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- Quiet and fast drying
- Healthy results
- Precise temperature selection
- Expensive
- Limited to two speeds
Temperature controls on hair dryers have always been vague, usually displayed by a series of wobbly ‘heat’ lines, or colour-coded gradients of yellow, amber and red. There’s no consistency between different hair dryers, so you never really know how much heat you’re using on your hair.
Cloud Nine is best known for its hair straighteners that offer a range of heat settings tailored to different hair types. The Cloud Nine Airshot Pro Adapt hair dryer continues this philosophy, allowing users to select from 17 precise temperatures, instead of stabbing in the dark. In theory, this avoids excess heat damage and helps protect the strength and quality of hair.
I was a big fan of Cloud Nine’s previous hair dryer – the Airshot Pro – when it first launched, thanks to its light build and quiet operation. I was hoping the Adapt could live up to its predecessor’s glory and perhaps add that extra hair health edge Cloud Nine is known for. In my tests, I was surprised by how intuitive the controls were and loved its gentle drying abilities. Still, I don’t think that everyone needs to spend so much to get a great hair dryer.
Cloud Nine Airshot Pro Adapt hair dryer review: What do you get for the money?
At its full price, the Cloud Nine Airshot Pro Adapt costs a pound under £400. That’s a significant investment, but you’re getting a lot for your money here: it’s the only hair dryer I’ve encountered that has this many temperature settings. They start at 45°C and stretch up to 125°C in 5°C increments, giving a whopping 17 temperature options, where most hair dryers have around three. The temperature is set using an intuitive scroll wheel on the handle, in the centre of which is a digital display that shows the temperature. On its website, Cloud Nine offers some temperature suggestions depending on your hair type.
The hair dryer also has a thermal safety cut-out that stops the hair dryer if it detects overheating. I never experienced this in my tests, but it’s good to know it’s there as a safety net, and that it resets when unplugged and fully cooled. When you’re ready to get styling again, the dryer’s memory function remembers its most recent temperature setting so you can carry on styling without needing to readjust.
Inside the hair dryer, you’ll find a 1800W digital motor that spins at 110,000rpm, but the speed settings are in stark contrast to the temperature range. There are only two – fast and slow – and these are conveniently controlled via the power switch. For me, it’s less necessary to have a huge range of speeds; I’ll delve into why this is later on.
The dryer’s housing is a sleek matte black, which is stylish but marks easily if you have residual hair styling products on your hands. You’ll also get three attachments in the box: a slim concentrator, a wide concentrator, and a diffuser, which is the perfect selection for most hair types. Thankfully, the cable is a generous 3m long, which should be long enough for most people.
How I tested the Cloud Nine Airshot Pro Adapt hair dryer
Testing hair dryers, such as the Cloud Nine Airshot Pro Adapt, is more complex and time-consuming than you’d think. It starts with taking various measurements of the dryer’s fastest wind speeds, its minimum and maximum noise levels, and its weight with and without its wire. These give me clear ways to compare dryers and assess their value.
The rest of the tests are usage tests, which involve checking how comfortable it is to hold, how intuitive and accessible the controls are and how varied the temperatures are. I’ll rough dry my hair multiple times to test the speed, and on another occasion, I’ll test the dryer’s precision by suffering through a round brush blow dry. Finally, after drying, I assess the appearance and feel of my hair.
What’s it like to use?
For a hair dryer with so much scope for adjustments, the Airshot Pro Adapt is surprisingly easy to use. The temperature control dial is tactile and easily reachable during styling, and each incremental increase gives a subtle, but noticeable difference in temperature. As the dial is easy to knock during styling, there’s a temperature lock button on the handle, which was ideal once I’d found my preferred styling temperature. The cool shot is sensibly placed on the front of the handle, as you’d expect, so there’s no need to change up your drying technique.
Similarly, as the speed control switch is also the power switch, the speed was easy to control throughout. The two speed settings are vastly different from one another, which meant it was easy for me to precisely style shorter sections of my hair with a round brush, or blast my hair with faster speeds to get it dry as quickly as possible. Many hair dryers offer more speed options, but having tested this, I think the two fast and slow options should be sufficient.
The Airshot Pro Adapt also performs brilliantly in terms of air speed, with an output of up to 35m/s recorded in my tests. That was fast enough to rough dry my hair in around five minutes and to create a round brush blow dry in 15, thanks to its sensible, comfortable controls. Its volume levels weren’t too bad either, ranging from 86 to 89dBA: louder than the original Airshot Pro, but not as loud as the GHD Speed. The fast speeds, paired with the dryer’s light, evenly balanced 400g weight mean you won’t get any arm strain here, either.
The attachment range also gave just the right amount of versatility for all hair types and, since they’re magnetic, they were secure and near effortless to change.
How well does it work?
As I’ve come to expect from Cloud Nine products, the results were fantastic. Even after a slap-dash rough dry, my hair felt smooth and healthy, with no frizz, thanks to the built-in ionic technology. After using a round brush, I was able to create a great amount of volume in my hair, with a nice shine down the lengths. The shape I gave my ends lasted well into the next few days, making the longer styling time well worth it.
I’m nitpicking here, but the only complaint I have is that, since I have thick hair that isn’t dyed, the Cloud Nine recommendation permitted me to use the highest temperature. This felt fairly hot on my sensitive scalp. For a rough dry, this was fine, but I opted to reduce the heat when styling my hair in smaller sections.
Should you buy the Cloud Nine Airshot Pro Adapt hair dryer?
If you regularly spend lots of time and money at the salon maintaining blonde hair, extensions or chemically treated hair, then the Airshot Pro Adapt’s precise and varied heat settings are perfect for keeping your hair in its best condition.
It’s suitable for all hair types, with a diverse range of attachments, and knowing exactly how much heat you’re using should give you great results as well as some much-needed peace of mind. Its closest competitor in this respect is the Gtech Dryonic, which is half the price and displays an exact temperature, but only has four heat options.
However, if you don’t have dyed, treated or fragile hair, there’s really no need to spend this much on a hair dryer. The cheaper Cloud Nine Airshot Pro would suit these hair types just fine – plus it comes with automatic curling ‘volumisers’ that make bouncy blow dries effortless. Sadly, these attachments aren’t cross-compatible, but I live in hope that Adapt-compatible volumizers will materialise soon…
