At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Light
- Compact
- Powerful
- Quiet
Cons
- Button placement better for right-handed people
- Included nozzles don’t attach and detach easily
Our Verdict
The MDLondon Blow is an excellent hair dryer: it’s quiet in use, compact and light, without compromising on power. Plus, its style gives it an edge over the competition.
Price When Reviewed
Not available in the US
Dyson’s effect on hair styling technology has been much the same as its effect on floorcare tech. In the wake of the Supersonic hair dryer release and its meteoric rise to popularity, dozens of mallet-shaped dupes popped up.
Some of these, like the Zuvi Halo and the Laifen Swift, are very good – and the latter is much more budget-friendly than the Dyson.
But the Dyson effect means that it’s now rare to see a hair dryer that doesn’t look either like a conventional model (which now seems a bit quaint) or a Supersonic knock-off.
And that’s the first thing that makes the MDLondon Blow hair dryer stand out: its distinctive, near-symmetrical, ray gun shape. But that’s not all it has to offer.
Design & Build
- 360g weight (excluding cord)
- Three temperature settings: 60°C, 80°C, 100°C
- 3m cord
MDLondon was started up by hair stylist Michael Douglas to provide better home hair styling tools, after seeing demand via his Instagram-hosted hair clinics during lockdown. In 2022, the brand released the Blow hair dryer, which we’re reviewing here.
The Blow hair dryer comes nicely boxed in all-recyclable packaging. Along with the hair dryer, you’ll get two narrow, directional nozzles in different sizes that you can attach to the hair dryer for smoother styling.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The Blow is a light and compact hair dryer. It’s 17cm high, and the barrel itself is 18cm long and 15cm in diameter at its widest point. It’s much slimmer and more elegant than competing luxury hair tools.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
MDLondon gives its weight (excluding the cord) as 360g – that’s more than 100g lighter than the Zuvi Halo, while the Supersonic weighs upwards of 560g (again, all without cords).
The Blow has a 3m long cord, which is useful in ensuring that you can plug in almost anywhere and still reach a mirror. But, on the other hand, if you’re packing the Blow for travel, you’ll need to factor in that very long cord, which bumps its total weight up to 660g. It’s still lighter than competitors, however.
The Blow is a thoughtfully designed, stylish hair dryer: it looks and feels different to rival tools
The Blow comes in three colour options: the Casal blue model (which we’re testing), an olive green and a blush pink. The blue and green colour options in particular look sophisticated against the armies of hot pink or black hair styling tools we see so often.
And, if you like your hair tech to match, you can buy the MDLondon Strait hair straightener (£109) in the same colourway.
The Blow’s build is similarly chic. It’s attractively shaped and the air inlets are designed with aesthetic flair. It has a smooth, pleasingly tactile silicone finish and its keys are a coppery gold colour that matches the logo. Each key has an explanatory icon beside it and an indicator light where needed.
Altogether, the Blow is a thoughtfully designed, stylish hair dryer: it looks and feels different to rival tools.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
There are four keys to operate the Blow and they’re intuitively placed – that is, as long as you’re using the hair dryer in your right hand. In that case, they’re all accessible to your thumb and forefinger while your hand is curled around the grip.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
But, for left-handed people like me, your hand will cover the buttons when you’re using it. As the buttons are easy to press, this meant I often accidentally switched speed and temperature settings while using it.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The Blow has three temperature settings of 60°C, 80°C and 100°C. This is in line with other high quality brands: the Dyson Supersonic has the same settings. Meanwhile, cheaper models don’t tend to specify how hot they get.
It’s good to be aware of the heat setting you’re using, considering that more heat means more damage to hair. Throughout testing, I found that I didn’t need to go above 80°C to dry my hair quickly.
Performance & Features
- Quiet in use
- Powerful at 1600W
- Ion generator
Pricier hair dryers can often be weighty, thanks to their motors. The thinking is that it’s better to have a decent motor that’ll help to dry your hair quickly, even if it means adding some weight. You won’t be holding it for as long, anyway.
And if you’ve ever tried to dry your hair in a hurry using a dinky little hotel hair dryer that seems to produce more noise than hot air, you’ll appreciate the theory. But with this hair dryer, you don’t need to compromise.
The Blow is powerful, particularly for its size, delivering a lot of airflow and drying hair quickly. During testing, it dried my hair about as fast as the Zuvi Halo and much faster than the Shark FlexStyle hair dryer.
You might expect that, given that at 1600W, it’s much more powerful than either of these hair tools – although the Zuvi Halo is a notably energy efficient product. But that just makes its compact form all the more impressive.
The Blow features a negative ion generator, which should help smooth as it dries. However, it didn’t have a noticeable effect on my hair. But using one of the two directional nozzles that come with the Blow and brushing my hair as it dried gave a much smoother finish.
Speaking of these, one of the few design flaws of the Blow is that the included directional nozzles don’t click on and off easily. You can buy a compatible diffuser attachment (£25) separately, and this pops into place magnetically, but the included nozzles need to be pressed on hard and yanked off. On the plus side, this does mean they stay firmly in place in use.
Just as important to your comfort as a hair dryer’s weight is how noisy it is in use. The Blow is quiet, with a maximum operating volume of 78dB, although I found that the medium speed setting was ideal for use, so it never hit peak noise production.
Price & Availability
There’s no doubt that this is a luxury product and the pricing reflects that. You can buy a high quality hair dryer for well under £50. In fact, if you’re looking for something that’s budget-friendly in price but not build, we’d recommend the Revamp Progloss, which is now available for under £40, from a £99 launch price.
But if you want to splash out, the Blow is a great option. It’s not just pretty – it feels sturdy and well made and its build is backed by an impressive three-year warranty.
It has an RRP of £195 and at this stage, you won’t find it for less. You can buy it direct from MDLondon, Sephora or Harvey Nichols.
Sadly, it’s not currently available in the US or Canada.
Should you buy the MDLondon Blow hair dryer?
All in all, this is one of the best hair dryers we’ve tested. It’s not perfect, though. The included nozzles are sightly disappointing and we’d caution that left-handed people might not find it as easy to use.
And it’s a pricey buy. But if you’re fed up with chunky hair dryers, this is a genuinely appealing alternative. Plus, it’s powerful, quiet, light and compact.
For more recommended hair styling options, have a look at our round-ups of the best hair dryers and the best hair straighteners we’ve tested. We can also help you to answer the question: should you buy the Dyson Airwrap or the Shark FlexStyle?