This Smart Hair Dryer Gives Me Effortless, Gorgeous Curls (No Damage — Ever)

A year into the pandemic, I’ve become accustomed to cutting my bangs over the sink and highlighting my hair using a $6.98 box of Revlon Frost & Glow to conceal my grays. So I can’t say I’ve thought too much lately about fancy hair dryers (or hair dryers at all, or makeup, or pants, or bras).

But Tineco sent a review sample of what the brand bills as the first-ever smart hair dryer, and it seemed like an exciting chance to see what I could do for my self esteem, and my type 3 curls, with a little effort. And wow: Turns out a top-quality hairdryer actually makes a major difference. I feel cute! And my curls are poppin’.

The deal with the Moda One dryer is that it uses so-called “iLoop smart sensor technology” to measure hair moisture levels and air temperature more than 20 times per second. Using that intel, it automatically adjusts both heat and airflow depending on hair’s real-time moisture level. This means that it won’t overheat and damage hair, so it’s safe to use on the whole fam.

You can even connect it with a smartphone app to select additional pre-programmed drying modes, like dedicated ones for pets and kids. A light-up LED ring provides drying feedback, automatically changing from red to blue to indicate when hair is wet or dry and prevent over-drying. It’s all very the-future-is-now.

The one Amazon reviewer who mentioned curly hair was not impressed with the included diffuser attachment, so I was skeptical. But I found it super effective, small enough to travel with (hotel hair dryers never have diffusers), and also easy to use with a cool magnetic attachment to the dryer. (It comes with other magnetic attachments for concentrating or smoothing air, too.) Overall, the whole thing is lightweight, quiet, and compact.

With the caveat that I haven’t had professional shaping or coloring in forever, here’s what the Moda One dryer can do. The first pic is a casual no-styling (days old) hair day on a hike…

The second is a style with help from a previous dryer (in a previous life when I went into an office)…

And the last pic is right after using the Moda One (at about 90 percent dry).

Definitely happy with my curls, sold on this fancy, splurge-worthy dryer, and feeling ever-so-slightly more prepared to reenter the world.