# So what's the deal with "ionic" hair dryers?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 22, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005 "2009-04-22T19:22:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/1 "2009-04-22T19:22:34Z")
I just got a Conair “ionic shine” “ionic ceramic” blow dryer. Is there anything to this ionic business? What does it actually do? What practical difference does it make? And for that matter, what is the “ceramic” all about?
Unless I misread it, and the word is actually “ironic.” _So you think you can style that mop? Yeah right! As if!_
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/2 "2009-04-22T20:32:17Z")
> [@Johanna](#):
>
> Unless I misread it, and the word is actually “ironic.” _So you think you can style that mop? Yeah right! As if!_
Well, I misread the title as ‘iconic’. I imagined one of those things with the big dome on top that women used to sit under in the '50s and '60s.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/3 "2009-04-22T20:53:40Z")
Wasn’t there some Sticky Rule that the first response to a GQ can’t be joke post? Or is that an unwritten rule? You have to restrain your urge until after someone posts a serious answer, then you can jump in with the jokes-- right?
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/4 "2009-04-22T21:10:33Z")
Apparently not.
“Have to” is strong language.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/5 "2009-04-22T21:15:26Z")
The ceramic thing should be a diffuser. It won’t get as hot\* as a metal diffuser, so it won’t burn you/your hair.
The ionic bit sounds like a bunch of hooey, but they make industrial versions and they seem to be selling rather well. In theory, they emit charged particles which cancel out the static electricity that makes your hair go _WHOOOOSHPOOF_ as soon as you step outside.
\*It will get just as hot as a metal diffuser. It just won’t feel as hot.
ETA: I think it’s okay for the first answer to be a joke if the OP is also pretty tongue in cheek.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/6 "2009-04-22T21:33:16Z")
> [@Johanna](#):
>
> Wasn’t there some Sticky Rule that the first response to a GQ can’t be joke post? Or is that an unwritten rule? You have to restrain your urge until after someone posts a serious answer, then you can jump in with the jokes-- right?
It wasn’t a joke. And I was responding directly to a part of the OP.
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### Author:  [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/7 "2009-04-22T23:34:28Z")
I understand that the ionic hair dryers are intended to break up the water on your hair–so in theory one big glob of water (that’s a scientific term) will be broken up into eighteen tiny globs of water and therefore dry more quickly and easily. I think. That is, at least, what I understood the process to be when I bought my ionic hair dryer. From reading on the back of the box.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/8 "2009-04-22T23:39:58Z")
“Ionic” is one of those words that can be freely translated as “THIS IS A SCAM”, for the most part.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/9 "2009-04-23T07:02:38Z")
Well, it was practically the cheapest one in the store. So I couldn’t have been scammed too bad.
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### Author:  [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/10 "2009-04-23T13:21:57Z")
Yeah, scam is a pretty strong word when they’re not any more expensive than any other hair dryer. Mine, too, was the cheapest I found.
I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference between that one and my regular hair dryer\*, though my hair is pretty short so it might not make a difference anyway.
\*I don’t make a practice of having 2 hairdryers, but the regular one came for free when I got some hair products at my salon.
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### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/11 "2009-04-23T13:36:42Z")
And here I thought this would be a question about hipster hair styles. Though, what exactly would ‘ironic’ within scare quotes mean?
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/12 "2009-04-23T16:00:05Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#):
>
> And here I thought this would be a question about hipster hair styles. Though, what exactly would ‘ironic’ within scare quotes mean?
Sincerely, of course. It’s an ironic use of irony!
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/13 "2009-04-23T16:37:16Z")
I didn’t see any difference in the dry time, but I did get a lot less static with the ionic one.
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### Author:  [@IaMoDiNaRy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IaMoDiNaRy)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-ionic-hair-dryers/494005/14 "2016-01-29T00:00:16Z")
Before anyone else feels the need to point this out, YES! I do know this is an old thread… I didn’t think it was necessary to junk up the board any more than it already is with duplicate threads… I’m asking basically the same question but i totally think there is something to it.
Anyway, I Just wanted to add my recent experience with blow dryers to the mix. I’m the kind of person that follows the old adage of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” way of thinking when it comes to most appliances. So… I’ve had the same ole two hair blow dryers for the past several years. A regular size dryer and a smaller travel size. They blew hot air, dried hair, mission accomplished …period.
Unfortunately, the last one died a couple of days ago. I “thought” my dryer did a decent enough job, though my hair was never as smooth and pretty as my hair stylist seemed to be able to make it. I always attributed this to her “superior” experience and/or hair products.
I went shopping for a new one and chose a Revlon turbo styler with ionic technology promising “silky smooth results”. After using my new blow dryer, my hair looked wonderful. Absolutely zero frizz! NONE! My hair looked just like I walked out the salon. So, for me and my hair, this blow dryer worked much better than my old ones. I always thought all that crap was marketing hooey, the same as everyone that responded to this thread previously.
What say you? Those of you that may be knowledgeable in such areas? What blow dryer magic was at work here?