18 hair tools, oils and gadgets for the best hair of your life
From clever wave irons and reverse-air dryers to the serums your strands actually need, here’s everything worth adding to your routine right now
Your haircare shelf probably has more products than your kitchen, and yet somehow bad hair days still happen. Part of the issue is tools that overpromise and underdeliver; part of it is using brilliant products on hair that’s been wrecked by hard water, excess heat, or just not enough care between washes. This roundup covers all of it: the gadgets that genuinely change how your hair looks and feels, the oils and serums doing the quiet, essential work underneath, and a couple of wildcards you haven’t thought of yet. Whatever your texture and whatever your daily routine, there’s something here worth trying.
Dyson Airwrap Co-anda2x Multi-Styler Straight+Wavy (Red/Gold)
The latest Airwrap is the most powerful one yet: the Hyperdymium 2 motor runs at up to 150,000rpm and produces twice the air pressure of the previous generation, so it dries as fast as a conventional hair dryer before you’ve even thought about styling. The Coanda effect is stronger here too, which means hair wraps around the barrel with noticeably less effort than the earlier versions required. The i.d. curl sequence senses movement and automatically adjusts heat, airflow and timing to your hair type via the MyDyson app, so you’re not second-guessing settings every morning. The Straight+Wavy set comes with a 40mm barrel, a conical barrel, a large round volumising brush and a smoothing attachment. It’s very expensive. But if heat-free styling matters to you and you’ve got straight to wavy hair, nothing else does quite what this does.
Laifen Neo High-Speed Hair Dryer
At 390g and running at 110,000rpm, the Laifen Neo dries hair at 22m/s airspeed, which the brand says is three times faster than a conventional dryer. In practice it’s extremely quick. It runs at 59dB, low enough that you can carry on a conversation while using it, and the 200 million negative ions it emits genuinely reduce frizz rather than just claiming to. Smart temperature control monitors heat output in real time to keep things consistent. It comes with a smoothing nozzle and a diffuser. At €119.99, it sits comfortably in that sweet spot where the performance is clearly above its price bracket and it’s light enough that your arm doesn’t give up halfway through a blow-dry. Comes in purple, white and black.
€119.99 / approx. £105, eu.laifentech.com
Qute HD Lightweight Hairdryer
The Qute HD was designed with hair extensions in mind, which means the airflow is calibrated to protect bonds and tapes from direct heat exposure while still drying fast. For extensions wearers that distinction matters a lot. It weighs under 400g, has four speed settings and three heat settings, a cool shot function and a self-cleaning mode that most people forget exists until their dryer starts performing worse than it used to. A 3-metre swivel cord helps if your mirror isn’t directly next to a socket. The velour dust bag it ships with is a nice touch too. Priced at £182.75 on the UK site (reduced from £215), it’s worth adding to your kit if you’re protective of your extensions or just want something well-balanced and quiet.
£182.75, additionallengths.co.uk
RevAir Reverse-Air Hair Dryer
Nothing else on this list looks like it. The RevAir is a vacuum-style system: you feed sections of hair into the wand and the reverse-air suction draws moisture out in the natural direction of growth, drying and stretching simultaneously without friction. Three heat settings (low at 70°C, high at 105°C, cool shot) sit well below the temperatures where heat damage becomes a real risk. Seven tension settings let you adjust the suction strength to your texture. It’s best suited to curly, coily and type 3-4 hair where traditional drying is genuinely time-consuming and physically exhausting, and it’s been consistently praised for cutting drying time by 50% or more for those hair types. Worth knowing: it only works in the US and Canada without specialist voltage conversion. Priced around $399.
Dyson Airwrap i.d. Multi-Styler Straight+Wavy (Ceramic Pink/Rose Gold)
The original connected Airwrap (before the Co-anda2x above stepped in) remains a very capable multi-styler for straight and wavy hair. Bluetooth connectivity links it to the MyDyson app, which builds a personalised styling profile based on six questions about your hair and then automates heat, airflow and timing accordingly. It measures temperature over 40 times per second to stay below 150°C. The Straight+Wavy configuration includes a conical barrel, a 40mm long barrel for looser waves, a large round volumising brush, a flyaway smoother and a fast dryer. If the Co-anda2x feels like overkill, this one is now available at £299, which represents genuine value for a tool this versatile.
