Product Review: Hair Flair Deluxe Softhood Hair Dryer Attachment

Anyone who's been reading my blog for a while knows how much I LOVE my Hot Tools Hooded Hair Dryer. It has made my life so much easier and my curls so much less frizzy and more defined. It also allows me to sit comfortably after a shower and relax instead of dealing with my soaking wet hair dripping down my back as I struggle to dry my head evenly with a hand-held dryer.

However, sometimes a girl's gotta travel. And travel, I do. My mother lives a couple of hours away and there are many weekends throughout the year I go to visit her. She's used to my crazy hair changes, but when I broke this thing out of the box, some eyebrows were raised.

Hair Flair Deluxe Softhood Hair Dryer Attachment

This particular attachment is very highly rated by the experts at Naturallycurly.com. In fact, the one I have actually has their stamp of approval on it, which is serious. I had high hopes. Although the attachment did its job fairly well, it was no match for my hooded dryer at home. I expected as much, but there are a few things you need to know if you're going to use one of these.

1) YOU MUST USE YOUR DRYER SETTING ON LOW.

Without thinking, I put my dryer on high for a couple of minutes and just about burned my ears and neck off. Not pleasant. But, I didn't follow directions, so I deserved what I got. Even with the low setting, there's no way to fully seal the hood shut without some air coming through, and where it does, it's hot. I had to keep adjusting the hood as to not burn myself, which is nearly impossible with a running hair dryer in one hand.

2) DON'T EVEN BOTHER MAKING THE NECK FASTENER WORK.

The picture on the box makes that girl look like she's super comfortable and there's all kinds of material to spare where the hood fastens around the neck. LIES. ALL LIES. I started by snapping the neck strap with 4 or 5 snaps to spare. When I turn on the dryer, the hood inflated and I just about strangled myself. Also, the hood came down around my eyeballs and started burning me immediately.  I turned the dyer off, unsnapped myself and fixed the hood around my head again. Worked just fine, as long as the rope around the head is good and tight.

3) THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO LOOK DIGNIFIED WHILE USING THIS THING.

I was actually going to show you a picture of myself while I was using this product, but I looked like the village idiot in every single one of them. Seriously. You will look stupid. Your husband will think you look stupid. Your kids will ABSOLUTELY think you look stupid. Your pets will run away from you. Just lock yourself in a room and hide, it's the only way. Know ahead of time that you will surrender your dignity in the name of excellent curls. Embrace the shame.

4) IT IS STILL BETTER THAN A DIFFUSER.

Even with all the silliness mentioned above, it is still a better alternative than a diffuser attachment. If you use a Jac-O-Net to plop (which I did) and let it sit for about 20 minutes, you'll have some nicely defined curls with no frizz. Because I used it before bed, I used a diffuser attachment to get it as dry as possible so I could Pineapple my hair, but even still, my curls looked pretty darn good.

Like any new curl technique, there's a learning curve involved. I think the more I use this when I travel, the easier it will become. And at the $25ish price-point, you really can't beat it. I didn't even take it out of my suitcase, because it will be accompanying me on my future travels. 

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