HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review: powerful, protective and perfect for styling

After noticing a gap in the market for male-focused hair dryers, HEiST set about making a dryer that’s specifically designed for men’s hair, and the result is the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer. As the world’s first men’s hair dryer, the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer has a sleek, lightweight design and is focused on men’s hair health.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: is there such a thing as gendered hair dryers? Well, men’s hair has completely different requirements than women’s, so they’ll need a hair dryer that’s more tailored to their hair types and concerns, for example, male pattern baldness, hair thinning and loss, and general drying and styling motions.

I was kindly invited to a HEiST event to see the new HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer in action, and was sent home with the full kit. As a woman, the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer isn’t designed for my hair type and needs, so I tested it out on my fiance for a few weeks – and this is how it went.

HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review: price and availability

The HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer is £199 and available to buy at HEiST. While this might seem a little pricey for a hair dryer, this is what you’d be looking to pay for a hair dryer from Dyson or ghd. HEiST also offers a Pro Kit is £267 which comes with a diffuser and stand. While the site doesn’t have US or EU pricing, you can still buy the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer and get it delivered to your location.

HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review: unboxing

The HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer comes in a compact box and contains the hair dryer, heat-resistant magnetic styling nozzle and a vented brush. Inside is a style guide, and you can scan a QR code for more styling advice.

One of the main things I noticed about the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer during unboxing is its power cord. The cable is 3m long, and comes with an organiser clip to keep everything together. As expected, it’s a very long cord – maybe even a bit too long – but hey, if you tend to pace while drying your hair, you have plenty of room to do so.

HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review: design and features

The HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer comes in a black and lime green colourway, similar to HEiST’s website branding. The lime green accents are surprisingly subtle and are located around the top of the dryer and on the buttons at the back. It’s extremely lightweight, slim and easy to hold, plus its attachments are magnetic and clip on smoothly.

Designed in partnership with leading British barbers, the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer is built to protect the condition of men’s hair and scalps. Using the H-Protect system, the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer has smart controls that automatically adjust to the optimal heat settings depending on how close it gets to your hair and head. It uses a 100,000 RPM brushless motor – which is surprisingly quiet – and offers a powerful airflow for maximum volume.

The HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer has buttons on either side of the handle. At the back is the on/off slider, and at the front, you can select from three airflow speeds, four temperature settings, and a cold shot for setting styles.

HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review: performance

As mentioned above, I tested the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer on my fiance who has short yet extremely thick hair. He doesn’t tend to use a hair dryer – instead, he towel and air dries it until it’s mostly dry before applying product to style it. So, I was excited to test the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer on him to see if he enjoyed it.

The first thing I noticed when trying the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer was how powerful it was. It literally jerked back into my hands when I turned it on, but while it was extremely powerful, it didn’t make too much noise that I couldn’t speak to him while I was drying his hair.

As he has very thick hair, I was expecting the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer to take a while getting it dry. But the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer dried my fiance’s hair quickly and efficiently – it only took a few minutes to do so. I liked using the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer with and without the attachments and found both of them to style and dry hair nicely, plus the way the dryer and accessory magnetically clicked together was very satisfying.

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I noticed as I dried his and my hair – I had to try the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer on myself too! – that the dryer does adjust itself when it gets close to the scalp. This is such an important feature as it helps protect the hair and scalp and let’s be honest, no one wants to burn their head while drying their hair! The temperature settings were versatile and the cold shot gets very cold, but I did find that heat settings got really hot. That might sound silly, but even on the middle settings, I found that the heat was intensely hot to the point that it was burning my hand.

Another negative is that I found the buttons on the inside of the handle a bit tricky to press. As I got used to using the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer, it was easier to know which buttons I needed to push, but I often had to pull back the dryer to see what level it was on which blasts you in the face with hot heat – not exactly ideal, but not a deal breaker.

HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review: verdict

After testing the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer out on my fiance, he definitely had a positive experience using it – and not just because I was drying his hair for him! The HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer dries hair extremely quickly. I tried it on both thick hair (him) and thinner hair (me) and the hair was dry in a matter of minutes.

The HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer has an attractive and ergonomic design and its magnetic attachments are really impressive. It definitely takes into account the distance between the dryer and the head to better protect the hair and keep the scalp healthy. While it could work on its heat settings and button placements, the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer is a brilliant men’s hair dryer and I’d recommend it to any male friends or family who were looking for one.

HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer review: alternatives to consider

The HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer happens to be the first male hair dryer we’ve ever tried on T3, so it’s hard to find an alternative that ticks all the boxes. However, if you’re looking for a similar lightweight design and powerful settings, the Nicky Clarke Airstyle Pro and the Mdlondon Blow are good alternatives to consider, and they’re around the same price as the HEiST 3.0 Men’s Hair Dryer.