If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
No shade to any other section, but I think it’s safe to say that we have a lot of great hair on the WIRED Gear desk. Our Zoom meetings are full of poppin’ curls and mind-boggling volume. But all that gorgeous hair takes work, and we’re no strangers to putting in the extra effort toward styling our hair. Diffuser routines have a learning curve and require a bit of elbow grease, but they can help curls and waves look their very best.
A typical hair dryer shoots a jet of hot air straight out, which is great for adding volume or styling straight blowouts. But a jet of concentrated air can cause waves and curls to poof out and lose their shape. Diffusers—you guessed it—diffuse the air and distribute it evenly, helping to disperse that concentration while still offering volume and faster drying. People frequently use the typical nubby-ended, bell-shaped design to help lift and scrunch their textured hair while simultaneously drying it. This results in a voluminous, styled curl or wave with less frizz. And the diffusion makes the air a bit more gentle on your hair, leaving behind less damage. Some diffusers have longer prongs, a different shape, or more air distribution holes, and some styling products can tweak the final look, but the result is still the same basic concept: enhanced natural texture and volume from root to tip. So long as you’re prepared to sweat for it.
Be sure to check out our other hair-related buying guides, including the Best Hair Dryers, the Best Hair Straighteners, and the Best Curling Irons.
Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that’s too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today.
WIRED reviewer Louryn Strampe has thick, long, curly, mixed-race hair ranging from curl type 2A to 3A. It’s low-porosity and usually dry or damaged thanks to her penchant for bleaching it and dying it neon pink. She has hard water in her home and tries to avoid heat styling.
Nena Farrell has wavy, fine hair in her natural color with a curl type that ranges from 2B to 3A. Her hair is high porosity and leans toward being frizzy on its own. During this testing window, her hair was only about chin-length.
We’ve also included some notes from former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano, who had thick, coarse, long, curly hair that varied in pattern from layer to layer. And some recommendations from editor Kat Merck, who is a fan of straightening her hair and no stranger to heat styling.
We tested each dryer and diffuser in this guide on a minimum of three wash days. We tried every setting and attachment, and we compared notes on the diffusers’ different characteristics, weights, and features. We aimed to include a mix of diffusers that will work for multiple hair types and hair routines. See photos below of our hair dried with each diffuser or attachment.
Helpful Information About Diffusing
A proper diffusing routine starts in the shower: Wash, condition, and detangle your hair before diffusing for the best results. Apply styling products while your hair is still damp or wet. Avoid touching your hair or drying it roughly during the diffusing process to minimize frizz.
Temperature matters: The higher the temperature, the faster your hair will dry, and the drier and more frizzy it will be. Conversely, low temperatures can help cut back on frizz, damage, and flyaways, but this can add a lot of time to your drying routine.
Get to know your hair type: Do you have waves, curls, or coils? Is your hair high-porosity or low-porosity? Do you use water-soluble products or are they silicone-based? Do you sleep with your hair protected? All of these will have an impact on the best styling methods. You can find great resources on the curly hair subreddit, the Pattern, and our sister site Allure. YouTube and TikTok also are full of great information, and of course you can ask your hairstylist to teach you more about your hair type. Have fun in the rabbit hole!
-
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best Overall
T3 Featherweight StyleMax Dryer
T3’s Featherweight StyleMax Dryer is a lightweight hair dryer that comes with four attachments, one of which is T3’s SoftTouch 3 Diffuser. This blow dryer and diffuser combo is powerful, thanks to the blow dryer’s multiple settings that allow you to customize the speed, heat, and blow dry method you’re using to best suit your hair and its needs. Most diffusers tend to have only three settings—cold, low, and high—so the StyleMax already stands out from the pack just by allowing you to choose your heat level and air speed separately. There are five heat settings and three speed settings, giving you plenty of room to play around with the best combination for your own hair’s needs that will get it nicely diffused without causing any frizz (or taking too long!).
