The AirLight Pro Dried My Extra-Long, Thick Hair in Four Minutes (2024)

In 1926, two very important pieces of technology debuted that would change people’s lives forever: the TV and the portable hair dryer. But while television sets have transformed dramatically since the 1920s, surprisingly, not much has changed about the handheld hair dryer. Sure, they’ve become smaller, faster, and more powerful, but they still heat hair in the same way: a method known as convection heating, where electric coils heat up while a motor pushes hot air toward your hair to dry it (this is also how a toaster oven works).

Even the most innovative hair dryers on the market still work this way. That is, until L’Oréal Professionnel’s AirLight Pro. With the goal to create a less-damaging, more energy-efficient way to dry your hair, the AirLight Pro uses infrared light versus convection heating—the face of the dryer lights up like one of those Glow Worm toys from the ’90s. The company gave the Allure team a chance to test it out before it launches today, November 24—and because we were so impressed by the results, it was selected as this month's One to Watch honoree.

In this story:

• Overview
• About the technology
• How I tested it
• More Allure reviews
• Pricing and value

Overview

Now, before we get into it we should address the elephant in the room: Yes, you may have seen a version of this dryer before. That’s because the originator of the patented technology behind the AirLight Pro is a company called Zuvi, which launched its infrared hair dryer back in 2022. (It actually won an Allure Best of Beauty Breakthrough award that year.)

The goal of Zuvi, a hardware startup company of scientists and drone engineers, is to disrupt existing technologies, and that includes the humble hair dryer. But for everything they knew about aerodynamics and optics (the study of the behavior of light), they lacked in the beauty and salon industry. And that’s where L’Oréal Professionnel came in. Recognizing the ingenuity of what Zuvi created, L’Oréal Pro partnered with the tech start-up to relaunch the dryer with features that made it more user-friendly for professional hairstylists and people at home…which brings us to the AirLight Pro.

Put through rigorous testing—including for durability—the new-and-improved dryer features three heat settings, three fan speed settings, four pro-styling modes that offer preset heat and air controls based on hair type, two styling attachments (a concentrator nozzle and a diffuser), and a handy app that lets you customize your settings from your phone.

About the technology

It has also been tweaked to work on all hair types. “We did an enormous amount of testing because at the beginning [the dryer] only worked on certain hair types,” explains Guive Balooch, global managing director of augmented beauty and open innovation at L’Oréal Groupe. “We started in our internal L’Oréal Pro salon, then we tested it externally with our salon partners, and then we conducted at-home use tests where people tried it without us going to their homes and showing them how to use it. Through all three testing rounds we had to make changes and [getting it right] was a lot harder than we thought. That's why it took a good 18 months even after the technology was ready.”

So how on earth is light going to dry your hair? The scientists and engineers who developed the AirLight Pro found their inspiration in nature. “When it rains, the next day, if it’s sunny and there's wind, the rain dries much faster than if it’s cloudy. So the Zuvi team asked themselves, How can we apply this natural phenomenon to moisture in the hair?” explains Balooch. “The scientists, who have a background in the physics of light, knew that in nature a specific wavelength of infrared light is what dries the rain, so the challenge was to make that light powerful enough to dry the hair.”

The solution was to combine a circle of infrared light, which is placed at the front of the hair dryer, with a traditional motor and coils in the center. The motor pushes the hot air through the center of the ring of infrared light, allowing the light to also heat the air as it’s moving toward your hair. This, in turn, makes the AirLight Pro more efficient. “With traditional convection heating, the coils heat up to around 200 degrees, which is then blasted out of the nozzle by the motor. By the time the air reaches your hair, however, it’s about 100 degrees, which means 50% of the heat is wasted and released into the environment,” says Balooch. “With the AirLight Pro, the infrared light is heating the air as it’s flowing toward your hair. This means the dryer temperature can start at 150 degrees because less heat is dissipating into the air, which, in turn, saves you around 20% on electricity [compared to traditional hair dryers].”

