized technologies help to make especially quiet hairdryers.
However, as with everything else, there is a tradeoff – what you gain in quiet, you might have to give up (a little) in speed or ease of use. But in many cases that tradeoff is still very worthwhile.
Key Feature 2: Speed of drying
The secret to many quiet appliances is that they tend to work just a bit slower than their traditional counterparts.
However, the better manufacturers know that you are often pressed for time in the morning and do not have a lot of extra time to give up.
To address this, they offer several levels of control over air flow and heat, letting you choose the speed that best meets your need, while still remaining quiet, and giving you the sharp hairstyle you want.
Newer technologies such as Far-Infrared also help dry your hair without additional noise or time loss.
Key Feature 3: Hairstyling
What about your sense of style—the extra bounce or shine or control over your hair—do you need to give that up if you want a fast, quiet hair dryer?
Luckily, the answer is no.
Many of the models below address these very concerns directly.
Again, the ability to toggle the airflow and heat will likely give you even more control than you currently have.
Many of the hairdryers come with attachments (or attachments can be purchased) to help address hairstyle.
Most of the dryers reviewed here come with ion technology, specifically designed to prevent frizzy hair or disruptive static electricity, and “cold shot” which helps you set your hair in place.
Key Feature 4: Ease of Use
A quiet motor with all these features is tough to balance with ease of use. Most of these dryers weigh between 1-2 pounds and tend to be a bit large to include in a small suitcase. But manufacturers are well aware of your need for comfort and ease of use. Many of the products listed here include ergonomically designed handles, with settings that can be toggled with the same hand holding the hairdryer so that you can switch without stopping.
List of the Best Quiet Hair Dryers
1. MHU Professional Salon Grade 1875w Low Noise Ionic Ceramic Ac Infrared Heat Hair Dryer
The motor dries the hair quickly, while remaining quiet, with low vibration.
While using it you can toggle between two speeds and three heat settings, giving you control over the airflow, and heat to meet the needs of your hairstyle and time limits.
This hairdryer is also designed to protect your hair from frizz and damage with its Far-Infrared Heat and Negative Ion Technology.
It also comes with an Airflow Concentrator and a Diffuser, to help you style your hair while adding volume and further protecting against damage and frizz. Includes a “cold” setting to help set your hair in place when finished.
- What I Like
- Protects against frizz very well, regardless of weather and humidity, or hair dye
- Lightweight and quiet, even compared to other high-end dryers
- Sturdy and very customizable with the heat and speed toggles
- What I Don’t Like
- When switching from traditional hair dryer, this will feel heavier and slower to dry
- Toggle switches easy to bump while in the middle of use
- Concentrator sometimes spins out of place during use, requiring recalibration
2. Centrix Q-Zone Dryer
This dryer is quiet enough to allow you to easily carry on a quiet conversation while it is in use.
The motor is energy efficient and comes with two speeds.
The Ceramic Tourmaline and Ionic Technology design both contribute to healthier hair, less frizz, and fast drying time.
Centrix is designed to be lightweight, with a comfortable, ergonomically-designed handle, with a “cold shot” button.
The manufacturer even claims that with several of them in use at a salon, conversations still occur easily due to the quiet design.
- What I Like
- Very quiet: a traditional hairdryer can reach over 100 decibels on their highest settings, while this one 78-88 decibels in the various settings
- Very positive balance of quiet and speed, while still delivering an attractive, healthy hair dry
- What I Don’t Like
- Setting buttons may tend to fail over time
- Light rattling noise after a year
- Slower to heat up compared to traditional hair dryers
3. Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer
Dyson is very well-known for their vacuums and the amount of research they put into their products.
This dryer is no different, and balances all the critical components of hair dryer—comfort, speed, temperature, and sound.
Dyson indicates the motor produces a single frequency, which they say is inaudible.
This “silent” motor is rated is rated at a powerful 1600 watts, which is more powerful than many others listed here, meaning it is faster than the others.
The product includes smoothing nozzle, styling concentrator, and diffuser attachments.
