Best diffusers for healthy, curly hair

Embracing your natural hair is a look that never goes out of style.

However, styling and caring for naturally curly hair is no straightforward task. It comes with a multitude of questions: what type of curls do I have? How do I style it? Which products do I need? How should I sleep on my curly hair? Etc, etc.

Thankfully, there are a multitude of sources you can turn to in order to determine just what kind of curly hair you have. For instance, Naturally Curly has a useful texture typing quiz that’ll help guide you out of the curly-haired abyss.

We, on the other hand, are here to help you learn how to properly style and blow-dry your – (hopefully) now classified and typed – curly hair with a fancy little hairdryer attachment called a diffuser. You might have heard of it; you might not have a clue what we're talking about. E either way, we’re going to explain how it works so hang tight if you’re embarking on your curly hair journey.

To diffuse means to spread over a large area. Tov recall GCSE Physics, you might remember that, scientifically, it’s the movement of particles across from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration. Think the spritz from a perfume bottle as it travels across a room.

When applying this to blow-drying your curly hair, adding a diffuser attachment evenly spreads – or diffuses – the hot air over a larger area, which in turn gently dries your curls without creating frizz. Normal hairdryer attachments, conversely, will give you a singular concentrated flow of hot air. This is useful if you’re trying to hold a sleek and soft style, but not for defining your natural curls.

We spoke to renowned Marylebone-based hairdresser Michael Van Clarke for some extra top tips.

First “getting a diffuser that actually diffuses is an essential,” he says. More often than not, even upmarket hairdryer manufacturers produce diffusers with no real effect – so make sure it’s providing a dynamic airflow before starting, or you’ll end up with a bird’s nest.

After washing your hair, you’ll want to apply whatever products your normally use before using heat to towel-dried hair. If you don’t own a curl-defining cream or mousse, you might want to pick up one of those before you embark on using a diffuser. Michael Van Clark’s Lifesaver UV is a cult favourite on this front for silky smooth and defined curls. Bouclème also recommends using a jersey Curl Towel to speed up your dry time without any extra damage.

Tip your head upside down, grab a sizable section of your hair, and place it into the diffuser. Bring the diffuser up towards your scalp, hair still nicely secure in the diffuser bowl, and hold it there for 15-30 seconds. You can turn your hair dryer to a lower speed and heat during this part to reduce heat damage.

Keep going with the other sections of your hair until you feel that it’s dry. Fluff it out, scrunch in any extra finishing products et voilà! Perfectly defined natural curls.

Not really, but curly and wavy hair will benefit most from this styling tool – so it’s still useful to know your curl type; especially to determine what products should accompany with your new routine.

Van Clarke recommends using a diffuser on low heat no matter what hair type you have in order to minimise heat damage overall. He adds, “you can sculpt, compress and style the hair easily while keeping the hair’s natural body and movement – without flyways.”

Nevertheless, a good general rule to stick to is: the shorter the prong, the better it is for shorter hair. Vice versa, the longer the prong, the better it is for longer hair. Longer hair will dry unevenly if there aren’t long prongs evenly dispersed in the diffuser bowl to catch any stray falling locks within a section. Remember, you’ll be sticking your head upside down, so it can be hard to tell.

Here is a rundown of the most common:Shop now

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, keep scrolling for our round-up of the best diffusers on the market.

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