Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer review: A fuss-free hair dryer for frizz-free results

If you want a hair dryer that won’t break the bank, then chances are you’ve come across the Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer. Launched in 2016, the Shine Therapy range comprises this 2300W hair dryer and a pair of conditioning hair straighteners, both of which claim to use ionic technology to boost hair shine and keep it looking healthy.

Since their launch, the hair straighteners have earned a place on our list of the best hair straighteners for glossy hair. As such, I was keen to see if the hair dryer lived up to the standards of its hair-straightening counterpart.

In tests, I was surprised by how quickly the Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer dried my hair without making it look frazzled or tangled. Its wide range of speed and heat settings provide a good level of control for blow-drying, and the concentrator nozzle and diffuser attachments make the model suitable for all hair types. Better still, it is surprisingly cheap compared to other hair dryers.

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Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer review: What do you get for the money?

For delivering value for money, the Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer is one of the best models on the market. Not only does the hair dryer come with a whopping 2300W of power, but it arrives with both a diffuser and concentrator nozzle; it’s rare to see such generous amounts of power and a diffuser at this price.

At £35, we were intrigued to see how the Remington Shine Therapy performed against its more expensive counterparts. Note that while the above is what you will find this model at across many retailers, since launch this has fluctuated between £20-£30; in fact, the hair dryer has been available for as low as £15 on Amazon, so keep an eye out for the best deals available before you buy.

Sporting a matte white finish, the Shine Therapy hair dryer features some glossy sections, and pearlescent green highlights around the control panel and on the rear-facing grille. The switches, diffuser and concentrator nozzle are made from black plastic that matches the silicone black hang-up loop and cable, all of which create a nice contrast with the main colour of the dryer.

Heavy hair dryers can be uncomfortable to use for long periods of time but, thankfully, I weighed the Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer in at just 611g, including the weight of the cable. This makes it lightweight and comfortable to use, while still feeling well-built.

The control panel consists of two sliding switches, where you can choose between three heat settings and two speed settings, plus a cold-shot button that sits just above them. Note that sliding switches can make it more difficult to adjust settings while using the dryer, compared to dryers that use a rocker switch.

In our tests, the hair dryer reached a maximum temperature of 49.2°C, which is fairly average for hair dryers – but those with particularly fragile hair or sensitive scalps may still want to stick to the lower heat settings. In addition, the Shine Therapy hair dryer’s maximum speed reached 18.6m/s, which is only slightly slower than its advertised top speed of 23m/s. Despite being a good 10m/s slower than the more expensive hair dryers we’ve tested, it didn’t feel slow by any stretch.

Perhaps the main selling point of this hair dryer is its use of ionic technology. According to Remington, it emits 90% more ions than a standard dryer, which it claims can help achieve frizz-free results. While the smoothing effect of ionic hair dryers is widely accepted, many consumers aren’t aware of how they work and the benefits negatively charged ions can bring.

In the most simple terms, ions are either positively or negatively charged molecules that can impact the way hair looks. For example, brushing or blow-drying hair causes hair strands to rub against one another and build static charges. This causes the individual strands to repel each other, resulting in static hair. When the hair is wet, the hair cuticle also swells, causing higher frictional forces between hair strands. This means that more positive charges build up on the hair while it’s blown about by a hair dryer, leading to flyaways, frizz and a greater risk of damage.

The negative ions emitted by ionic hair dryers help to reduce frizz and flyaways by counteracting any positive charges generated by the drying process. This seals the cuticle faster and reduces the size of water droplets, therefore requiring less heat, less energy and less time to dry hair. The result is shinier and, with long-term use, healthier hair.

Ionic technology isn’t for all hair types, though. People with very thin or fine hair sometimes find that ionic hair dryers tend to leave hair looking limp and flat. For this reason, some hair dryers, such as the ReVamp Progloss 5500, come with a switch to turn ionic tech on and off. Switch it off, and the hair dryer can blast volume into the roots of the hair; then turn it back on to smooth out the ends. Sadly, this isn’t possible with the Remington Shine Therapy; you have to spend a bit more money on a mid-range dryer for this level of flexibility.