Very customizable, the dyer has four different heat settings, a cold shot button, and three different speed settings.
- What I Like
- Easy to handle and use, fast, easy to clean
- Speed and flow settings are very distinct, offering good customization
- Super quiet
- What I Don’t Like
- Many knock-offs circulating in the market: company recommend being sure the product manufacturer is actually Dyson
- Pricey compared to other available options
4. KIPOZI 1875W Professional Hair Dryer
This hair dryer comes with two speeds and three heat settings as well as a cool shot button to help “lock” your style in place.
Particular perks include ionic technology and strong, consistent airflow.
This hairdryer was specifically designed to be ergonomically comfortable, lightweight, and very quiet. It comes with a removable air filter, concentrator, and a diffuser.
The cord is long at eight feet and includes an ALCI safety plug.
- What I Like
- Strong and quiet
- Protects against frizz
- Controls work well and handle is comfortable to use
- What I Don’t Like
- Does not get as hot as is often needed
- Feels very heavy in hand while using due to button and handle design
- Concentrator does not stay in place
5. Revlon Lightweight Quiet Hair Dryer
Revlon is synonymous with the beauty industry. Designed to be quiet and lightweight, this product is highly rated by its users.
The unique fan design provides quiet drying and noise control and includes special air inlets that speed up drying time.
It is customizable with two heat and two speed settings and includes ionic technology to cut down on frizz and static electricity.
Also, it comes with a Smoothing Concentrator to give you more control over your styling.
- What I Like
- Fast, light weight, easy to hold and use
- Definitely quieter than most hairdryers
- What I Don’t Like
- Noticeably slower than traditional hairdryers
- Needs a higher setting, the airflow is too low
- Works well for thin light hair, but for others is too slow and low power
6. T3 – Cura LUXE Hair Dryer
The T3 Cura Luxe received the Oprah Magazine Spring Beauty O-wards, the Cosmopolitan Beauty Award, and the Ebony Beauty & Grooming Award.
The motor is a “T3 Digital Ion Air technology,” meaning it is designed to be fast and powerful and should produce frizz/static free hair.
Its handle includes two speed settings, five heat settings, along with the cool shot feature.
The Volume Booster Switch provides extra control stopping the flow of negative ions, allowing for customized styling.
Plus, the handle is angled for comfort, with non-intrusive switches located on the back of the handle for easy access.
- What I Like
- Fast and quiet
- Solid design makes it easy to hold on
- Easy to style and improve looks of hair
- Buttons not disruptive thanks to placement
- What I Don’t Like
- Given its awards, disappointingly low-heat and air flow
- No-frizzing technology only works occasionally
- Sensors in handle shut off the hairdryer if you’re not holding it in a specific way
7. RUSK Engineering W8less Professional 2000-Watt Dryer
Of all the products listed here, this is the lightest – weighing less than one pound.
The Rusk uses far-infrared heat to dry quickly, while still remaining quiet and protecting your hair against static and frizz.
Ideal for use on hair of any length, style, or texture. Especially effective on thick, coarse hair otherwise difficult to dry.
Multiple heat and speed settings.
- What I Like
- Very lightweight
- Faster and quieter than traditional hairdryers
- Toggle buttons offer great customizations
- Works for thicker hairs thanks to its more powerful motor
- What I Don’t Like
- Too easy to push the buttons while drying
- Handle awkward to hold
- Overheats quick easily
8. Parlux Advance Dryer
Parlux products often win awards for the Best Value in beauty products.
This particular model has a powerful motor.
It is made of ceramic (as are many of the products listed here) and comes with ionic technology to reduce statics and frizz. It includes toggle buttons for air speed and heat.
Unlike some of the other dryers here, it has a built-in silencer to help it achieve a quiet operation.
Many of the motors in the products discussed here have been specifically designed to run quiet, where as this motor is relatively traditional, with additional materials built around it to make it quiet.
