BaByliss Pro Ceramix Xtreme & Phillips MonsterVent Brush

My old school hair dryer that I got for like $15 and have been using for at least 5 years finally died.  Well, I would have gotten a better one a long time ago except I shower at the gym most of the time and use the hair dryers there.  But I do shower at home once a week or so, and it's important for me to have a working hair dryer.  So, I decided to get a decent one that works well and will last me for at least the next 5 years!

I googled "best hair dryers" or something, and lots of different brands popped up.  Most of them cost $150-200 or more.  I wanted to spend at the most $50 since my hair is pretty easy to manage.  It's straight and smooth so I really only need a hair dryer that drys it. 

I looked on folica.com and found the BaByliss Pro Ceramix Xtreme (BaByliss 2000) that has 160 something reviews that average almost all 5 stars and is only $38.  It is a 2000 watt professional hair dryer with 3 heat settings.  Basically that's all I need and nothing too complicated.  How perfect. Definitely seems like the best hair dryer to buy at the cheaper price range.

I also ordered the Phillips MonsterVent Brush since folica.com offers free shipping for over $50.  The brush costs $11.95 so my total came out just over $50!

I ordered everything last Sunday, and I received them on Friday.  Not bad.  It was my first time ordering from folica.com.  I guess they ship from New Jersey using UPS, that's why it's a little slow.  My first impression of the hair dryer is that it's pretty heavy.  And the brush is gigantic at 4 inches!!!

I was able to try them out today since I didn't go to the gym.  They seemed to work pretty well.  I do like the hair dryer.  It's heavy so that's obviously not easy on the wrist, which is a minus.  I used it on the highest heat setting, but the air didn't feel very hot.  I was kind of surprised by that.  But it did dry my hair within a good amount of time.  So that's good that it did its job without being super hot I suppose!  It's also on the quiet side, and it made my hair smooth with minimal flyaways, which I love.  Or was that because of the brush?  

Hmmm... well I think the brush is decent.  It's very very big and intimidating.  I'm used to my 2.5 inch brushes.  So this one almost doubles the size.  But I wanted a brush that would give me more volume.  That's always my problem with my long and straight hair.  And I think this brush did give me more volume than my other brushes.  Not much though.  So maybe I need to use it more and figure out how to use it better.  After I finished drying my hair I saw that lots of bristles on this brush were bent in all different directions.  That's kind of annoying after just one use.  I'm still holding out hope though because this brush is rated one of the best products by folica.com reviews.  There must be a reason!  

Anyway, I'm happy with my purchase overall.  My hair is all shiny and bouncey now as I'm sitting here typing!  Hehe