This also isn’t any old infrared light being used. There are some hair tools on the market that boast infrared light technology, but these lights have no drying effect on the hair. “Many of these existing devices use red infrared technology, which sometimes has positive effects on the scalp,” says Balooch. “We’re using halogen infrared light that's so powerful it’s able to absorb moisture in the hair and heat the hair more efficiently. We have over 160 patents on this technology.”

All this complicated physics aside (since being asked to write this review, I’ve seriously regretted skipping physics in high school), how does this infrared light technology benefit you and your hair, besides a potentially cheaper energy bill depending on how many times you dry your hair per week? For one, L’Oréal claims the AirLight Pro is less damaging to the hair. Starting at a lower temperature than conventional hair dryers means not every last ounce of moisture is blasted out of your hair, leaving strands more hydrated and therefore more flexible. (The company conducted internal tensile strength tests to see how quickly individual strands of hair would snap under tension and found that strands dried by the AirLight Pro were less prone to breakage).

Secondly, the AirLight Pro is supposed to be gentler on your hair, leaving strands smoother and shinier. “Air is projected onto the hair in a more gentle way with this technology,” says Balooch, adding that this results in the cuticle being less roughed up and damaged after a drying session. (Again, L’Oréal Pro determined this through internal evaluations that looked at the amount of light that was reflected off the hair—the smoother the cuticle, the shinier the hair). And lastly, because less heat is being lost to the environment and aimed more directly at your hair, the AirLight Pro is meant to dry your hair 28% faster, saving you the aforementioned energy, time, and effort.

How I tested it

I’ve been burned by new-fangled hot tools before (and have some unfortunate scars on my thumbs to prove it), so I went into the testing process slightly skeptical and asked friends, relatives, and New York City-based hairstylist Devin Toth to weigh in. This is also because not only is my fine, wavy hair pretty easy to manage (I’m that person whose hair air-dries beautifully…please don’t hate me), but I might also be the laziest beauty editor in the business when it comes to my hair. If it’s not thrown into a low knot, my go-to blow-dry “method” is a mix of rough-drying and haphazardly smoothing things with a big paddle brush.

I’ve used the AirLight Pro regularly over the past three months and on two different continents (I have one at my parents in New York with a US plug and one at home in London with an EU plug that can be used in the UK with a converter). First off, this hair dryer is fast—faster than any other I’ve tried. If I use it right out of the shower, when my hair is towel-dried, the AirLight Pro does the job in about seven minutes. (It’s important to note that even though I have a lot of fine hair, blow-drying has never taken me a long long—max 12 minutes.) And this isn’t even on the highest settings or using one of the attachments (more on those in a second, as they affect the temperature). I found the highest heat setting (160 degrees Fahrenheit/71 degrees Celsius) was actually too hot for my hair and discovered the sweet spot for my rough-dry method was the medium heat (130 degrees Fahrenheit/54 degrees Celsius) and medium fan speed settings.

Toth, who tested the AirLight Pro on a range of clients at Salon SCK, also found it worked faster than his other dryers. He appreciated how hot it got, but also the convenient placement of the display and control buttons so he could easily toggle between settings (the button at the back controls airflow and the button at the front controls heat, although you can change all of these settings in the app if you prefer). “I can use it on any of my clients to achieve any kind of look,” he says. “For example, I use low-to-medium heat when I don’t want to damage the integrity of curls, alter the tone of glosses, or flatten textures of limp, fine hair. And I use low airflow to keep hair from moving out of place, whether that be while diffusing curls or at the end of any hairstyle while utilizing the cool temperature setting.”

