Drybar Double Shot Blow Dryer Brush review: we test the cult tool

I am a blow dryer brush girl through and through, not being skilled enough to maneuver a round brush and a hair dryer at the same time. I’ve tried many over the years, and this Drybar Double Shot Blow Dryer Brush review is going to introduce you to what is (spoiler alert!) one of my favorites on the market. 

You may have heard the name Drybar in relation to blow dry bar chains dotted all over the USA (and more recently at six locations in England and Scotland), but their shiny tools are available to purchase for at-home use, too. The biggest blow dryer brush of the bunch is the Double Shot, a big fat hot brush for smoothing and styling, and one of the best hair dryer brushes on the market.

As I’m so familiar with this particular tool, I thought it fair to write up an in-depth analysis to help you decide if it’s worth investing in. Below is my full Drybar Double Shot Brush review to immerse you in how it works and how well it performs.

Our beauty editor's Drybar Double Shot Blow Dryer Brush review

Drybar The Double Shot Blow Dryer Brush design

The first thing to note about Drybar’s Double Shot is its cheerful, bright yellow color scheme – a signature for the brand. Offset with mid-gray, it’s a fun choice if you want something different from more common black or white blow dry brush designs.

With its head measuring 2.4”/61mm, the Double Shot has the biggest head of Drybar’s three blow dryer brushes, making it great for larger sections of hair or long hairstyles generally – so if you're after a smaller brush head like the one that I put to the test in my Dyson Airwrap review, this isn't the tool for you. The larger, flat sides of its oval shape are great for smoothing, while the overall size is ideal for creating big, bouncy sections when curved at an angle. It also features a mix of bristle types, which work to catch and keep hold of your hair to dry and smooth it out. A smooth operator indeed. 

The handle is quite big, but despite its size, it’s not at all heavy or cumbersome, with a slight hourglass shape that makes it easy to hold in the middle. The three drying settings (cool with high speed, medium heat and low speed, and higher heat and high speed) are changed by twisting a ring at the base of the handle near the vent. There’s also built-in ionic technology, a popular inclusion in many of the best hair dryers that works to reduce frizz in your hair for a smoother finish. So far, so good. 

What attachments come with the Drybar Double Shot Blow Dryer Brush?

Drybar’s Double Shot brush is an all-in-one deal, so there are no other attachments included in the box or available to purchase separately if you want to change up your style. What you see is what you get – simplicity – which will be a downside for those looking for lots of styling options but a draw for others who want a one-and-done styler.

For those who think its voluminous brush head would be too much, the brand does have two other smaller-sized blow dryer brushes available to US shoppers – The Single Shot and The Half Shot, both of which also retail for $155 each.

How well does The Double Shot perform?

Onto the crux of my Drybar Double Shot Blow Dryer Brush review – how well does it perform? Blow dryer brushes are all designed to be easy to use, but this tool feels especially so. Thanks to its low weight, styling doesn’t feel like an arm workout, and I found that it glided through my hair with ease.

When used on the highest setting it also dried my hair quite quickly, requiring only a few passes through my hair when damp to get it completely smooth and dry. The finished results were also noticeably smooth and shiny, no doubt thanks to that aforementioned ionic technology, but I also think the distribution of the vents comes into play here. 

I like hot brush heads to be on the larger size, partly because I have a lot of hair, so it ticked my boxes on that front, too. Thanks to the flat sides, the brush can easily create both straighter styles with a bit of movement or, when continuously rotating it or wrapping sections of hair around the brush, a more rounded bouncy blow dry look. 

What's not good about it?

The dense bristles’ varying length makes for a very sleek finish, catching all of your hairs to dry and style them, but there is a downside to this. Any hairs that come loose and get tangled up in the brush are more difficult to remove than they would be from a brush with fewer bristles – but that’s hardly the end of the world and, if anything incentivizes you to clean it more regularly.   

As is the case with many blow dryer brushes, Drybar’s Double Shot is rather noisy on its highest speed setting and, if you aren’t a fan of bright yellow, there are no other options on offer here. It’s the brand’s signature color, and all of its tools are the same shade, which may not be to all tastes. And as already mentioned, this is an all-in-one tool with no other attachment heads to play with. 

Drybar Blow Dryer Brush review: My verdict

By now I hope it's clear that I recommend this blow dryer brush, but there's a reason I've used it to style my hair time and time again – several, actually. I like the large brush head, it’s easy to use, it dries hair fairly quickly, and it yields a smooth finish. Not only that but my DIY blow dry skills have been complimented after using it – in fact, I’ve even been asked if I’ve just been to the salon for an actual blow dry on more than one occasion. In an ideal world, yes, it might come with attachments to give you options, but I’ve recommended it to several people looking to purchase a good hot brush, and that’s about as good an endorsement as you’ll get from me.

So if, like me, your preference is a larger barrel, you want sleek and shiny results, and your budget for a blow dryer brush is around the $150/£120 mark, I can't see why you wouldn't get on with Drybar's The Double Shot. It's on my shortlist of the best on the market (and believe me, I've tried a lot of them!)