There are various ways to make our hair look glamorous, and hair dryer and flat iron are the most commonly used hair tools nowadays. If you are wondering which hair tool is more suitable for your hair texture, then you will find all the answers here.
Blow Dryer vs. Flat Iron While Hair Styling
Like I’ve mentioned above, you can achieve a beautiful hairstyle by using a blow dryer or flat iron both. But, their results might vary according to your hair type. And a very obvious disparity is that these two hair tools work in different ways to get the job done.
When using a blow dryer to create a new hairstyle, you should blow-dry your semi-wet hair with a round brush that comes with great tension. Hydrated hair is easier to style and a comb/brush helps hair get in the right direction. Lastly, after you are done with the blow-drying process, do not forget to use cold air to keep the hairstyle.
Considering the fact that using a blow dryer to get hairstyle done needs some drying skills, a flat iron is much foolproof to use. You just need to pull the tool through your hair slowly and gently with the straightener so that heat will not burn your hair. Usually, you just need a single pass to get the job done, and repeated passes may cause heat damage. To create twists and curls with a flat iron, you just need to wrap your hair sections around the flat iron and pass through the hair with the iron. But unlike the blow drying method, you can not use the flat iron on wet hair, otherwise, your hair will get burnt badly.
Blow Dryer vs. Flat Iron Performance Comparison
When it comes to the styling performance, blow dryer and flat iron have different results too.
Pros of Blow Dryers:
Using a blow dryer is relatively safe and will not cause heat damage if you set the temperature properly. And you can start styling immediately after wash and towel-dry your hair.
After you finish the drying process with a blowout, your hair will be more voluminous and be more natural. Most importantly, you need to blast your hair with cold air in the last step, which helps the hair shaft prevents frizzing and keep the bouncy condition longer.
Besides a straight look, a blow dryer with a brush can be used to create more hairstyles. You can make your hair look beautifully curly or wavy by controlling the brush’s tension and airflow’s direction.
Cons of Handheld Blow Dryers:
You probably need to practice a few times to work with your brush and blow dryer simultaneously. Because fast airflow is not easy to control precisely and it is likely to make your hair crazy without blow-drying properly.
Also, a hairstyle made by blow dryers does not stay for a long time. Without any hair care, the hair will shrink in a few hours.
Pros of Flat Iron:
Flat iron is a styling tool that is extremely powerful, it will apply heat directly to your hair and change the shape of hair shafts instantly. Because flat iron usually will come with a ceramic tourmaline heating material, your hair will be pretty shiny and silky after using a flat iron.
On top of that, a flat iron is key to maintain your hairstyle throughout the day. You can go out without worrying about hair shrinkage or losing shape.
Cons of Flat Iron:
Newbies should pay attention to the temperature carefully. Unlike a blow dryer that you can not feel the heat accurately, sometimes your hair gets severely burnt just after a single pass, and it’s impossible to fix. Thus, start with low temperature when styling with a flat iron.
Another drawback of flat iron: it’s too powerful so that your hair may look stiff and unnatural for some time. Well, to make hair long-lasting, this is something that we must endure.
Should I Choose Blow Dryer or Flat Iron?
It all depends on your hair type and styling needs. If you have pretty dense and kinky 4C natural hair, a regular blow dryer may not be powerful enough to offer you a perfect hairstyle. Also, if you want to keep the look throughout the day, a flat iron is a must for you. However, you don’t have very thick hair and want to maintain a daily hairstyle in the most convenient and time-saving way, you can skip the flat ironing process.