US Hair Appliances in Switzerland with adapter

There is so much info on this site explaining the difference between adapters and current converters; OP's can do a better job than I can, so I suggest you try the search function.
Hair straighteners, if they are like curling irons, just need adapters. But blowers use so much more power, and either need to be dual voltage, or you need a current converter.
Hope that makes sense. Have a great trip!
PS Switzerland uses a different adapter the the EU. Sometimes EU adapters work at Swiss hotels, and sometimes not.

I no longer take a hair dryer or straightener to Europe, so I'm not a good person to answer this either. I did buy a mini dual-voltage hair straightener that I used to carry: lightweight, compact and only required a pin adapter for the country.

But, I also cringe when trying to search this forum for information, because some of it is so old that it may not be helpful. But, I JUST LEARNED (yes, I'm shouting with enthusiasm) how to filter responses by date. I didn't know you could do that!! So I did a search for "straightener" and filtered these recent responses for you:

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=6m&filter=Travel+Forum&query=straightener&utf8=%E2%9C%93

I think you will find some very thorough and helpful responses among those!

I witnessed this once. A fellow traveler insisted that she only needed a plug adaptor and her blow dryer would be fine. It was not. Blew a fuse and set the outlet on fire, manager not happy. Needed to relocate as well as pay for electrician. Its not just the voltage, 110 vs 220, its the frequency (Hz) and power demand (watts). Those big American dryers may overload a circuit especially in an older place with not great wiring. I'd suggest buying what you need there if they really don't have one at the places you're staying.

Basic school electrical physics:

• Electricity in North America is 110V 60 Hz, electricity in Europe is 230V 50Hz.
  • An adapter only solves the problem of different shaped plugs. It doesn't change the voltage.
• Modern low-power electronics can take either voltage (phone and laptop chargers)
• High power appliances (blow dryer and hair straighteners) are built to either take one or the other.
  • To use high power appliances you need a voltage converter, big bulky and heavier than the appliance.
• Plugging a 110V appliance directly into a 230V outlet, it will pull twice as much current (Ohm's law), that is 4 times as much power as it needs or can handle (P=V²/R). Maybe even short-circuit internally. Result as described by Stan.

Thank you all for your responses and links to other related posts. I do have a Nano Baby Bliss dual-voltage blow dryer that I bought a year ago for international travel. I can change the voltage from 125 to 250V, though I believe the max for Switzerland is 240v. I have only tried this out at home, not abroad.

I gave a hair dryer that has a switch from 120v to 250v. Works fine here in Italy with the adapter.

"dual-voltage . . . . I can change the voltage from 125 to 250V" - That's positive, NoNegativeVibes (couldn't resist the pun).

So all you need is a plug adapter. As this appliance is (presumably) earthed with a 3-pin plug, you need a 3-pin adapter.
Swiss 3-pin plugs are different from any other country. Do not let the shop sell you a "European" adapter and claiming it works in all of Europe - not true.

Swiss plugs and sockets look like this: https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/j/

My Europlug iron (230v 800 watt) has a Type CEE 7/7 plug. The plug is a hybred of the Type F Schuko used in Germany and the Type E French three conductor grounded plug. The CEE 7/7 has grounding conductors both on the sides of the plug body and on the face of the plug body to be compatavble with both the Type F and the Type E plugs/sockets. But the CEE 7/7 does ground with the Swiss sockets. Not a problem because the Swiss hotels have a lot of European guest and I could borrow a Type E/F plug to Type J (Swiss) socket adaptor.

For those of you who indicate that some of the usual European adapters haven't worked in Swiss hotels, what did you use as an adapter? I do not require a grounded plug adapter. Thanks in advance.

Vibes,

You didn't mention whether your hair straightener is also designed for dual voltage operation. Is that the case? You might find that your hair dryer operates slightly differently on 230 VAC than it does at home.

Don't be surprised if your dual-voltage hair dryer only works on "Low" when in the higher voltage of Europe. That is often the case. That may be addressed in your instruction book for the hair dryer.

For those of you who indicate that some of the usual European adapters haven't worked in Swiss hotels, what did you use as an adapter? I do not require a grounded plug adapter.

@Jodie, If you do not require a ground (earth), i.e. you have a 2-pin plug, then there is no difference for Switzerland (see my post above). It is only the location (and shape) of the third earth pin where there is a difference between Switzerland/Italy/France/the rest.

If you do have a earthed/grounded 3-pin appliance, you can buy North America-->CH adapters in "all good electrical stores" in Switzerland.

@Jodie, in a pinch, the hotel might have some for lending.

@ Chris F Thanks for clarifying things for me!

@ChrisF "That's positive, NoNegativeVibes (couldn't resist the pun)." That was funny!
@Ken-no the straightener (daughter's necessary hair appliance ;) ) is not dual voltage.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

The easiest way to do this, IMHO, is to just buy a European blow dryer and straightener. I have a Babyliss blow dryer and straightener I bought off Amazon UK. All I need is an adapter for the plugs on the continent and I'm good to go. Easy. I just take them to Europe when I go and don't have to worry about destroying my expensive hair appliances from home.

Vibes,

Thanks for the clarification on the hair straightener. That means it can NOT be used in Europe. If you were to connect it to the outlet, you'd get to enjoy a display of smoke and sparks worthy of the 4th of July, followed possibly by the power shutting off in your section of the hotel. I've witnessed that sort of thing before and hotel owners are NOT happy with guests that do that.

One other point to mention is that some hair straightener manufacturers specifically prohibit use of their products with Voltage Converters, so that may not be an option either. Solid-State Voltage Converters that offer high current capability, produce a very rough AC waveform which can cause problems with some appliances. Transformer Converters produce a much cleaner voltage conversion, but they're inherently heavy so not as easy to travel with.

As others have suggested, try to find a dual voltage straightener at Target, Walmart or where ever, or buy one when you arrive in Europe.