One minute review
Skepticism is key when shopping online, especially when it comes to new names and viral trends. Therefore, Laifen has an uphill battle to establish itself in the highly competitive hairdressing market. Fortunately, Laifen Swift packs an immediate punch.
Launching her Indiegogo campaign in 2020, Laifen Swift was enthusiastically received by her backers. After hitting the market in 2022, all eyes are now on its big promises and more affordable price compared to some of the best hair dryers out there.
This light and powerful tool comes with impressive specs, packing 1600W of power into its slim frame with a 110rpm brushless motor generating 000m/s airflow. It offers three temperature settings and two airflow settings.
While it offers pro-level specs and performance, there are a few missteps that make the Laifen Swift a little less spectacular than it could have been. It does not have a cold shot button or hanging hook and at the time of writing it has a cord length of only 1,8m/5,9ft. The latter might be fine for home use, but in a professional setting, the Laifen Swift cable might be limiting.
However, after using Laifen Swift over the course of a week, we were impressed with how quickly it dried hair, minimizing frizz by generating and releasing negative ions into the hair stream. With such a strong start in the market, Laifen is one to watch for years to come.
Laifen Swift Pricing and Availability
- Laifen Swift: € 199.99 / € 175.11 / € 297.83
- Laifen Swift Special Offer: €239.99 / €210.14 / AU$357.40
We received the Laifen Swift Special for review, which is identical to the regular Laifen Swift hair dryer but comes with three attachments: a diffuser, a standard nozzle, and a quick styling nozzle, as opposed to the standard nozzle-only kit. You can also buy the quick styling nozzle separately, but the diffuser is exclusive to the Swift Special.
Compared to its biggest rival, the Dyson Supersonic (which retails for $429 / £329 / AU$599 at the time of writing), the Laifen Swift introduces a much more affordable option with much of the same tech.
Currently, Laifen Swift is the only product available from Laifen and you can buy it directly from Laifen or from Amazon.
Value: 4.5/5
Fast Laifen Layout
- Lightweight and compact
- Short lanyard without hook
- Three heat settings and two speeds.
Hair dryer specifications
Here are the specifications of the Laifen Swift:
Speed settings: two
Heat settings: three, plus auto cycle
Hanging Loop: No
Cable length: 1,8 m
Cold snap: No
Weight: 0,89lbs/407g
Attachments: one with the standard package, three with the special package
The Laifen Swift hair dryer comes in four colors – matte black, silver blue, pearl white and ruby red – and has a wonderfully luxurious and smooth finish that makes it a pleasure to look at and, well, to hold. It has a short, rounded barrel at the top of its long, straight handle; but it is a form that may not be suitable for everyone. Personally, we find this form much easier to store.
Measuring 10,9 x 2,7 x 3,5 inches/ 27,7 x 7 x 8,9 cm, the Laifen Swift is wonderfully light at 0,89 lbs / 407 g without its cable, making it unlikely to feel much arm fatigue, especially considering how quickly it dries hair - but more on that later. Accessories attach magnetically to the front of the barrel, snapping on and off easily.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Laifen Swift is its airflow design. Instead of channeling the air through the rear of the barrel, it is fired through the base of the grip. Here, users will also find the dust filter, whose housing also attaches magnetically and quickly snaps on and off for maintenance.
As mentioned above, the hair dryer offers 1600W of power in three temperature settings and two speed levels, the controls of which are located at the top of the handle. If you hold down the temperature button, you can also activate its automatic temperature cycling mode. There's no cool hit, which is a bit disappointing, as is the omission of a hanging loop.
The biggest setback in the Laifen Swift design is the short cable length. While most home users can get by with its 1,8m/5,9ft length, with the professional potential of this hair dryer, it is a shame that Laifen has not chosen to deliver their hair dryer with the lengths longer cable ties now on the market. . Also, if you don't have a mirror conveniently located near a power outlet at home, you may have to use an extension cord, or have to use an extension cord, with the Laifen Swift.
Design: 4.5/5
Laifen Swift's performance
- Fast drying time
- Convenient to use
- Ionic technology reduces frizz
With high powered ionized air jets, the Laifen Swift makes quick work of drying hair. We tested it on damp, thick, medium-length hair on its highest setting, which dried completely in just under seven minutes. It's not as impressive as the Dyson Supersonic, which takes four and a half minutes to dry the same type of hair, but it's much quicker than the 12-15 minutes of the Panasonic EH-NA65, which is this writer's mainstream dryer. of hair for home use. For less porous and finer hair, one would expect a drying time of around five and a half minutes with Laifen Swift, which is more or less in line with the manufacturer's claims.
After drying, our hair came out super soft with a soft shine, and we actually noticed that it didn't get greasy as quickly as with less powerful airflow dryers. Maybe it's because we felt more confident blow-drying our roots without worrying about hair getting caught in the back of the barrel.
All of the accessories worked fine during use, and while they (and the barrel) did tend to get a bit hot, the temperatures didn't get to dangerous or uncomfortable. Changing accessories dry also proved to be nice and easy, thanks to the magnetic attachment.
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The back of the keg shows the current temperature setting: blue for cold, orange for hot, red for hot. (Image credit: Future)The back of the keg shows the current temperature setting: blue for cold, orange for hot, red for hot. (Image credit: Future)
The back of the keg shows the current temperature setting: blue for cold, orange for hot, red for hot. (Image credit: Future)
We already mentioned how well designed Laifen Swift is, but the actual hair-drying experience is really a feat worth mentioning. The handle stays cool during use, the hair dryer is light enough to reduce arm fatigue (or even eliminate it, depending on how long your hair has been drying), and changing accessories is extremely easy.
The Laifen Swift claims to be incredibly quiet, emitting just 59dB when in use. Unfortunately, that was not our experience, unless those numbers were achieved through very specific test setups that we are not aware of.
In our test, from six inches away, on the fastest setting, the Laifen Swift registered 79 dB of noise. This figure is pretty average compared to other hair dryers; the Dyson Supersonic registered 74dB on our decibel meter, while one of the loudest hair dryers we tested, the Remington Hydraluxe Pro EC9001, registered 82dB. What we can say in defense of the Laifen Swift, however, is that the sound it makes is much less aggressive and screeching than other hair dryers we've tested.
One small but noticeable issue we had with the Laifen Swift was the placement of the buttons. While the temperature and speed controls look and feel good, it's all too easy to accidentally brush or lightly press the temperature controls. If you don't dry your hair in front of a mirror, where you can see the temperature gauge on the back of the barrel, you may not even realize you've done it.
Yield: 4/5
Laifen Swift Scorecard AttributesRatingsRatingDesign The Laifen Swift's design, while not for everyone, means it's lightweight, compact and decidedly modern in appearance, which we like.4.5/5PerformanceDoesn't live up to all of the manufacturer's claims, but it works good and we're happy with our results4/5VaueThe Laifen Swift is priced similarly to other Dyson Supersonic alternatives and offers most of its value-added features.4.5/5