I think I was late to the party where dryer brushes were concerned. If I noticed them at all, they were just another electronic hair-styling gimmick, lost in a thicket of hairdryers and straightening irons and curling wands.
I bought a great big wand-thing, like a light saber, about 5 years ago; never used it. My only go-to electrical device was a very reliable (and cheap, like $20) Conair dryer, every bit as good as what you get at the gym or salon.
For years I never had to think much about these things because it was easy for me to drop a couple hundred with my hair stylist every month, and no one could cut, color, or blowout like her. But now she’s gone, and I’m poor.
As seen at the gym.
Moving on, though, I have now acquired a dryer brush. This happened inadvertently. I was potted one night around New Year’s, and while I was trying to make sense of some news blog, there it was in front of me, in some interstitial ad from Amazon. It was a good-looking device and was apparently on sale.
What it was, was football. No, seriously, it was the basic Revlon model dryer-brush. But I didn’t even notice the brand or type. I just ordered it on impulse and then forgot about it for two weeks, till a huge box arrived. I mean, big enough for shipping a piece of stereo equipment in the olden days.
The device is huge, twice the size I expected. Think of a big round styling brush, and now double that and give it a big thick handle and the heft of a small Louisville Slugger.
I finally tried it out in front of the mirrors at the gym today. I am very impressed, and may never go back to the old blow-out dryers again. These doohickeys completely eliminate the need to section-part with a brush held in one hand, while you awkwardly hold the hair dryer with the other.
This one has four settings: Off, Low, High, and Cold. The Low is what’s usually called Warm on standard dryers. The Low was quite sufficient for most drying. I chopped off six inches a few weeks ago because I can’t deal with unruly below-shoulder-length hair. But I’m old, y’know.
Now I’m noticing that, like Barbie, these drying brushes have all sorts of accessories. The main one is a rigid rectangular case with zipper and pockets, big enough for your regular comb and brush and hair clips and other implements of destruction. In online reviews I see people are storing makeup in there, too. Goodbye, soft makeup cases!
I find the whole idea irresistible and will probably order one this week.
Author: Meg Burns
Mrs. Burns’s work has appeared in Food & Wine, The Spectator, The Oldie, the San Diego Reader, and other places like that.
