Our writer, Georgia, was given the new Blex C1 High-Speed Hair Dryer to try. Read on for her honest review.
Let’s face it, hair dryers aren’t the most exciting of beauty tools and gadgets. Sure, they beat lash cards and at-home foot spas (I mean, who even uses those?). And when you forget to take your trusty dryer on vacation and have to use the hotel’s super noisy but completely ineffective dryer you most certainly miss your old faithful.
But glamorous and lust-worthy they are not.
Or they never used to be, anyway. Of course, Dyson changed this when it launched its high-tech and uber cool-looking Supersonic dryer in 2016.
With its futuristic design and intelligent heat control, the Supersonic sprung to the top of everyone’s wish-list as the world craved for the promise of a crazy-fast blowout and shinier, healthier-looking hair.
The Dyson dryer, however, comes at a cost, and not everyone has 400 bucks to spend on a hairdryer. And even if they did, not everyone wants to spend that much money on something that essentially just dries their hair.
I count myself in that group of people which is why I was pretty excited to hear about the new Blex C1 High Speed Dryer which has a similar look to the Dyson but comes in at a fraction of the cost. As you can imagine, I was even more thrilled when Blex offered to send me one to try out.
Having worked in the hair and beauty industry for over 25 years, I’ve tried a lot (like, a huge number) of products and gadgets and as far as hair tools go, only one has ever truly stood out and found its place in my list of grooming must-haves. And that’s my original GHD Professional Styler. Still the best, IMHO.
So, would the new Blex dryer make the grade and join my trusty ghds or would it be another bad beauty gadget, or ‘badget’ if you will (sorry, not sorry) that would work its way to the back of my closet, never to be seen again?
Read on for the verdict…
The Blex C1 High Speed Dryer, In A Nutshell
- Insanely Lightweight – it’s a measly 0.8 lbs, less than a bag of sugar
- C-Shaped Design – for an even, all-direction air flow
- Aesthetically Pleasing – maybe not that important, but still kinda cool, right?
- Super-Powered Motor – wind speeds claim to dry hair in just five minutes flat
- Plasma Technology – bye-bye static, farewell frizz
- Temperature Control – for minimum damage to your hair or scalp
The Cost: $99
What Do You Get For Your Money?
Packaged very neatly in a smart white box, the Blex C1 High-Speed Hair Dryer comes with a special magnetic nozzle which concentrates the air flow to help you achieve a smoother, shinier finish.
So, What Exactly Is The Blex C1 High Speed Dryer?
Super lightweight and very easy on the eye, the Blex dryer comes in a chic white or mint green color (black? Pah!) which makes it feel very stylish and easily something you’d be happy to showcase in your bedroom or on your vanity.
It has a C-shaped nozzle (the world’s first, apparently) which allows the flow of air to surround each hair strand to ensure your blowout is even and balanced. And while ordinary hair dryers have motors that rotate at around 20,000 rpm, the Blex ramps it up to a whopping 110,000 rpm. What does that mean for your dry time? Well, this allows it to blow air out at a speed of 20 m/s giving you a quicker blow-dry, whatever your hair type or length.
Speaking of your drying experience, the Blex boasts temperature controlled technology which keeps a strict eye on the heat of your dryer at a very impressive rate of 100 times every second.
This ensures your dryer never overheats and that your hair temperature stays at a constant of 122 oF, thus reducing potential damage to your scalp and hair. Smart, right? If you were wondering, the Dyson checks its temperature 20 times per second. Just saying.
You can also custom your experience by choosing from four heat levels and three speed settings. And when you find your sweet spot, a memory function remembers your settings so you don’t have to. Love that.
Hold on, though, because we’re still not done. The Blex also pioneers plasma technology by incorporating some fancy wizardry into the motor that emits 200 million plasma ions as it dries your locks.
Again, why is that important for your hair? Good question. And the answer is really quite simple. Hair gets overcharged with positive ions when it’s dried with an electric hair dryer and this can cause your precious mane to become static, flyaway and frizzy. By furnishing it with plasma ions during the drying process, this positive charge becomes balanced, thus giving you a smoother, frizz-free blowout.
Furthermore, plasma ions are thought to help give hair volume, color protection and moisturization while protecting the health of your scalp by reducing unwanted buildup.
My Thoughts On The Blex C1 High Speed Dryer
As I mentioned before, hair dryers don’t excite me that much. But still, I’m always on the search for ‘the one’ that helps give my thick, often unruly hair the love and attention that it needs: preferably without too much effort on my behalf! And this may just be it.
What do I like about it? Other than the fact that it looks great (yes, I’m that shallow!) my biggest love is its weight. My old hair dryer was fabulous but I’ve always hated the fact that it was so freakin’ heavy. Honestly, the Blex is like a breath of fresh air. Ha, but with all the power.
It also doesn’t knock your socks off with huge gusts of full-on air that literally blow your hair out of the park. However, I found that it miraculously cut my dry time by about a half which makes me way more likely to dry my hair every time I wash it (admittedly, I’m a sucker for letting it air dry).
It claims to dry short hair in 40 seconds (yes, really!), bob-length hair in around two minutes and medium-length hair in five minutes. Now, my hair isn’t super long and probably sits in the medium-length camp but, full disclosure, it’s been taking me around six minutes to rough dry my hair first, before using the concentrator nozzle attachment.
So, finishing off my blowout probably adds another three, maybe four minutes on to this time. But, as you can see, my hair might be medium in length, but it’s extremely thick and plentiful, so I wasn’t surprised that it took a little longer than expected.
After getting my hair to about 80 percent dry, I then pop on the concentrator nozzle to smooth and finish my blowout. Sometimes I grab a brush if I want a more sleek, straight finish, but often I just run it over the top layers of my hair and it really helps to calm flyaways and reduce frizz.
The following photo shows me doing my bangs after having already smoothed out one side of my hair (without a brush) but not the other. You can probably guess which side I used the concentrator nozzle on. Yeah, I was impressed, too.
Overall, I really like the Blex C1 High-Speed Hair Dryer and my poor old hairdryer has now been demoted to the back of my bathroom cabinet. Sad times.
No matter how long I hold the Blex over one section of hair it never feels too hot, and I love the fact that it’s not super loud. Granted, it doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles attachments of the Dyson Supersonic but, honestly, I’m not sure I would use those anyway.
I’m a simple girl with simple tastes (well, sometimes!) and I’m happier when something does what it promises. And this really does. Around 10 minutes for a pretty darn fabulous blowout? Count. Me. In.
The burning question, however, is would I go out and buy it? At less than $100, absolutely.