Watchdog delivers blow to expensive hair dryers

A HK$199 mainland brand hair dryer could be as good as a HK$3,680 Dyson hair dryer, the Consumer Council found.

The watchdog also tested 13 hair dryers and found drying rates could vary by up to 85 percent.

The tests also found two models recorded maximum air outlet temperatures of over 96 degrees Celsius. One even exceeded 108 degrees C, which could damage hair.

Among the 13 models, 10 obtained a four-star rating out of five, including the cheapest HK$199 Xiaomi hairdryer and the most expensive HK$3,680 Dyson hair dryer, which the watchdog saying quality may not always correlate with prices.

"The primary function of a hair dryer is to dry hair, thus drying rate is a critical factor," said Victor Lui Wing-cheong, vice chairman of the council's research and testing committee.

Simulating wet hair, the council blasted a cloth moistened with 10 milliliters of water for a minute at around 75 degrees C, comparing the weight of the fabric before and afterward to see how much water evaporated.

"Results showed the drying rates of the 13 models ranged from an average of 3.4 grams to 6.3 grams per minute," the testers found.

If it takes five minutes for the fastest model to dry hair the slowest ones could take more than nine.

"Hair dryers with a lower drying rate would need a longer drying time, which might increase the energy consumption," it was noted. "If there are more family members in a household and the hair dryer is used more frequently the electricity cost would naturally be higher."

Two models, ghd and Dyson, were found to generate air temperatures of 96 and 108 degrees C respectively - which is higher than the boiling point of water and may pose a risk of damaging hair cuticles.

Council chief executive Gilly Wong Fung-han cited a Korean survey that the best distance for a dryer is about 15 centimeters from hair at a temperature of around 47 degrees C.

She also reminded people that choosing a dryer with a lower power rating may not help in saving electricity as it would take a longer time to dry hair.

"Obviously for [models] of higher power ratings they would consume more energy," Wong said. "But among products some of them have a better performance in terms of energy efficiency.

"Most of all, the 13 dryers scored an average of 3.5 points in terms of energy efficiency, so they are fairly similar."