Rough-dry first
Get the hair to about eighty per cent dry with no attachment and no brush. Brushing wet hair is slower, harder and rougher than brushing damp hair.
Then section it
This is the step most easily skipped and the one that decides the result. Clip the hair into four sections and dry one at a time. A brush cannot shape what it cannot hold, and a whole head is more than any brush holds.
Point the air with the hair
Nozzle on, following the brush from root to tip. Air blown against the direction of the hair ruffles the section instead of smoothing it, the finish people then blame on the dryer.
Both attachments are already in the box. Every one of the four dryers we cover publishes a nozzle and a diffuser as supplied — and if yours came without one, or the plastic has cracked, a universal diffuser fits over the barrel at $21 and the cheap nozzle and diffuser sets start at $8.
Heat and speed are separate controls
If your dryer has two switches, high airflow at medium heat dries faster with less heat than the reverse. If it has one combined dial, that combination is not available at all — and no amount of wattage substitutes for it.
Three of the four dryers here state separate controls — the Remington D3198, the AC9140B and the Grundig HD6080; the Philips BHD510 is the one that does not publish a controls line, which is why its page says so rather than assuming.
Finish cold
The cold shot sets the shape, it takes ten seconds, and all four dryers on this site publish one. All four are compared in the hair dryers category, and getting volume at the roots takes the same dryer further.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-12. The live price is at the top of the page.
What people ask about this
Which way should the nozzle point?
Along the hair, from root to tip, following the brush. Air pushed against the direction of the hair ruffles the section instead of smoothing it, and that is the result people then blame on the dryer.
Do I need a diffuser?
For curl and wave it is the attachment that dries without disturbing the shape; for straight hair it does nothing a concentrator would not do better. You almost certainly already have one — all four [hair dryers](/hair-dryers/) on this site ship both a nozzle and a diffuser in the box, so at this level it is standard rather than an upgrade.
Does a better dryer make this easier?
Less than the technique does. What a dryer can give you is separate heat and speed controls, which make high airflow at low heat possible; three of the four here state them. Beyond that, sectioning decides more than wattage.
Last reviewed October 12, 2026