I tested this one with my short hair and found I could dry my hair in just a couple of minutes even on the lowest heat settings. The air is nicely diffused and plenty powerful to dry your hair, whether you’re holding the diffuser next to your scalp to finish your roots or a couple inches away to initially dry it. While it’s touted as lightweight, it is a little heavier than some of the other models we tried, but not so heavy that I couldn’t stand using it for several minutes. I really loved how much I could customize both the heat and speed settings to perfectly suit my hair, and these are more options than you’ll find on almost any other dryer or diffuser. —Nena Farrell
Settings Five heat settings and three air speeds What’s included Blow dryer and four attachments: a diffuser, a styling comb, and two concentrators Warranty Two-year warranty -
Photograph: Amazon
Best Splurge
Dyson Supersonic Nural Hair Dryer
The newest Dyson Nural (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is our favorite hair dryer, and its diffuser attachment is top-notch. The blow dryer itself has neat features like scalp protect mode (which protects your scalp from too much heat) and memory of your preferred attachment settings, plus Dyson’s signature efficiency. Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano said the two-in-one Wave + Curl diffuser attachment was particularly impressive. You can use it as you would normally, adding volume to your roots and curls, or you can activate “dome mode” to draw moisture away from your hair, enhancing and elongating curl clumps and waves. It’s definitely worth the price. —Louryn Strampe
Settings Three speeds, three heat settings, and a cold shot button What’s included Dryer, plus five attachments: Wave + Curl diffuser, Gentle air attachment, Styling concentrator, Flyaway attachment, and wide-tooth comb Warranty Two years
-
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best Lightweight Diffuser
Beachwaver Blow Brush with Diffuser
The Beachwaver Blow Brush is fantastically lightweight compared to other full-size diffusers and even blow-dry brushes I’ve tried. It’s primarily a blow dry brush that happens to come with a diffuser attachment—one of the four attachments it has—but it does a fantastic job diffusing my hair without any strain on my wrists. It’s made from lightweight plastic that has a soft, matte look and feel to it, so it doesn’t seem cheap.
It has just three settings: cold (with fast hair), low heat (with slower air), and high heat (with faster air). I was happy with how quickly and beautifully this diffuser could dry my hair on the low setting, and the additional attachments are fun to use too on days you don’t feel like wearing your hair curly. It comes in an adorable soft pink shade, or black shade with pink details, making it a fun style bonus for your bathroom counter. —Nena Farrell
Settings Three heat and air levels What’s included Blow dryer base and four attachments: diffuser, round brush, styling brush, and oval concentrator Warranty One-year limited warranty -
Photograph: Louryn Strampe
Best for Co-Treatment
Pattern Hair Steamer
The Pattern Steamer is unlike any other hair tool I’ve ever tried. It actually steams your hair, which opens the hair cuticle to allow deep absorption of treatments. If you’ve ever gotten a deep-conditioning treatment at the salon, this works in a similar way—only instead of sitting under a hot helmet while products permeate your hair, you’re in your bathroom listening to music and being mindblown by how slippery and smooth your hair feels. Wash your hair, apply a deep-conditioning treatment (we have a guide to hair masks coming soon!), and use the Steamer to detangle and treat your tresses.
There are a couple of prong attachments so you can comb and detangle while you steam, or a diffuser attachment that wafts the steam all over. This isn’t really a styler—you’ll still rinse out any treatments post-steaming—but you can use the Steamer to refresh curls on non-wash days. Anyone with curly hair knows that the time between wash days can be hit or miss. As someone whose hair never looks good past day two (or three if I’m lucky), this has been a godsend in extending my time between washes. My low-porosity hair absolutely loves the steam treatment and slurps up all the goodness in my products much better when using the Steamer. I also love that the brand was created by Tracee Ellis Ross—if my curls ever look half as great as hers, I’ll be a very lucky woman. —Louryn Strampe
Settings One heat settings What’s included Steamer, diffuser attachment, prong attachment, and flush kit. Value set comes with hair mask. Warranty Two years
-
Photograph: Amazon
Best Hands-Free
Bonnet Hood Dryer Attachment
If you hate holding up a hair dryer to dry your curls and wish you had a salon-style hair dryer to do it for you, here’s the closest option to use at home—and costs less than $20. This bonnet hood, like the DevaFuser below, is a universal attachment, with the hose fitting most standard hair dryers with a Velcro strap to secure it. Once the hose is on, the hood goes on your head and around your hair. There’re two layers in the hood, so the air fills the first layers and then is dispersed through the ventilation holes to reach the second layer where your head and hair will be.
