T3 Featherweight Hair Dryer

True to my MO, this review for T3's original superstar the Featherweight Hair Dryer is only, ohh, a decade late ^.^" Even then, it took the purchase of a brand new Featherweight Compact earlier this month (will post later, hopefully sooner than a decade :P) for me to realize I'd never reviewed the original Featherweight both hubby and I have been using for the past 10+ years since we got it in the fall of 2009.

Let's go back to the beginning. The very first T3 hair dryer we owned was the Overnight Dryer I bought in the spring of 2008 and reviewed later that fall. It was a nifty little dryer and let me count the ways:

- Super lightweight: 12oz.!

- Travel-ready with a folding handle and dual voltage

- Fast: it dried my wet shoulder-length hair in 7 minutes--on the lowest heat and speed setting!

- Gentle: it gave my full-but-fine and heat-sensitive hair shine and softness and never any damage despite frequency of use (several times a week)

Fast forward to December 2008 when hubby and I went on a family trip overseas. Despite my careful packing, the folding handle broke. T3 Warranty Services sent us a brand new Overnight Dryer in February 2009, but by October of that year, this second one had broken again. The fan inside the dryer had snapped off.

This time, T3 Warranty Services upgraded us to this original Featherweight Hair Dryer (our shows Model #83808). We received it in November 2009 and never parted with it again. Since then, we used it several times a week for years. Starting about a year or two before my little one was born, I blow-dried every. single. night. That's some 10+ years of serious use, folks. Among every day kitchen appliances like the electric water heater and rice cooker, this hair dryer is one of our family's work horses.

How does it compare to the Overnight Dryer? Well, let's see:

- Just as lightweight, despite being "full size": 13oz.!

- Not meant for overseas travel, as in no folding handle and no dual voltages

- Just as fast: still dries my wet hair in 7 minutes on the lowest heat and speed setting, or sooner whenever I cut my hair short

- Just as gentle: since I started using T3 hair dryers, split ends have become so rare I use them as an indicator for trimming. Whenever I see a split end or two, I know my hair has gotten too long and I need to go get it trimmed ^.^"

- Cost more: it retailed for $200 (versus $150 for the Overnight)

- Quiet: oh sooo quiet

So you see, the full size Featherweight traded the travel-ready features and the additional $50 retail for the quiet. Hubby and I are more than OK with the quiet, then and now, especially when we had our little guy, especially more so going forward because we're about to have another little guy xD But of course T3 has discontinued this hair dryer :( The only models available currently are the Featherweight Compact, the Cura, and the Cura Luxe. I'll post about the Cura Luxe soon too.  

Front and back view.

Now you're probably wondering why I bought the new Featherweight Compact. Well, just this past December, as I finished up my nightly hair-drying, the Featherweight's plug fell out of the outlet (admittedly, that outlet is a bit loose). I couldn't catch it fast enough so the plug dropped to the floor and snapped in half T.T I managed to tape it back together with electrical tape and while the dryer still works, I don't know when it's going to quit on me because of the faulty plug.

So I went shopping for a backup hair dryer, just in case. I don't blow dry my hair every night because I enjoy it. Rather, it's because I can't afford the time to sit around and towel-dry, or worse, wait for my full head of hair to air-dry. So there you have it, my 10-years-too-late review for a fantastic hair dryer that's no longer available. Had the plug not break, this review might be even later because replacing that beloved hair dryer was the last thing on my mind. Ha.

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