Hotel Hair Dryers Are Notoriously Bad. This Packable Travel Dryer Is Better. | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Hannah Frye

Hannah Frye is a writer covering beauty and style. She swears by clothing rental services and won’t leave the house with less than three lip products.

My friends would scoff at this statement, but I used to be a light packer. Once upon a time, I put my trust in free-to-me hotel amenities. Body soap? Covered. An iron? They always have that. Hair dryer? Guaranteed—but it’s probably a really bad one.

I picture the tiny cream-colored hair dryer that resides in hotel bathrooms, and a shiver runs down my spine. What would be a somewhat enjoyable step in my getting-ready routine became rushed, frustrating, and unsatisfactory due to the archaic hotel blow dryer. The air was never hot or powerful enough. The cord was always too short. My hair would end up looking mid at best.

Because of such conditions, I’m now known to bring my large-and-in-charge Conair InfinitiPro on practically every trip. It’s heavy, and it doesn’t pack well, but it’s better than hotel dryers. Despite its undesirable heft, it has been a pick in our best hair dryers guide since 2020 because it checks the two most important boxes: It’s hot and fast.

So a tiny-but-mighty hair dryer, as the Panasonic Nanoe Compact Quick-Dry Hair Dryer seems to be, is intriguing to me at first sight. This foldable hair dryer claims to help you maintain salon-quality style while you’re traveling—a veritable dream for me, as someone who uses heat-styling tools multiple times a week to achieve the smooth look I like.

This little dryer runs on a cooler temperature and has an oscillating head to distribute heat more evenly. It’s lightweight and quiet, but it lacks travel essentials such as attachments and dual voltage.

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While this dryer has been around for a few years (Panasonic patented the dryer’s technology in 2005), the company more recently rolled out a limited-time, complementary designer bag from New York City–based luxury-fashion label Monse that’s available for purchase in a bundle with the dryer on the Panasonic site. The buzzy collab is what put the dryer on our radar.

I tested this hair dryer for three weeks on my thick and wavy hair. I experimented with various methods and brushes to work toward the claimed salon-quality results, and I packed it in a few different bags to test how compact it really is. Because I already owned our budget pick, the InfinitiPro by Conair Quick Styling Salon Hair Dryer, I compared the results of a rough dry using the same paddle brush with both dryers.

I also paid a visit to a professional stylist to get their take on this unique dryer, and I consulted our in-house grooming writer, who has tested hair dryers for more than three years.

This little hair dryer is light—under a pound without the cord when I weighed it, in contrast to the Conair InfinitiPro, which weighs 1.3 pounds. I even tossed the small Panasonic dryer into my work tote and forgot it was there since it weighs less than my on-the-go toiletry bag (embarrassing but true).

My hair takes forever to dry, so I always use the highest setting on any dryer I try, which usually means a lot of heat and noise. But this dryer was surprisingly quiet and felt cool on my head, even on its highest setting. I didn’t even need my noise-cancelling earphones to drown out the sound. (I normally use earbuds when I dry my hair because I hate the noise.)

The standout feature is the oscillating nozzle, which hairstylist Rogerio Cavalcante called “a brilliant idea,” noting that “it kind of does a rough dry for you.” A rough dry (you might call it an express or quick dry) is a fast and casual dry to get water out of towel-dried hair before going in with more tools and intention to produce a silky, shaped blowout.

With the compact Panasonic dryer, instead of your shaking your wrist to dry your hair, the cap moves back and forth, reducing hot spots and easing wrist work.

However, the cap is not intuitive to use, so be sure to read the manual first. As the instructions explain, you can pop the cap in and out to toggle the oscillation function.

Although this oscillation function is great for rough drying, it’s less effective for achieving a silky blowout, which is why the manual suggests that you press in the air-concentrator nozzle for styling purposes, as shown below. This way, you get that uninterrupted, focused heat and airflow necessary for smoothing down lifted cuticles, which make strands look puffy and frizzy.

The directions also suggest blasting your hair on the coolest setting as the final step in your blowout, which I’ve been doing for a while per a recommendation from a hairstylist to reduce frizz. It also helps dry the upper-lip sweat that unavoidably accumulates while I blow-dry, which is the real reason I do it.

For better or worse, this compact Panasonic hair dryer doesn’t get as hot as many great hair dryers. For reference, Panasonic says this dryer reaches 194 degrees Fahrenheit, a lower temperature than that of our top pick, the Rusk W8less Professional 2000 Watt Dryer, which exceeds 245 °F, and slightly lower than that of the budget pick I’ve been using for years, the InfinitiPro by Conair Quick Styling Salon Hair Dryer, which reaches 205 °F.

Cavalcante told me that the lower temperature is likely to hinder a silky blowout on curly and coily strands and will definitely take longer to dry a full head of hair. However, for those looking to reduce their hair’s heat exposure, or those who prefer a cooler dryer in general, this could be a good thing.

Still, the Panasonic Nanoe dryer took longer than my Conair InfinitiPro to get my hair completely dry. The process from wet to dry took the Panasonic dryer 14 minutes and the Conair dryer 11 minutes. Not a huge difference, but worth noting.

That said, for my particular hair type, this hair dryer worked quite well in comparison with my Conair InfinitiPro. Although I love my ugly, budget-friendly orange hair dryer for being hot, fast, and efficient, it doesn’t deliver a great rough dry, which is why I tend to use a heated styling brush the next morning to smooth things out.