There’re several similar options on Amazon, but former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano likes this one since it had enough room for her long, curly hair to lay naturally rather than get scrunched up, and it dries her hair in a span of 30 minutes. It usually takes her over an hour to dry her hair, and allows it to dry all at once rather than having to move the diffuser around to get each part of her head. —Nena Farrell
Settings Uses dryer settings What’s included Bonnet hood Warranty None -
Photograph: Louryn Strampe
Best for Damaged Hair
Pattern Blow Dryer
Even at its highest heat setting, the Pattern Blow Dryer doesn’t get as hot as some other hair dryers, which helps to minimize damage. It has foolproof switches—choose between three heat levels and two airflow levels—plus an ion customization button that you can activate for smoothness or deactivate for more volume. There’s also a cold shot button that’s useful when you’re finishing up your drying routine. I like that the switches aren’t difficult to use. This comes with four attachments—a diffuser, a wide-tooth comb, a brush, and a concentrator nozzle. The attachments lock in place and can be oriented vertically or horizontally, which I appreciate since it allows me to target specific areas of my hair. (For example, I use the concentrator nozzle to give my roots volume without worrying about drying the rest of my hair straight.)
The diffuser is huge and easy to maneuver, especially since the lightweight body of the dryer stays cool to the touch, and it’s easy to hold by the top or base depending on how you like to style. The diffuser’s long, ventilated prongs dried my hair efficiently while giving my curls a ton of volume and definition. Most important, I didn’t get tired and my biceps didn’t give out, even while diffusing with my head upside down or hover-diffusing. This setup might take a bit longer than other, hotter dryers, but I think the trade-off is worth it. —Louryn Strampe
Settings Three temperature settings, two speed settings, ions on or off, and a cold shot button What’s included Blow dryer and the following attachments: Diffuser, brush, wide tooth comb, concentrator nozzle Warranty Two years
-
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best Universal Diffuser
DevaCurl DevaFuser
Most diffusers need to be paired with a specific hair dryer to attach and work. But not DevaCurl’s DevaFuser. The DevaFuser is made to fit most standard hair dryers, using an elastic band to wrap its base around the hair dryer’s nozzle. While most other diffusers are round with prongs to help lift the curls and your roots, the DevaFuser is shaped like a giant hand that air diffuses out of. It’s great for scrunching your hair more than lifting it, since the hand pushes the curls toward your scalp, but it’s also easy to slide the fingers through your hair to get some root lift, too.
You’ll need a pretty classic-style hair dryer for it to work—rounded shapes like the T3 wouldn’t work with this, for example—but it’s a great, affordable option for someone who doesn’t want to buy an entirely new hair dryer just to get a diffuser. It’s great for travel, too, if you want to throw this in your bag and bring it to use with your hotel hair dryer. If you’re curious whether it’ll fit your hair dryer, the DevaFuser is made for hair dryers with a barrel diameter between 2 and 2.5 inches, a barrel circumference between 5.5 and 6.5 inches, and a barrel length anywhere between 2.5 and 6.5 inches. I use mine with an old InfinitiPro Conair hair dryer. —Nena Farrell
Settings None, uses hair dryer settings What’s included Diffuser attachment Warranty None -
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best for Fine and Short Hair
Chi Volumizer 4-in-1 Blowout Brush
The Chi Volumizer is similar to the Beachwaver above, with its four attachments and lightweight wand they attach to. It feels as light as the Beachwaver and is cheaper, too, but the diffuser head is smaller than any other we’ve tested. It’s the classic round style, but it’s about two-thirds the size of our top pick. Chi calls it a compact diffuser and recommends it for root volume, but it’s still plenty powerful and can diffuse curls.