Probably the most noticeable difference with the AirLight Pro is how silky your hair looks and feels after using it. Besides my face-framing pieces (which are damaged beyond belief thanks to 10 years of bleaching), every time I use the AirLight Pro my hair looks far less fuzzy and poofy than with other hair dryers. I’d even describe it as glossy. I had the same results when I used it to blow out my mom’s hair, which is entirely white and gray and, therefore, more coarse than my hair texture, as well as my friend Emilia’s, whose hair is dull and dry (sorry, Em!). Toth also had the same results in the salon, adding that “it definitely makes the hair shinier and smoother when compared to other dryers, and my go-tos for work include the Dyson Supersonic, the Harry Josh Pro Dryer, and the Parlux Twin Turbo 2800.”

With all that smoothness, however, one thing the AirLight Pro can do is leave your hair looking flat, something Toth, my friend Emilia, and I all noticed after testing. “This is because of its high heat and thin concentrator nozzle,” says Toth. “If you want your hair to have more texture, I recommend removing the concentrator nozzle and switching the heat setting to medium (130 degrees Fahrenheit, 54 degrees Celsius).” After taking Toth’s advice, I managed to get more volume than during my first test runs, although still not as much as with other dryers.

L’Oréal Pro also did something cool with the airflow attachments. The AirLight Pro will automatically adjust the heat settings when you connect both the concentrator nozzle and the diffuser, which attach magnetically. Attach the diffuser, and it increases the temperature, allowing you to toggle between 120, 160, and 195 degrees Fahrenheit (or 48, 71, and 90 degrees Celsius). Attach the concentrator nozzle, and it increases the temperature even higher, letting you choose from 195, 250, and 285 degrees Fahrenheit (or 90, 121, and 140 degrees Celsius). Once you’ve determined which temperature works best for your hair texture and styling method, you can set it in the app so that every time you click an attachment in place, it switches to your preferred temperature and fan speed without touching a button on the tool itself.

Personally, I couldn’t really be bothered with the app and found it fine just to adjust the control settings using the buttons on the device. But if you’re someone who regularly blow-dries your hair and has more of a process, I can see how having presets would be extremely helpful.

More Allure reviews

Jesa Marie Calaor, senior editor

“I can't think of anything that I enjoy less than blow-drying my hair. I have long, medium-coarse waves—and the average blow dryer takes so long to dry it and inevitably leaves it poofy and frizzy. Using the AirLight was an unbelievable experience—and while I still never ever want to style my hair, it does make the process, extremely quick, at least. The AirLight dried my hair in four minutes and four seconds, smoothing my strands and leaving them a little shiny. I appreciate how powerful and gentle it was at the same time—quickly zapping moisture but never burning me.”

Sarah Hoffmann, commerce producer

"I really enjoyed hover-drying with the diffuser attachment! As far as temperature goes, the tool has a little screen where you can choose your hair type, and it automatically adjusts the temperature of the dryer based on your answer. (I'm always happy to see that function when using hair tools). Even though the curl temperature was a bit lower than I'd normally use to dry my hair, the diffusing process was still very quick and easy. My hair was voluminous post-dry, and one day later, it still feels clean—which is not always the case when I air-dry.

There's definitely a learning curve with the concentrated air attachment. It took me a couple of tries with a round brush to get the parting-down-the-middle shape I prefer for my bangs because the air level and temperature are very powerful (I ended up with not-so-flattering pin-straight bangs a few times), but if you're just blow-drying straight, the attachment is a nice addition to the dryer."

Pricing and Value

All this innovation comes at a cost, though. The L’Oréal Professionnel AirLight Pro is $475 (including the attachments), launching exclusively at Ulta Beauty. The price includes a two-year warranty.

Two thumbs up from me and the Allure team (plus my mom!) and a glowing review from Toth: “This is the first time while testing out a hair dryer, I considered asking politely if I could keep it,” he says. “I would gladly replace any of my go-tos with the AirLight Pro.”

Read more about innovative devices on the market:

• 9 Best LED Lights for Acne That Deliver Clear, Glowing Skin
• The Best Microcurrent Devices to Lift and Tighten Skin Instantly
• T3's New Aire 360 Is Simplifying the Way I Style My Hair

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