Have you ever heard the saying wash your hands and say your prayers because Jesus and germs are everywhere?  I love that because it is so true.  And, truth be told, the same goes for dust.  It is everywhere and no one wants it there.  I am grateful to live in a climate with much less dust than my previous city, but of course dust knows no boundaries.  It shows up in surprising places sometimes and though it seem innocuous, it can wreak havoc in the right amount and place.  This caused me to need to learn how to clean a Chi hair dryer.

Exciting topic dust is right?  Well, tell me (or silently admit to yourself) when was the last time you cleaned your hair dryer?  Now, have you ever had a hair dryer “die” or stop working?  I thought so.  It probably happened because it was dusty.  Shocker, right?  I think I’ve laid a hair dryer or two to rest in the trash before and now that I think of it, I don’t recall cleaning them — ever.  After the last dryer’s death I decided I was buying inferior products and raised my budget thinking that was the solution.

I purchased a Chi hair dryer that was around the $100 range.  Probably the cost of all my previous hair dryers put together.  Over time it seemed to take longer and longer to dry my hair.  This was a similar act of previous dryers before their untimely demise so I was worried.  What would cause this expensive dryer to do the same thing?  Luckily I realized it must be me and I thought to look more into it.  Also luckily, I have a tech savvy husband who always takes things apart to fix and inspired me to do the same.

Your hair dryer is a tool.  A tool with a motor.  Motors need maintenance.  If a motor becomes dirty, it overworks to perform its function.  Then it overheats and damages itself to the point it can’t function anymore.  It can be easily prevented, and without a screwdriver.  The part of any hair dryer to maintain is the back vent.  Dust (there’s that dirty word again) gets sucked in and clogs up the air intake.  Therefore the vent needs to be cleaned.

It is super simple to just slow down and take a few minutes to do this and save yourself from a dead air dryer, not to mention a bad hair day.  First, figure out how to open the back and get to the vent.  Some dryers don’t require this, but mine did and had an easy twist off back.  You can see the notches showing it locked and unlocked above.  Once this was open, it had a filter on the inside covered in gray dust.  I tapped it off in the trash can first, nothing.  Then I tried to use tweezers to get the dust out of the crevices.  That didn’t work.  So I busted out my trusty Dyson handheld vacuum and with the brush attachment sucked out the vast majority of the dust.

What a difference!  After that I rinsed it with water and it came entirely clean.  I left it out to dry completely before using again.  Next time I dried my hair it took probably half the time.  I got on with my day and felt cleaner, happier and accomplished.  I saved the life of my expensive hair dryer.

I do love to clean and I love my vacuum collection.  I have 4 Dysons and I love them all.  Discovering I could use them to clean my hair dryer was amazing.  I do day dream about the Dyson supersonic hair dryer, but that price is way too much to swallow.  At least I know I’ll never be in need of a new dryer because, now that I know how to clean a Chi hair dryer, this one is in good hands.

When was the last time you cleaned your hair dryer?  You’re going to soon right?  What else do you think is strange to clean?