I am looking for a small travel hair dryer and am having a hard time finding one online with good reviews. Does anyone have one they would recommend for backpacking?
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
For backpacking? Forget it. Almost every place I have been in recent years has provided a hairdryer (or they were available to borrow at the front desk). I wouldn't waste weight or space to carry one.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Kelly,
Are you going to be staying mostly in Hotels or Hostels? Many Hotels (even the "budget" variety) often provide Hair Dryers for guests. I'm not sure about Hostels though (I've never asked?).
You might try Magellans as they have "travel" hair care appliances.
Happy travels!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
313 posts
Hi, Kelly --
A lot depends on the country you will be visiting, size of towns, and how expensive the hotel is. I've had very mixed results with hairdryers -- a broken one in London, none in many of the smaller towns in Italy, etc. (Many of the hairdryers in rooms are of the box variety attached to the wall with a hose coming out, not the portable kind you can request from the desk.
We always carry one, and decided to go the light and cheap route, since it sits in my bag waiting for the next Europe trip and wouldn't be used a lot. I found a small fold-up variety at Wal-Mart for under $15 that has done just fine for us.
The main thing you want to be sure when you buy one, is that it is dual voltage. On the one I bought, it has a little turn-screw setting that you can set on either US or European voltage.
Posted by
Redding, CA, USA
1568 posts
Target, REI and other travel stores carry them.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5519 posts
Buy one when you get to Europe. I have one I bought 10 years ago and I still use it although every year there are fewer places where I need it.
Posted by
Seattle, USA
14 posts
I bought this one: http://www.magellans.com/store/Health___Hygiene___Hair_CareEP224?Args=
I trust that I won't have an issue using it abroad after reading all the reviews of usage overseas, and love how it even works while still at home. I'll be staying in hostels and since I can't do my hair without a hairdryer and assume hostels won't have them... I'm very okay with carrying a 12 ounce hairdryer. :)
Posted by
Springfield, VA
2 posts
We bought one over there so we wouldn't need an adaptor. Also it works great to dry clothes that haven't dried. Perfect for socks.