Cloud Nine Contouring Original Iron
Most straighteners are used to curl as an afterthought. The Contouring Iron is designed from the start to do both. The curved floating plates create smooth curls, waves and flicks without the snagging and creasing you get from forcing a traditional flat plate around the hair. Revive Mode vibrates the plates 8,000 times per minute, reducing direct heat contact while still delivering results. Eleven temperature settings run from 100°C to 200°C. The Sericite-mineral-infused plates lock in moisture and distribute heat evenly across each pass. The iron includes a velvet case, a wet brush and a detangle comb. At £299 it’s a serious investment, but it genuinely replaces two tools and handles both jobs better than most tools handle one.
muk Curl Stick
Three interchangeable titanium barrels (a 19-25mm conical, a 25mm straight and a 28-22mm wedge) give you five distinct curl shapes from one handle. The titanium finish creates what muk calls “dry heat,” which produces curls with noticeably longer hold than ceramic tools tend to manage. Ion field technology seals the cuticle during styling, and microprocessor temperature control adjusts 50 times per second to maintain the exact selected temperature. Five heat settings cover everything from bleached and ultra-fine hair at 120°C up to coarse or resistant textures at 210°C. At around $189.95 it’s reasonably priced for a tool that replaces an entire collection of curling irons, and it ships with a heat-resistant glove.
Mint S-Waver
Beach waves are easy to fake badly and difficult to do well. The Mint S-Waver is one of the more convincing tools for getting the real thing at home. The two 1.6-inch tourmaline ceramic barrels create natural-looking S-shaped waves with consistent depth, and the negative ion technology keeps frizz out without making the result look stiff. Heat range is 230°F to 430°F so it works across hair types, from fine hair dialed low to coarse hair that needs more persuasion. A 60-minute auto-shutoff and a universal dual voltage mean it travels well. The heat glove included in the box is a genuinely thoughtful addition for anyone still mastering the technique. At $109.99, it’s one of the better-value beach wave tools available.
ULA Starter Pack
Hard water is the hair villain nobody talks about. In most UK cities, tap water is loaded with calcium, magnesium, chlorine and heavy metals that strip natural oils, interfere with the pH of your products and cause breakage over time. The ULA showerhead uses WRAS- and NSF-certified nanofiltration to remove most of these before the water touches your hair. The Starter Pack includes the showerhead (available in white or black), two filters and one Beauty Capsule. The capsule system is the clever part: slot in the argan oil capsule and the misted spray infuses the water with it every time you switch to capsule mode. One filter covers around 4,500 litres, roughly a month for an average household. If you’ve ever had shinier, softer hair on holiday and assumed it was just the holiday, it was probably the water. This is the fix.
The oils and serums doing the real work
Great hair starts well before the heat tools come out. These are the products worth building your routine around.
Moroccanoil Treatment Original
The one that started the argan oil conversation in hair care. It’s been copied so many times that people forget the original is still probably the best version: concentrated argan oil in a formula that absorbs quickly without weighing hair down, tames frizz, and leaves a low-level shine that isn’t greasy. Use it on damp hair before blow-drying as a heat protectant and styling aid, or a few drops on dry hair to smooth the finish. Particularly good for dry, frizzy or chemically treated hair, though it works on most textures. The 100ml bottle lasts for months.
Olaplex No.7 Bonding Oil
If your hair is damaged from bleach, heat or colour, this is the oil to reach for before the serums. The bond-building technology works at a molecular level to repair broken disulfide bonds while you style. It’s lightweight enough not to grease up fine hair, protects against heat up to 232°C, and visibly reduces frizz and flyaways on dry hair. A few drops go a long way. The fact that it repairs rather than just coats means the results compound over time: hair doesn’t just look better, it gets structurally stronger the more consistently you use it. Worth keeping in your everyday kit even if your hair isn’t dramatically damaged; the difference between Olaplex-used hair and Olaplex-not-used hair is real.
