My Honest Review Of Volo Beauty's Volo Go Cordless Dryer

In our series Trial Run, TZR editors and writers put the buzziest new beauty products to the test and share their honest reviews.

Volo Beauty recently launched its Volo Go Cordless Hair Dryer, and it costs a pretty penny. Well, a little more than that — $450, to be exact. Now, with a slew of exorbitantly priced hair tools currently hitting the market, it’s pretty challenging for beauty writers and editors to sift through the tools that are actually worth the investment. But, in all honesty, they all promise to deliver the same thing: smoother hair, less frizz, and less damage overall. But something about the Volo Go dryer, in particular, piqued my interest: its use of infrared technology to heat the hair. Plus, there’s no cord to tether you to one spot while you style.

Traditionally, I have bad luck with blow dryers. My hair is pretty frizzy on its own, and whenever I give myself a blowout, it usually looks like a puffy mess that *needs* either oil or another heat styling tool to smooth things out. Well, the Volo Go promises to deliver high shine and frizz-free hair with its infrared heat. Given that I’ve never tried that type of technology on my hair before, I decided to give this blow dryer a go. Here’s how it went — plus my honest opinion about whether the dryer is worth the money.

My Hair’s Natural, Messy State

I am currently rocking tresses that are the closest thing to virgin hair I’ve experienced since I was 13. The only glimpse of color or treatment that my hair has seen in about three years was a quick gloss I did back in November 2020. I rarely heat style my hair, and I allow it to air dry almost every day (even when I’m going out). Suffice it to say, my hair is relatively healthy, and I can usually keep it pretty manageable without much heat styling.

However, my hair is unique in that it lives at the intersection of textures and thicknesses that don’t always go hand in hand. It is extremely wavy with a few curls, and it’s pretty dense. (By dense, I mean that I have a lot of it.) Yet, my individual strands are fairly thin, meaning that I lose volume in my roots easily, and my hair, unfortunately, does not hold styling as well as I’d like. Additionally, I always thought that the frizz I experienced growing up was due to those eras in life when I was platinum blonde or when I decided to dye my entire head black and then go in with some icy blonde highlights — lots of damage with both. However, I’ve come to realize that my hair is naturally frizzy — I suppose I have my Croatian roots to thank for that.

The Specs On The Volo Go Cordless Dryer

Before delving into the mechanics behind the Volo Go, it’s essential to understand the nature of traditional dryers. The average blow dryer uses convection heat via a nichrome wire. If you’re not an engineer and don’t know what a nichrome wire is, it’s basically the same heating device you would find in your toaster. This type of heat blasts hot air onto your hair cuticles and heats the hair from the outside in.

The Volo Go, on the other hand, uses infrared heat to dry your hair. This is critical to its design — infrared heat is radiant heat, which penetrates the strands for a more even heat overall. It also just so happens to be the same type of heat that the sun emits.

If you need a better picture of why this is important in terms of drying your hair, imagine this: If you place a fig in the sun, over time, the fig will dry completely but it will still retain its general shape and color. If you were to put a fig into a toaster, you’ll scorch and damage the outside entirely before even having the chance to think about drying out the insides. This is the difference between radiant heat and convection heat: radiant heat penetrates, leaving strands smooth and shiny, while convection cooks the hair in layers from the outside in, leaving the hair frizzy and cuticles frayed.

Of course, radiant heat *is* better than convection heat, but it’s still heat, and it will inevitably damage your hair. Well, the professionals at Volo Beauty understand this, which is why they added a Smart Mode on the Volo Go, which determines how long you’ve blow dried your hair, and radiates less heat as your hair becomes drier. This essentially switches through the hot and warm settings on your dryer for you, significantly minimizing unnecessary heat exposure for your hair. Oh, and there’s a cool shot feature, which is ideal for blasting the hair with cold air to seal the cuticles and diminish the look of frizz.

But that’s not all, folks. One of the best things about this dryer is that it is cordless and lightweight, making it perfect for travel. It even has a USB charging station on its charging base, just in case you need to charge your phone during a trip.

A Blow Dryer That Fits My Lifestyle

I have a very European approach to life: I enjoy romance, leisurely activities, and indulging in fulfilling things. Typically, I tend to live by the phrase, work smarter, not harder; a sentiment has undoubtedly followed me into my beauty routine. What I mean by this is that I simply will not do anything makeup, skin, or hair-related if it will take me more than 20 minutes to complete (which is essentially why I never heat style my wild mane).

If the mood strikes me to give myself a blowout, however, it will typically take at least half an hour with a traditional blowdryer. With the Volo Go, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I could dry and style my hair. The infrared heat in the Volo Go Dryer wicks moisture away from strands almost instantly, and I was able to completely dry my hair in only three minutes.

After that, it only took me about 10 minutes to style my hair to perfection with a round brush. I attribute this to the fact that the Volo Go heats the hair from the inside out, which causes less fraying of the hair cuticles, leading to a more sealed texture overall. Plus, the Smart Mode feature is truly brilliant. I felt the temperature going down as I styled my hair, which was a nice bonus since I’m always finagling with the hot, warm, and cold settings on traditional blow dryers.

Additionally, I found that my hair stayed sleek for days after I gave myself a blowout. I really never thought I would achieve that myself in my life, as my hair always creeps back to a puffy, frizzy state mere hours after I’ve hit it with a blow dryer. Not only did it look professional, but it *acted* like a professional job, too.

Do You Need the Volo Go?

So, do I think The Volo Go Dryer merits its $450 price tag? Well, whenever a product enters the triple digits, I think to myself: What’s so special about this tool in particular? And will the benefits pay themselves back in time? Considering that this blow dryer works with infrared heat that causes minimal damage, *and* has a Smart Mode that minimizes heat production as your drying continues, it will undoubtedly be kind to your hair that both coloring and treatments might damage.

Think about it this way: the money that you spend repairing damage to your hair is exorbitant — moisture masks, salon treatments, leave-in conditioners. The list goes on and on. However, as with most things in beauty, prevention is better than treatment. This blow dryer will keep your hair supple and shiny while causing less damage than a traditional blow dryer in its price range. So, if you have the budget to spend $450 on a blow dryer, and you style your hair with hot tools regularly, this one is an excellent option because it will inevitably save you money over time and save your hair from unnecessary damage.

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