- What I Like
- Very lightweight and easy to travel with
- Handle design places buttons on the side (which is rare among these models), meaning you won’t bump them while drying hair
- Powerful motor is fast
- What I Don’t Like
- Consistency of the product is iffy, seems to have problems 6 months after purchase
9. Andis Micro Turbo
Unique among “quiet” hair dryers, this one aims to be compact, light, and very easy to travel with.
Even though it is small, compared to most hairdryers on this list, it still packs a punch with a 1600-Watt motor.
The handle includes two settings for heat and two for air settings.
It is designed to have a quiet motor and fan. Because it is designed to be a travel-friendly hairdryer, it also on two voltages.
There is a switch, which allows you toggle between 125v and 220v.
- What I Like
- Very easy to travel with due to size and dual-voltage
- Reliable and comfortable to use
- Powerful enough for thicker hair
- What I Don’t Like
- Settings may be too “extreme” in that high is too hot, and low is not hot enough
- Tends to overheat and emit a ‘bad’ smell
Impressions of the hair dryers
Nearly every product on this list comes with standard features: Quiet Motor, Speed and Heat toggle buttons, Far-Infrared heat, anti-frizzing technology, lightweight build, and the promise of a fast dry.
All of the products chosen here had primarily high and positive ratings, with lower scores being much rarer, comparatively.
However, the negative reviews often called into question the core features: fast, hot, quiet, light.
So, when you make your purchase, be sure to keep in mind that you’re buying a specialty hair dryer and understand there will be tradeoffs – lighter might mean a little louder, quieter might mean a little slower dry etc.
However, each of the products attempts to provide a balance of quiet, speed, and customizability for style—so regardless of which you choose, you will likely receive a product with those core features.
Standouts
The three standouts on the list are the Rusk, the Dyson Dryer and the MHU Professional Salon Grade hair dryer.
The Rusk has loads of positive reviews on Amazon and ranks highly due to its light weight and usability. Despite its weight, the product is well built with high quality material such as ceramic, and makes use of infrared technology for a faster dry. The only gripe seems to be more related to the fact it might heat up too much to remain comfortable for long.
The Dyson is the only product that claims to have an “inaudible motor.” While reviewers are adamant that this is, indeed, very quiet, none asserted that the product was complete silent (probably not realistic anyway). This is partly due to side effects of airflow through the product, slight rattling of the motor and other moving components. Common comments noted that it achieved the core goals for these dryers: fast, hot, quiet, and light. The biggest concern was that when there was a problem and the dryer died, or features malfunctioned Dyson was not as responsive as reviewers expected.
The MHU hairdryer received many compliments about its ability to handle frizzy hair or static electricity. It comes with a number of attachments, is among the more powerful of the hairdryers listed here, meaning that it is a bit faster, and better for thicker hair. While it marketed as “salon grade,” there were a surprisingly high number of people who found that it failed in 1-2 years, meaning it might not quite take the beating of constant use the way it claims to.
Price and quality
The least expensive hairdryer, obviously is the compact Andis. However, in terms of the other more “robust” dryers discussed here, the least expensive is the Kipozi, around half the cost of the MHU.
While the vast majority of its ratings were 5 stars as well, there was a common complaint that repeated over and over in the lower ratings: that it felt “cheap.”
Reviewers varied a great deal on what makes it “feel cheap” so it would seem this very subjective.
Some said it just did not feel solid or durable, others felt that the lower settings for heat and air flow were just not useful and therefore really only the “high” settings achieved results.
Others felt the diffuser just would not stay in space, making the hair dryer somewhat difficult to use.
Best Quiet Hair Dryers: Conclusion
Almost every hairdryer from the high-end Dyson, to the one you pick up at your grocery store promises some variation of “quiet.” Those listed above were rated and reviewed as being particularly quiet, while achieving all of your hairstyling needs.
The best of the hairdryers include key features such as:
- Far Infrared heating technology (for speed and hair protection)
- Negative ions (to prevent static and frizz)
- Customizable settings (for heat level and air flow)
- Cold air shot: to help you set your hairstyle at the end
So, if you’re ready to style your hair quickly and quietly, hop over to Amazon to check out these options.
Be sure to also check out other household products in the buying guide section!