That being said, the Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer comes with a few notable extras that make it more practical to use. For example, it has a removable grille for easy cleaning, as well as a hang-up loop for those who want their hair dryer to be easy to access at all times. A minor letdown is the length of the cord. At 1.8m, it’s plenty long enough for domestic use, and while a dryer at this price is unlikely to be found in salons, the cord isn’t quite long enough to offer complete freedom when styling someone else’s hair.

As a point of comparison, Remington’s mid-range hair dryer, the Remington Keratin Protect, retails at an average price of £44 and has a higher-quality feeling metallic finish. Its motor is only 2200W, it comes with an extra concentrator nozzle, and the grille is infused with keratin and almond oils to help keep hair shiny, although it has the same ion levels as the Shine Therapy. If you’re looking for a hair dryer that looks more high-end and gives a negligible increase in shine, it could be worth a look; but rest assured that the Shine Therapy has just as much drying and styling power.

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Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer review: What’s it like to use?

Like most hair dryers, the Remington Shine Therapy offers intuitive, simple controls on the handle, for adjusting heat and power/speed, plus a cool-shot button at the top. While they don’t exactly reinvent the wheel, the switches work well enough. The only minor complaint I had was that, as mentioned before, rocker switches would have made adjustments to the settings mid-styling far easier.

Prior to testing the Shine Therapy hair dryer, I shampooed and conditioned my hair, and then spritzed on a heat protection spray. Although not completely necessary when using a hair dryer, unlike when using heat-styling tools such as straighteners, using a heat protection spray is wise if you regularly heat style hair, or if your hair is damaged. Don’t apply it too liberally, though, since spraying on too much will weigh down the hair and make it feel greasier faster.

During use, the Remington hair dryer felt lightweight in the hand, proving easy to manoeuvre around my head. The concentrator and diffuser nozzles are easily attached to the hair dryer by pressing each attachment over the front grille of the main unit until it pops into a small groove. This clip-in mechanism ensured both nozzles stayed securely attached to the hair dryer during drying, plus the fact that they can be spun a full 360 degrees means you can achieve the perfect angle for a DIY blow-dry.

In terms of noise, the Shine Therapy was fairly loud, although no more so than the average hair dryer. For a model that’s quiet in operation, you will need deeper pockets.

You won’t need to worry about noise for long, though, because this hair dryer dries your hair fast. It blows out air at 18m/s, which, although around 10m/s slower than the fastest hair dryer we’ve tested, felt super-speedy. I used the highest speed and temperature settings, without a concentrator, to rough dry my hair, before blow-drying using a round brush. At this point, I added a concentrator and opted for a slower speed for controlled styling.

Note that Remington does become pretty hot on its highest setting, which although resulted in drying my hair in super-quick time, was uncomfortable on my scalp at times. Measuring the temperature the dryer reached using a metal surface and a thermal imaging camera, the testing surface reached 49.2°C.

Thankfully, there are two other temperature settings available, although this will increase the drying time. Nevertheless, the mid-temperature is plenty hot enough to dry hair, while the lowest setting feels a little too cold. In fact, this setting feels remarkably similar to the temperature of the cool-shot setting, which is more temperate than actively cold. It also took at least 10 seconds for the cool-shot button to reduce the temperature of the airflow from the higher heat setting. This is typical for budget hair dryers, too, but shouldn’t be an issue for those who are patient.

The combination of high heat, ionic technology and fast speeds meant that I could blow-dry my hair in under 10 minutes. Once dried and brushed through, my hair looked healthy and surprisingly shiny, considering the use of the high heat setting. On another occasion, when I properly blow-dried my hair with a round brush, I found the high heat of the dryer paired with the concentrator nozzle allowed me to shape hair easily, and it added a good amount of movement and volume to the hair, too.

Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer review: Should you buy it?

All in all, the Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer proves that you don’t need to spend big to get a decent hair dryer. The sheer amount of ions produced by this model will make frizz a thing of the past, allowing you to create smoother, shinier styles without damaging your locks. Blow-drying hair is quick, and the diffuser and concentrator attachments allow you to create sleek blowouts, volume at the root, while also easily diffusing curls.

Having said that, the Remington Shine Therapy hair dryer lacks the finesse of its pricier counterparts, plus it would benefit from rocker switches and a more powerful cool shot. All things considered, though, you won’t find a better dryer at this price point.

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