Adagio California Infrared Professional Blowout Brush review

When you’re trying to put together a cohesive look with your hair and makeup, there’s nothing that pulls it together better than a blowout. With great hair comes great responsibility—and by “great responsibility” I mean “the perception of immense confidence and skill.” Great hair can get you places, but it’s not always easy to achieve at home. Thankfully, styling tools like the Adagio Infrared 2″ Professional Blowout Brush will help you create smooth styles with ease.

What’s in the box of the Adagio California infrared blowout brush?

The Infrared 2″ Professional Blowout Brush comes packaged very simply: You get the brush in a box. That’s it! There are no extra parts or cords to worry about.

The box that this product comes in is quite nice (and very giftable), but the interior product tray is notably brittle. Mine cracked in multiple spots as I was removing the brush. It doesn’t affect the product at all, but I recommend just being aware of that when you unbox your blowout brush—tray is thin, so it’s sharp when broken.

The features of the Adagio California Infrared Blowout Brush

This blowout brush features three heat settings (high, low, and air), a dual-bristle design, and a 1000 watt motor. It has a tourmaline-infused barrel and uses ionic technology, both of which should help reduce hotspots and flyaways.

Adagio advertises this product as having three temperature settings and two speed settings, but it’s more accurate (in my opinion) to describe it as having three heat settings. This product does not have separate temperature and speed settings; it’s just that the highest temperature setting is paired with a higher dryer speed as well.

The brush also has a red light within the brush head that turns on with the product, which isn’t listed as a feature. As far as I can tell, the light doesn’t have any utility—it’s not the product’s infrared heater—but it can actually make it easier to see where your hair is wrapping around the brush, which is nice. Also unlisted in its features is the power cord’s 360-degree swivel base, which is awesome.

What is a blowout brush for? How do you use one?

Blowout brushes can be an awesome way to achieve a salon-quality or salon-similar blowout at home. They combine a vented round brush with a hair dryer, which is easier to manage on your own than the traditional brush-and-dryer combo. In general, I like a vented blowout brush for smoothing and drying my hair. They can’t really be used for a variety of hairstyles—for instance, you wouldn’t be able to lift or curl your hair with this brush. But when you use them for what they’re made for (that is, getting your hair straight, smooth, and dry very quickly), they’re awesome.

This type of brush is best used like any other finishing tool: On hair that’s already semi-dry. You can use it on wet hair, and it certainly has the power to manage it, but you don’t need to. If all you want from this tool is straightening, shaping, and smoothing, it’ll work just as well on damp-dry hair. To achieve an at-home blowout with this style of brush, slowly brush it through your hair from roots to ends in sections. Use the curve of the barrel to scoop upwards slightly at the roots and inwards slightly at the ends for a more voluminous look.

How do I choose the right blowout brush for my hair?

There are three variations that I find are common in blowout brushes, and they’re a great thing to keep in mind when you’re reading a lot of blowout brush reviews to choose the right one for you.

First: Shape. Blowout brushes can either be oblong, like this Adagio one, or round. Oblong brushes offer a wider contact surface on one side. They’re generally not ideal for shaping the hair, unlike a round barrel blowout brush. The oblong Adagio Infrared Blowout Brush is best used for quicker smoothing and drying, while a round brush is for getting more volume at the roots or ends of your hair.

Second: Bristle type. Some brushes have flexible fibre bristles; others have thicker, solid bristles. The Adagio Blowout Brush Pro has both. I really like mixed bristles for shorter hair and thicker/coarser hair, as they’ll work well to pick up and hold your hair. On very long, thin hair like mine, I find this bristle type can lead to tangles (I prefer a brush that only has solid bristles), but if you have shorter hair that you struggle to keep wrapped around a vented brush, you’ll love this bristle type.

Third: Size. You can find blowout brushes in a variety of barrel sizes. “Standard” for this type of appliance is 2″, which is what this Adagio brush is, but it’s also very common to see a blowout brush offered in 1″ or 3″. (Occasionally, these brushes will come with interchangeable barrels!) I like a 2″ blowout brush, but would recommend a 1″ for achieving more shaped ends or a 3″ for longer hair.

My experience with the Adagio California Infrared Professional Blowout Brush

As I was blowing my hair out with the Adagio brush, I realized that I, unfortunately, am probably not its target demographic. My hair dries fairly straight and fairly quickly on its own, so many of the benefits of a blowout brush like this one are lost on me.

I enjoyed how smooth and shiny the Adagio Infrared Blowout Brush left my hair, and I love that it’s offered in multiple sizes and colours. However, I really wanted it to shape the ends of my hair more. I felt like its 2″ width could have worked to offer more shape and lift, but to do so, it really needed an accessible “cold” function.

This brush does have a cold function, but it’s hard to access: The brush’s handle is too chunky to allow you to change your settings with one hand, and when you do, it takes too long for the product to cool down for the “cold” function to be useful. I found myself waiting 30-60 seconds per section of hair to set the style on cold air, which doubled my overall styling time. For a product that’s meant to save you time in the morning, that’s just too long.

Once I gave up my dream of achieving really bouncy, layered-looking ends, my Adagio Blowout Brush and I got along much better. It did a great job of drying and smoothing my hair with straight ends. My results were glossier and shinier than if I had let my hair air dry or if I had used a regular blowdryer without a brush.

In conclusion

Blowout brushes are a great way to achieve sleek, straight hair with only one tool. They take a lot of the awkward technique out of blowing out your own hair, streamlining your morning routine to save you time and effort.

This Adagio California brush will work on all hair types and lengths. However, due to its wide diameter and mixed bristles, it’ll really shine on thick, dense hair, where it’ll be able to tackle larger sections to dry your hair more quickly.

Shop the Adagio California Infrared 2″ Professional Blowout Brush online at Best Buy today.