Kérastase Elixir Ultime Original Hair Oil
Where the Moroccanoil formula is richer and best for drier hair, the Kérastase Elixir Ultime is lighter and more multi-purpose. The blend of camellia, argan, corn and pracaxi oils absorbs without residue and works well on colour-treated and fine hair that would be overwhelmed by heavier options. Apply before blow-drying as a lightweight heat shield, use sparingly on dry hair for a polished finish, or massage through damp ends as a pre-wash treatment for extra nourishment. The scent alone makes the routine feel a bit more luxurious than it probably has any right to at this price point.
from £38.79 (75ml), lookfantastic.com
Gisou Honey Infused Hair Oil
Gisou gets the packaging right and the formula right, which is a rarer combination than it should be. The honey-based formula (sourced from the brand founder’s family’s beehives in Iran) is intensely nourishing without sitting heavy on the hair. It works particularly well for thick, dry, colour-treated hair that needs moisture and shine without the protein overload that some bond-builders create. A few drops smoothed through the mid-lengths and ends adds noticeable gloss and softness. Doubles as a scalp treatment if you work it into the roots before washing. The gold bottle looks good on a shelf, which shouldn’t matter, but it does.
approx. £35 (50ml), uk.gisou.com
Christophe Robin Regenerating Serum with Prickly Pear Oil
Prickly pear oil has one of the highest concentrations of vitamin E of any plant oil, which makes it genuinely effective at protecting hair from oxidative stress and environmental damage. Christophe Robin’s serum blends it with tucuma butter and castor oil for a formula that repairs the hair fibre rather than just coating it. It works especially well for coloured, highlighted or over-processed hair that feels dry and brittle at the ends. Apply a small amount daily to the mid-lengths on damp or dry hair and leave it in. Not as widely known as the argan oil crowd, but consistently outperforms for seriously damaged strands.
£28 (on sale from £40), lookfantastic.com
Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo
Not an oil, but a product that belongs in every hair kit. Living Proof’s dry shampoo doesn’t just absorb oil the way most do. It uses the brand’s OFPMA molecule to physically clean the hair fiber and remove odour-causing compounds rather than masking them. The result feels genuinely clean rather than just temporarily less greasy. It also adds volume without the chalky residue or dull cast that most dry shampoos leave on darker hair. If you’re between washes and about to use heat tools, this is what gets hair back into a usable state without making it worse.
£27 (198ml), livingproof.co.uk
Redken Extreme Length Sealer Leave-In Treatment
A leave-in sealer specifically for anyone who’s trying to grow their hair without sacrificing condition in the process. The biotin and soy protein formula strengthens the hair shaft and reduces the appearance of split ends by up to 78%, which is typically where growth efforts get set back by snapping rather than actual lack of growth. Apply to damp hair before heat styling and you get protection and treatment in a single step. Fine enough not to weigh hair down, which matters if length is the goal. Most people growing their hair focus on what’s happening at the scalp and ignore the ends entirely. This is for the ends.
approx. £25, lookfantastic.com
ghd Bodyguard Heat Protect Spray
Before any heat tool, always a heat protectant. ghd’s Bodyguard is one of the cleaner formulas on the market: lightweight, non-sticky, doesn’t dull the finish once the tool is through. It protects up to 230°C and works on all hair types via a two-fold action of protective polymers and conditioning agents that prevent the cuticle lifting. The spray mechanism is fine enough that it coats evenly without dampening dry hair or leaving patches. This isn’t the most exciting product in the roundup, but it earns its place by doing exactly one job perfectly every single time you use it.
How to get the most out of your heat tools
Start with dry, not damp. Most styling tools, especially curlers and wavers, work on completely dry hair. Damp hair takes longer to style, the curl holds less well, and you’re applying more sustained heat in the process. Invest ten minutes in a proper blow-dry before you start curling.
Section properly. Taking larger sections to get through the job faster is the main reason results look uneven. For waves and curls, sections no wider than 3-4cm give consistent results across all hair types. For straightening, slightly larger is fine.
Let curls cool before touching them. After releasing hair from a curling tool, hold the curl gently in your palm for a few seconds until it cools. Releasing it straight down immediately loses 30-40% of the hold. If you want longer-lasting results, pin each curl and let everything cool before shaking out.
Oil order matters. Apply a heat protectant or a lightweight oil like Olaplex No.7 before heat, not after. Save the finishing oils (Gisou, Moroccanoil) for when the styling is complete. Using a heavy oil before a curler can cause your hair to slide off the barrel and makes the result look flatter than it should.
Clean your tools. Product build-up on plates and barrels reduces heat transfer and creates uneven results. Wipe ceramic and titanium barrels with a damp cloth when cool after every two to three uses. For hairdryers, check and clear the filter monthly.
