I found a hair dryer that dries super fast and weighs less than a pound, and it's made my morning routine so much easier

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• I've avoided using hair dryers regularly because of how long it takes to dry my hair and how heavy most hair dryers are.
• Usually, I air dry my hair, but some studies have suggested that letting your hair air dry may cause damage, and sometimes I don't have time to let my hair dry naturally.

I was a competitive swimmer for 14 years of my life and swam throughout high school, which meant I had to wash and dry my hair a lot. Even now, I have to wash and dry it at least three times a week due to working out and just existing, really.

With that said, blow-drying my hair has always been at the top of the list of my least favorite things activities. I typically spend upwards of 15 minutes drying my hair with a heavy hair dryer. Within roughly the last year, I've become so averse to blow-drying my hair that I just let it dry naturally.

My hair is fairly straight, so I don't have to do too much work to style it the way I want. But because it's on the thicker side, it's typically a hassle to get it completely dry either way (and no, apparently it doesn't matter how long or short my hair is — it still takes forever to dry).

Read more: The best hair dryers you can buy

I usually wash my hair at night, so I have time to spare when letting it air dry. Recently, though, I began to worry that letting my hair air dry so often was damaging it. Plus, if I'm in a rush to dry my hair, I have to resort to using a hair dryer. So I set out to find a new hair dryer that was lightweight and, ideally, could cut down on the time that it takes to dry my hair.

Bio Ionic's 10x UltraLight Speed Dryer was the answer I needed. It weighs less than a pound and dries my hair 5 times faster than any other hair dryer I've used.

After learning more about the different candidates for my newest hair dryer, I settled on Bio Ionic's 10x UltraLight Speed Dryer. This hair dryer weighs less than a pound and can dry hair in less than 10 minutes, which solved my two most significant issues with using a hair dryer. At $295, this speed dryer costs almost five times more than the most expensive hair dryer I've ever purchased, but it also dries my hair five times faster, so I'd say that justifies the cost.

There are three heat settings on this dryer: low, medium, and high. Out of fear of heat-styling products, I stick to the low and medium settings for the sake of not over-drying or damaging my hair.

With every other hair dryer I've used, it usually takes me a minimum of 15 minutes to dry my hair, but this UltraLight Speed Dryer can completely dry my hair in as little as three minutes.

The technology behind the UltraLight Speed Dryer's ability to dry hair so quickly is unique: Bio Ionic claims that a combination of natural volcanic rock and a mineral complex creates moisturizing heat that is emitted by the hair dyer and seals the cuticle to smooth hair. I honestly can't tell the difference in how my hair looks when using any hair dryer. But my hair does feel smoother after I use the UltraLight Speed Dryer, whereas it will sometimes feel very dry when I use other dryers.

The UltraLight Speed Dryer has a 1,800-watt motor and uses far infrared heat that, according to Bio Ionic, dries hair up to 50% faster than hair dryers with standard motors and uses 75% less energy. The dryer also comes with a speed-dry nozzle attachment, but I always take those off of my hair dryers.

Even though I have thicker hair, I still use a heat protectant before blow-drying my hair.

Before using any heat-styling product, I like to apply a heat protectant as I shudder whenever I see someone straighten, curl, or blow-dry their hair without using a protectant. Lately, I've been using Olaplex's No. 6 Bond Smoother Reparative Styling Creme, which is formulated to help reduce drying time and makes blow-drying my hair even easier.

Some reviewers with fine or thin hair say that the UltraLight Speed Dryer damaged their hair, attributing the damage to the intense heat used to dry hair quickly. I suggest considering the thickness of your hair before buying this dryer, and as with any heat-styling product, use it with caution. Reviewers with thicker hair have reported fewer issues, and a lot of users with curly hair praise the dryer's ability to manage their hair.

The bottom line

All of the hair dryers I've owned have done their job for a fraction of the UltraLight Speed Dryer's price, but they were all relatively heavy and took a long time to dry my hair. Now my happiness partly derives from no longer having to hold a heavy hair dryer over my head for 15 minutes or even longer every day. And for me, this offsets the cost of the UltraLight Speed Dryer.