Even with its small size, I found my hair was dried and diffused in a pretty similar amount of time to larger diffusers. It helps that I have chin-length, fine hair to dry rather than large amounts. It’s a great choice for my fellow short- and fine-haired folks, but everyone else will probably want a larger diffuser that can reach larger amounts of hair. —Nena Farrell
Settings Three heat and air levels What’s included Blow dryer base and four attachments: diffuser, round brush, styling brush, and nozzle concentrator Warranty Two-year warranty
-
Best Diffuser-Only
Bellissima Italia Diffon Supreme Ionic XL
This is our favorite hair dryer for curly hair. It’s basically one big diffuser, with silicone tips and a handleless design that keeps things comfortable while you embark on the laborious adventure that is simultaneously drying and styling your hair. We wish it had one more, faster airflow setting, but the slightly lower speeds as compared to other dryers are what helps tamp down on frizz and flyaways. —Louryn Strampe
Settings Two speeds, three heat settings, and a cold shot button What’s included Dryer itself + storage bag Warranty Two years -
Photograph: Louryn Strampe
Avoid This Diffuser
Rizos Curls Collapsible Diffuser
I wanted to love this affordable and cute collapsible diffuser. Unfortunately, the price tag should have been an indicator of the product’s overall efficacy. The silicone diffuser is nearly universal—simply stretch it over your hair dryer and you should theoretically be good to go. But that soft, collapsible silicone couldn’t support my hair, no matter how gently I tried to use it or how many ways I tried. I even tried diffusing curl by curl.
The result was still the same—the diffuser would collapse, I would sigh in frustration, and all the while my hair was drying frizzier and frizzier—likely from the heat radiating off my angry head. It works OK when it’s collapsed, but it still doesn’t give me the volume or the definition I want. If your hair is especially lightweight, maybe you could risk the $20, but I think you’re better off with any of the other options listed above. —Louryn Strampe
-
Photograph: Amazon
Our Favorite Products
Helpful Tools and Styling Products
Every person is different, and it can take some trial and error to nail down the right diffuser routine. Maybe you want to dry your hair fully, or maybe you want to take it to 80 percent. Maybe you want a leave-in, a curl gel, and a hair oil, or maybe you just need a little heat protectant. These are some products we like to use during our own hairstyling routines that might come in handy for yours.
Turbie Twist Microfiber Towel ($17): I like to plop my hair after the shower for a few minutes to absorb some water before diffusing. These microfiber towels are designed to stay put, and they soak up a lot of moisture without drying my hair too much. Others swear by plopping with a T-shirt, but this is what works best for me.—Louryn Strampe
Pattern Leave-In Conditioner ($28) and Not Your Mother’s Curl Talk Cream and Gel ($17) I put a glob of leave-in conditioner in my hair after plopping, followed by a palmful of curl cream, and finally a generous amount of gel. This is what primes my natural curl clumps to look their best post-diffusion. It may be too heavy for some curl textures, but this is my favorite method. —Louryn Strampe
Kristin Ess Style Assist Blow-Dry Mist ($15): This is one of the most effective heat protectants I’ve tried that actually cuts drying time—halfway through blow-drying, I can actually tell where I sprayed it and where I didn’t. I wish it were as easy to apply as the Milk_Shake foam primer, below, but the bottle still has a decently targeted spray and the product is lightweight enough not to leave residue. —Kat Merck
Milk_Shake Lifestyling Blow-Dry Primer ($26): This lightly scented heat protectant is meant to prevent color fading and reduce drying time. It doesn’t do the latter quite as effectively as the Kristin Ess, above, but it will shave off a couple minutes and gets high marks for coming out of the bottle as an easy-to-apply foam, so it’s a snap to ensure you’re getting even coverage. —Kat Merck
Davines This Is a Curl Gel Oil ($32): This gentle curl gel oil has been fantastic for my fine hair, helping my curls form and keeping them moisturized without weighing them down or making my hair crunchy. It starts out feeling like a gel in your hand, then transforms into an oil on your hair. It’s best to use with a diffuser, though I’ve occasionally used it on air-dry days with similarly good results. —Nena Farrell