Why do hair dryers use so much power

When it comes to hairdryers, though, not all types are created equal. We wanted to take a closer look at the new Dyson Supersonic hairdryer. But first, we’ll give you some insight into how a typical blow dryer works and how much power they draw.

Hair Dryer Power Consumption

Hairdryers or blow dryers are popular household devices used for drying your hair by blasting cool, warm, or hot air towards wet hair to increase the evaporation of water. Most hair dryers will have a power rating label to indicate the maximum wattage, which typically ranges from 800 to 1800 watts.

The energy use of a typical hair dryer first depends on which model it is using. Unheated air can use as few as 70 watts of power, but a hairdryer on high heat will use around 1500 watts.

The next factor for consideration is the length of time peruse. The average woman spends about 40 minutes styling her hair every day, with 15 minutes allotted for blow-drying alone.

As of right now, the average cost of electricity in the United States is 13 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This means that the average woman spends $17.81 to dry her hair on an annual basis.

The average lifespan of a hairdryer is usually 800 hours. This means that at 15 minutes’ use per day, the average hair dryer should last for 3200 uses over the course of almost 9 years.

Therefore, the average hairdryer – which retails for about $100 – will cost you $260.29 before it dies.

 Dyson’s Hair Dryer Electricity Usage

“Discover what Dyson engineering can do for your hair,” suggests the webpage for the new Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer. The product has received 2,449 reviews on the website, with 95% of users agreeing that they would recommend the product, which retails for $399.99 online and in select stores such as Best Buy and Ulta Beauty.

Dyson boasts that they’ve “considered every function and feature” so that you can “discover everything that makes the Dyson hairdryer different” from our aforementioned typical blow dryer. Some of the Dyson Supersonic power consumption features include:

• Helps prevent extreme heat damage to protect natural shine: Air temperature is measured 20 times every second, keeping the temperature under control.
• Fast-drying: Drying shouldn’t take forever. For fast drying, you need controlling, high-velocity airflow.
• 3 precise speed settings: Fast drying, Regular drying, and Gentle drying
• 4 precise heat settings: 212°F Fast drying and styling, 176°F Regular drying, 140°F Gentle drying, Constant cold

And finally, we get down to brass tacks: this hairdryer uses 1600 watts of electricity. So, if this were a hairdryer that took the average amount of time, 15 minutes, to dry ahead of hair, then a Dyson Supersonic owner would spend $18.99 a year – $1.18 over the average – to dry her hair.

But, what about that “fast drying” claim? Most product reviewers suggested that Dyson “cut [their] dry time in half,” meaning that it only took them 7.5 minutes instead of the average of 15. If that’s the case, then a Dyson owner will only spend $9.79 per year to dry her hair.

And, with an average industry lifespan of 9 years, that means you’ll spend a grand total of $488.11 to dry your hair before the Dyson Supersonic needs to be replaced.

Using a hairdryer on a daily basis for a short period of time will not use a significant amount of energy. Extended use of a blow dryer on high heat can cause damage to hair. You can save some energy, and hair damage, if you towel dry or air dry your hair instead. Learn more about our home energy plans

Whether you have luscious locks of hair, or a precious few strands, a hair dryer will be found in nearly every Australian bathroom. But do you ever consider how much that hair dryer contributes to your electricity bill? Well, probably not. After all, it can’t be that much right? Canstar Blue has crunched the numbers and found that using a hairdryer can be a little more expensive than you might expect. Continue reading to see what your hair dryer is costing you.

How much does it cost to use a hair dryer?

Using a hair dryer on high speed will generally cost between $0.50 and $0.75 per hour, or more simply, around 1c per minute. This will depend on your electricity rate, as well as the wattage of your blow dryer.

Just 1c per minute might not sound too expensive, but it’s relatively significant for a small appliance. Hair dryers are surprisingly powerful, capable of air speeds in excess of 140Km/hr, meaning they require a considerable amount of electricity.

When used on high settings, most general purpose hair dryers consume between 1900 watts and 2400 watts. The higher the wattage, the more expensive it is to run. If you’re not sure about your hairdryers wattage, it can be found on the label attached to the cord.

Below is a table with some indicative costs of running different powered hair dryers across certain periods of time.

Hair dryer electricity costs: Wattage vs time using dryer

Table assumes electricity usage rate of 28.7c/kWh

The good news is that your hair dryer is unlikely to blow out the energy bill budget. That said, there is still room to save if you use your hair dryer excessively or unnecessarily. To illustrate how much you can save through simple hair dryer habit adjustments, take the following case example.

Case example:

Joanne has long, beautiful hair. She refuses to dry her hair with anything but her trusty 2300W VS Sassoon Ceramic Intense Professional Hair Dryer. Joanne spends 10 minutes every day drying her hair. From the table above, we see that this costs Joanne 11c per day, which works out to be $10.56 per quarter. If Joanne were able to dry her hair a little more with a towel, and reduce her hair dryer usage to 5 or 2 minutes, Joanne’s quarterly hair drying cost would reduce to $5.28 or $2.11 respectively – that’s a saving of $5.28 or $8.45 a quarter.

While these small savings are always welcome, if your electricity bill was higher than expected, the hair dryer is an unlikely culprit. Consider the usage costs of:

• Air conditioners
• Refrigerators
• Hot water systems
• Swimming pool
• Clothes dryer

Are low-wattage hair dryers just as good?

The earlier table makes evident that low wattage hair dryers consume less electricity, making them a more affordable choice. So what’s the catch? Low wattage means less power, and less power means it will take longer to dry your hair. With that said, the difference in drying time between a 2000W hair dryer and a 2300W blow dryer is relatively small. Unless you’re a professional hair dresser, or your hair is very thick, any hair dryer over 1800 watts will be sufficient.

Even some of the cheapest blow dryers on the market are quite powerful. The price difference between these models and ‘high-end’ products generally comes from the product materials and functionality of the dryer – not necessarily its power output.

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How do settings affect blow dryer electricity usage?

Most hair dryers will have 2 to 6 air speed and temperature settings. The wattage indicated on the label represents the power consumed when a blow dryer is operating at a high airspeed and temperature. However, if your hairdryer has the functionality, using it on low speeds or temperatures can reduce its energy consumption as low as 100 Watts per hour.

For the purposes of comparison to the earlier table, if a hairdryer is running on these low settings, it will only cost 2.87c per hour. Of course, there’s usually little reason to run a hair dryer at such low power.

Does hair dryer use a lot of electricity?

Why do hairdryers draw so much power?

How much electricity does a hair dryer use per hour?

How much power does a hair dryer use?