Every time I’ve used this Panasonic dryer so far for a rough dry, my hair has turned out significantly less puffy, which means I end up using less heat on it for next-day styling. For me, this is huge. If I can save time in the morning and cut back on heat damage, I’m here for it.

I showed Cavalcante these photos and asked for his expert opinion: Why such a big difference? He told me that because the Panasonic dryer runs at a slightly lower temperature and utilizes the company’s patented nanoe technology, hair is more likely to feel hydrated and smooth, reducing frizz as a result.

Panasonic claims that its proprietary nanoe technology transforms moisture from the air into particles that can penetrate the inner hair follicle. Water is pulled into the dryer from the air and then added back to the air, blowing out through the nanoe outlet.

While that may help to keep hair hydrated (and help it look smoother as a result), Panasonic states in the dryer’s user manual: “The effects of nanoe might not be felt by the following people. People with crimpy hair, strong curly hair, very smooth hair, short hair, or who have had a straightening perm in the last three or four months.”

Note that this nanoe function (the name is trademarked) is a proprietary technology, not a scientifically accepted term for any kind of microparticle.

Although I can feel slightly damp air coming from the nanoe outlet on the dryer, it’s hard to say whether this, or simply the cooler temperature, is the true source of the silkier blowout.

Still, if I use a concentrator or dry my hair in sections with a round brush, I can nail a silky blowout with my cheaper Conair hair dryer. But for a rough dry, the compact Panasonic dryer yielded better results.

The Panasonic dryer is, as advertised, quite compact. You can fold it at the point of connection where the handle meets the main section. It transforms into a tiny rectangle, which makes it easier to pack.

As I noted earlier, it’s lightweight, but it isn’t necessarily lighter than other similarly priced hair dryers such as our top pick, the Rusk W8less Professional 2000 Watt Dryer (both weigh just under a pound without the cord). Wirecutter senior editor Kalee Thompson has been using our top pick as a travel dryer for years even though it isn’t particularly small.

But travel isn’t the only reason the Japanese electronics company made this dryer so compact. “[In] Japan, our housing situation is different from North America: smaller bathrooms,” Hanna Kushioka, the product manager for personal care at Panasonic, said in an interview. “You want to save your space as much as possible.”

She also told me that foldable dryers, while less common in North America, are pretty popular in Asian countries for similar reasons.

If you’re particularly low on bathroom space, this foldable function will make sense for you. If not, the dryer’s foldability will come in handy only during travel.

And for a travel hair dryer, it isn’t all that travel-friendly. Sure, it’s light and foldable, but it doesn't come with any attachments such as a diffuser or concentrator, limiting which styles you can do on your vacation.

I personally wish it had a diffuser attachment, even one that I would have to buy separately, because I like to embrace and enhance my waves sometimes. Having to bring both a diffuser and a hair dryer on vacation doesn’t seem that great for travel, but that’s just for my needs. If you don’t use attachments, this doesn’t matter.

It isn’t a dual-voltage dryer, either, which means you need to pick up a converter to use it in other countries. This is common with hair dryers, but for a travel dryer, it would be nice to have dual voltage.

To understand how a unique dryer like this Panasonic model might measure up to our top picks, I consulted Wirecutter senior staff writer Nancy Redd, who specializes in grooming and authored our extensive guide to the best hair dryers. “A great hair dryer is fast and hot. Over years of testing, we’ve yet to find dryers that rival our top picks in terms of speed and heat,” Nancy said.

This Panasonic dryer doesn’t outperform our top picks in those respects—there’s no doubt about that. Instead it falls into a niche: It’s a lightweight, somewhat travel-friendly hair dryer that blows cooler air than most and may help hair retain some moisture thanks to that proprietary nanoe technology. To be fair, we can’t confirm that this function will make a difference for everyone, and the manual states that its benefits might not be felt on every hair type.

If you’re looking for a tiny dryer and don’t mind compromising on dry time or styling capabilities, the Panasonic Nanoe Compact Quick-Dry Hair Dryer is a good choice with a fun oscillating nozzle that may take some of the work out of the process. If you love the oscillating nozzle and don’t need a smaller option, consider the full-size Panasonic Nanoe Hair Dryer with Oscillating Quick-Dry Nozzle, which comes with attachments and retails for $160.

Personally, I prefer this compact dryer to my Conair workhorse, and I think I’d like the full-size option even more. It makes the process of drying my hair less sweaty and cuts back on frizz, even if it doesn’t dry my hair as fast. I never thought that a cooler dryer would work for my hair, but this one pleasantly surprised me.

Still, if I am going to shell out $100 for a travel hair dryer, I’d opt for something with a few different attachments to get more for my money. For now, my eyes are peeled for the perfect hair dryer for my needs, and I’ll let you know if I find it.

This article was edited by Hannah Rimm and Catherine Kast.

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Hannah Frye

Hannah Frye is a staff writer reporting on beauty and style for Wirecutter. She was previously an editor at Mindbodygreen. She has been using skin-care items since she was 11 (which, she says, is a fact, not a recommendation). When she isn’t making new Pinterest boards or shopping for vintage clothes on eBay, she’s testing vegan recipes in her Brooklyn apartment.