T3 Cura Luxe Hair Dryer

In my search for a replacement of our beloved T3 Featherweight Hair Dryer, I initially bought their hottest and latest: the Cura Luxe Hair Dryer (the one we had listed model #76843).

Actually, I wanted the standard Cura and not the Luxe. Why? Because we didn't (and still don't!) need 5 heat settings or any of the bells and whistles like the volume booster switch, auto pause sensor, lock-in cool shot, blah blah blah. What we needed was another work horse that will sustain us through another ten years of every day use. I spotted the Cura on sale on Sephora's website one morning and made a mental note to myself to buy it that night after our little guy went to bed. When I checked later that night, the sale was over :( Boo. Hiss.

So I went directly to T3 where both the standard and the Luxe models were still on sale. The thing was, I didn't know how either of these hair dryers would fare, and I didn't want to go through the hassle of having to re-box the darn thing and drive it out to USPS or UPS or wherever the drop off would be in the case I have to send it back to T3. So I went to Nordstrom instead, because they would match the price. The problem was that Nordstrom only carried the Luxe and not the basic Cura, and that was how we ended up with the Cura Luxe.

Notice in the beginning of this post I said we had the Cura Luxe. TL;DR: I returned the darn thing. 

After 3 weeks of nightly use, both hubby and I never warmed up to it:

- Sure, the new exterior was pretty, shiny, and sturdy to the touch, it was also heavier than expected: 16.2oz. That's a full pound, folks, versus the Featherweight's 13oz. and the Overnight's 12oz.!

- Despite all the claims of speedy drying, it took much longer to dry my hair: 12+ minutes on the lowest heat and speed setting, versus the 7 minutes for both the Featherweight and the Overnight. That's almost twice as long!

- Gentle, yes: it made my hair super soft and shiny the next day.

- But it also cost a lot more: retailed for $285, versus $200 for the Featherweight and $150 for the Overnight. Even after Nordstrom's price-matching, I still paid $240 for ours.

- Not-so-quiet: actually, it was so loud hubby came into the bathroom in a startle asking me if that was the new hair dryer. Unfortunately, yes indeed it was.

So I ran it back out to Nordstrom and returned it. Boo. Hiss. Onward with the search.

Cura Luxe versus the original Featherweight (left) and the newest Featherweight Compact (right).