Dyson Supersonic Travel Hair Dryer

Technical details

The rundown

The Dyson Supersonic Travel Hair Dryer is the stripped-down sibling of the regular Supersonic — same digital motor, same ionic conditioning, but engineered into a folding barrel that actually fits in a toiletry kit. At 1300W it won't match the 1600W of the home version, but it delivers results that most hotel dryers can't approach. The attachments are magnetic and snap on without fiddling. The fold mechanism is solid — no wobble, no flex. What you're paying for is not magic: it's the combination of motor quality, ionic technology, and a form factor that actually travels.

Packability

The dryer folds at the barrel, cutting its footprint from roughly 9 inches to about 5.4 inches collapsed. At 335 grams it's light enough that you don't feel it shift the weight of a carry-on. The included pouch holds the dryer, cord, and both attachments as a single unit — so you're not hunting for the concentrator at the bottom of your bag at 6am. That said, it's larger than a simple cord-wrap compact dryer: the pouch takes up roughly the space of a large hardcover book. You're trading packing minimalism for performance, and that's a conscious tradeoff.

How it compares

Against the full Dyson Supersonic: you lose 300W and the wider range of attachments, gain the fold and 100 grams less weight. For home use the full Supersonic is the better purchase. For travel, the tradeoff is clearly worth it. Against budget compact dryers like the Conair 1875W Travel ($20): the Conair is louder, heavier, has no attachments, and produces visible frizz on coarse or thick hair — but it works perfectly well for fine or short hair that doesn't need styling. Against mid-range travel dryers like the BaByliss Pro Nano ($60): the BaByliss is quieter and cheaper but lacks ionic conditioning and the Dyson's airflow quality. The Dyson wins on results; the BaByliss wins on value for anyone who doesn't have demanding hair.

Five weeks of use

Tested across five weeks and four states — hotel bathrooms in Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, and New York. Outlet positions varied from convenient to ridiculous; the 6.2-foot cord handled every configuration without needing an extension. Drying time on thick hair averaged 8–10 minutes with the concentrator, compared to 15+ on hotel dryers. The flyaway smoother reduced frizz on the last pass enough to skip the separate smoothing product. The dryer stayed cool at the body even after extended use. One consistent note: the noise. It's not louder than a standard home dryer, but it's meaningfully louder than the quieter Dyson home units — if you're in a hotel room with a light sleeper, you're doing this before they wake up.

Who should buy this

Buy it if your hair genuinely needs styling — long, thick, coarse, or chemically treated hair that produces bad results from hotel dryers — and you travel more than a few times a year. The $279 price point justifies itself if you'd otherwise pay for professional blowouts on trips or pack a full-size Supersonic and check a bag just to protect it. Skip it if you have fine or short hair that a $20 compact handles fine, if you travel rarely, or if you're doing ultralight carry-on packing where every ounce is negotiated.