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Best hot brushes 2024
The best hot brush can be used to style your hair easily into a voluminous, salon-style blow-dry.
Many can be used on damp hair to finish drying while styling, and are multipurpose so can curl and straighten too.
Our test includes the popular Dyson Airwrap, which we've tried against its rivals, including the GHD Duet Blow Dry, Revlon Hair Dryer Brush, Shark FlexStyle and more.
We discovered one Best Buy that stood out from the rest according to our diverse panel of testers with hair types from 1 (straight) to 4C (tight afro curls) who tried each of the hot brushes we've reviewed.
The best hot brushes
Only logged-in Which? members can view the hot brush test results below.
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| Hot brush | Styling | Ease of use | Attachments included | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Easy | |||
| Good | Easy | |||
| Average | Average | |||
| Good | Average | |||
| Average | Easy | |||
| Good | Average | |||
| Good | Average |
Date tested: July 2024. Page last checked: October 2024. We're not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available.
The hot brushes we tested
All the hot brushes we tested are listed in alphabetical order below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best hot brushes from our tests.
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Babyliss Air Wand
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Accessories Straightening brush, curved blow dry brush
Cable length 240cm
Temperature settings 4
Speed settings 3
Weight with round brush 560g
Beauty Works Aeris Multi-styler
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Accessories Pre-styling hair dryer, 30mm airflow curler, 40mm airflow curler, smoothing paddle brush, oval volumising brush, XL round blowout brush, storage case
Cable length 235cm
Temperature settings 4 (60°C, 90°C and 120°C and cool mode)
Speed settings 3
Weight with round brush 580g
Dyson Airwrap Multi-styler and Dryer Complete Long
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Accessories Coanda smoothing dryer, firm smoothing brush, large round volumising brush, 30mm airwrap barrel, 40mm airwrap barrel, diffuser, filter cleaning brush, storage case
Cable length 252cm
Temperature settings 3
Speed settings 3
Weight with round brush 470g
GHD Duet Blow Dry
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Accessories Storage bag
Cable length 253cm
Temperature settings 1
Speed settings 1
Weight 540g
GHD Rise
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Cable length 253cm
Temperature settings 1
Speed settings 1
Weight 250g
We've put Dyson, Shark and other cheaper models to the test in our reviews of the best hair dryers
Mark Hill Hot Air Brush
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Cable length 300cm
Temperature settings 3
Speed settings 2
Weight 500g
Revamp Progloss Pro Define Perfect Blow Dry
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Cable length 298cm
Temperature settings 3
Speed settings 2
Weight 470g
Shark FlexStyle 5-in-1 Air Styler and Hair Dryer
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Accessories Paddle brush, oval brush, 2 x curlers (left and right barrels), styling concentrator, diffuser, storage case
Cable length 257cm
Temperature settings 3
Speed settings 3
Weight with round brush 600g
Shark SmoothStyle Hot Brush & Smoothing Comb
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Cable length 182cm
Temperature settings 3
Speed settings 3
Weight 630g
Revlon Salon One-Step Hair Dryer and Volumiser
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Cable length 251cm
Temperature settings 3
Speed settings 3
Weight 470g
How we test hot brushes
Each of our panel spend time using all the hot brushes on test to get their hair into their preferred style, whether that be blow-drying, curling or straightening. This is so that they can fairly compare each model and put the results in proper context.
We're careful to make sure our testers have a wide range of hair types, from 1 (straight) to 4C (tight afro curls). Our testers give each hot brush scores for styling, ease of use and, after using them all, tell us which is their favourite.
We regularly revisit the hot brushes on sale to see if there are any more popular models that need testing and when we find them we do.
We also conduct the tests below on each hot brush:
- Weight The heavier the hot brush, the quicker your arm will get tired when holding it above your head to dry your hair, so we weigh each one. For those that have multiple attachments, we weigh it with the round brush attachment, as these were the most popular with our testers. The heaviest weighs 630g compared with the lightest at 250g.
- Cable length You'll want a long cord if you like to hold the hot brush up to a mirror as you style, so we measure the length of each cable. You can get a three-metre reach with the longest cable we found and just 182cm with the shortest.
- Versatility We look for hot brushes with a range of useful attachments for different styles, such as brushes and curlers, plus a good range of speed and temperature settings.
- Noise With a decibel (dB) meter, we measure how noisy each hot brush is. As most dry and style the hair, they make a similar noise to a hair dryer. But we did find a few that were louder than most.
- Energy use We use an energy meter to see how much it would cost in electricity to use each hot brush for two hours every week for a year. We didn't discover huge differences – you'd save £9.13 a year by using the most efficient hot brush that dries compared with the least efficient.
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How to use a hot brush
Hot brushes can take some practice to use. Here are our top tips for styling your hair with one so you can achieve a salon-quality blow-dry at home:
- Use heat protectant Hot brushes use heat to style and, in most cases, dry your hair. So use a heat protectant before styling to avoid breakage and heat damage.
- Brush out knots This will make sure that the hot brush doesn't get caught in your hair while you're brushing it through.
- Start from the root To ensure even coverage, place the brush at the root of your hair and pull it through to the tip to style. A bit of tension is good, but if you're pulling hairs out, you may be brushing too hard.
- Work in small sections If you're in a rush, it can be tempting to try and style large sections of your hair with a hot brush. While some are better at this than others, you'll get more even drying and styling if you pin your hair up and work in small sections. If you style in larger sections, you risk leaving some sections damp.
- Pin your styled hair If you want your styled hair to last, pin it while it cools so the style sets in set place. You can use hair grips to do this or an easier way is to wrap the styled section around a hair roller and pin it in place. Let the pinned sections down once you've finished getting ready. If you prefer looser waves, you can run your fingers through your hair or lightly brush it out.
- Use hairspray Once you're happy with how your hair is styled, spray it all over to set your hair in place.
How to use a Dyson Airwrap
There are lots of attachments that come with the Dyson Airwrap whether you want to style your hair in a blow dry, curly or straight.
- For curls We'd recommend using the Airwrap barrels on slightly damp hair. Brush and section your hair, then introduce the bottom of a small section of hair to the arrows on the barrel. The rest of your hair will wrap around the barrel by itself. Leave it for around 15 seconds to dry and style, set the curl with a cool shot for around five to 10 seconds, then switch it off to release the curl.
- For volume Section your hair and use the round volumising brush from root to tip. Roll the hair around the brush for a bouncy blow dry finish.
- For a straight style Section the hair and use the firm smoothing brush from root to tip for a sleek style.
Dyson also has a handy set of video tutorials on its website to help with styling.
For reasons of price, lots of people search online for a Dyson Airwrap dupe and there are a number of products that look pretty similar. Sign up to Which? to find out whether we discovered a cheaper alternative.
Can you use a hot brush on wet hair?
It depends. Most of the hot brushes we tested are designed to be used on slightly damp hair, as they will finish drying and then style at the same time.
If you've just washed your hair and want to style it, we'd recommend rough drying it with a hair dryer beforehand until it's about 80% dry. If you use a hot brush on sopping wet hair, this may result in breakage.
Check the instructions before you start styling as one of the hot brushes we tested, the GHD Rise (SQUIRREL_TEXT_50015532), can only be used on dry hair.