This month see’s the release of the brand new ‘ghd Air salon hair dryer’ – Is it a proper salon quality hair dryer or just a look-a-like toy for £99.00?
When we first got the ghd Air hair dryers there was an ‘Air’ of excitement 
. We couldn’t wait to test it’s powerful 2100w motor on the thickest head of hair (at 2100w it’s a much larger motor than any hairdryer out there) & to test the heat output over a very long hair blow dry. The speed of blow drying time required in a busy salon environment was also measured. Our current salon hair dryers are the ‘Wella – Sahira’s’ which we have used for the last six+ years, these are very a difficult hair dryer to beat, so, lets have a closer look at the ghd Air…
The brand new addition to the ghd family
First of all, the presentation of the ghd Air is the usual first class quality product as you’d expect, you really feel like you’ve purchased something special as with all ghd products. The box is the kind of box you don’t want to throw away as it is so well made, you also feel like you have purchased a great item without even seeing what’s in the box.
Inside the box; there’s the ghd Air hairdryer (of course) and 2 concentrator end nozzles, one is very wide, wider than I have used before and the other is normal width nozzle. The extra wide nozzle is so wide it won’t fit through our salon hairdryer holders on the wall, but thats not really a problem as the drying time with this nozzle is cut down a quite lot. The ghd Air is not as big in size as you may expect, it’s also very light for a salon dryer.
The opening at the end of the nozzles is very thin, what this means it will increase the heat flow by a massive amount, but with all this heat the nozzles get unbelievably hot!, DO NOT TOUCH NOZZLE AFTER BLOW DRYING!, these nozzles with burn you if touched after drying, they get as hot as the straightening iron plates! (no really!) I suppose the embossed warning triangle on the nozzle is there for a reason, Ouch!
The Hair Room Top Tip; use a towel to remove the nozzle or use the cold shot button for a few seconds to cool it down, don’t put the hot nozzle on a surface which could melt !
The cold shot button is in the perfect place at the front top of the handle.
The Noise Level is so quiet everyone has commented, that’s down to the extra large motor which runs with no stress to the dryer motor at all, you can actually hear yourself think when there’s 6 going at any one time in the salon, you can hear other people talk whilst using them in the salon. We have also found that we rarely put the dryer on full speed, but even so, it’s not that noisy on full speed.
Cleaning your ghd hair dryer; To clean the ghd Air is a very fiddly thing to do, on the back, as with all hair dryers there’s a metal filter to catch the fluff and the invisible dust dryers seem to collect? when you undo the back to clean, do it with a fine bristle brush or similar, also try not to let metal drop out, this way you’ll easy get it back in, otherwise if it comes out make sure it goes back in exactly the same way which isn’t as easy as it sounds, you think you have got it in right way and then it won’t go on.
The filter on the back is very tricky to get back on after cleaning...
I’m going on about this because if you snap the dryer attachments between the filter and the dryer, this won’t be covered under warranty and you will have a dryer which sucks you hair inside very easily and gives you a free haircut!;-) As with all dryers they all break easily if you force the filter back on the wrong way.
The Controls; Next up is the flight deck!, the speed and heat controls of the ghd Air hair dryer…
The controls are on the back? have they put the handle on the wrong way round?
I’ve have never used a dryer with the controls at the back but it works, the dryer sits in your hand really comfortably, without knocking into the controls, thus giving a better long term grip for those 30 minute long hair blow dry’s.
ghd say that ‘the dryer has been designed by hairdressers for hairdressers’ nice touch ghd .
The Hair Room Test Results;
Lets face it in the last few years ghd have released some rubbish hairdryers, they brought out a travel hairdryer what screamed at you and then blew up after the first half hour blow drying, they all came back to us of course for a replacement. (please don’t worry though, ghd refunded everyone )
A Missing Feature?;
ghd have left one very important thing out though, a diffuser! for those with curls. I’m told by ghd that they are bringing out an attachment which is a long straight pipe what clicks in the front, just like the nozzles do, so any universal diffuser out there will work fine with it, so if you have curls, hang on until the diffuser attachment is released very soon…
The Hair Room Salon Environment Test..
The ghd Air is a very cool hair dryer you will want to own, it is also a long term investment, it will last you for many many years. We have changed all our salon hair dryers to the ghd Air and we now have great confidence in the durability and life of these hair dryers to recommend to you. We have sold lots of the ghd air’s already with great feedback coming in ..
Buy one now and throw away that screaming old hair dryer which smells of burning every time you use it, invest in your hair, it’s your look..
The Score is…
9/10 – A brilliant all round salon quality hair dryer which is more than capable of all-day in-salon use, as for home use, this dryer will last you forever.
Our score would of been 10/10 if the diffuser attachment was in the box, a great hair dryer from the mighty ghd.
