Review: Laifen Swift Special

The Laifen Swift Special hairdryer launched in South Africa in November and we received a unit for test. It retails for R4 499 online, through the Laifen SA website and Bash, which is part of TFG.

I noticed the brand at the IFA tech show in Berlin in September where they showcased a new pale colour palette. It also caught my eye because of how similar it looks to my Dyson Supersonic.

If you thought the Dyson Supersonic was expensive, it is fair to say this is the Dyson dupe.

I reached out to Laifen SA about the colours I saw in Germany, and they confirmed it will arrive next year, alongside its electric toothbrush. And now, back to the Laifen Swift.

Laifen Swift Quick Look

• 1600W highspeed brushless motor
• 3x faster than traditional hairdryers
• LED rings with smart temperature modes
• 3 magnetic attachments
• Max 80°C temperature

What’s in the box

Inside the box, you get the hairdryer; three nozzles: smooth, concentrator and diffuser; a manual; and a three pin adapter for South Africa, which is a nice touch.

The Laifen Swift currently comes in three colourways, pearl white, silver blue, and matte black. I was asked to pick a colour for my review unit and picked white because it was closest to my Dyson Supersonic, which I will be comparing it to.

It comes in a neat box, which would make for a great gift.

The hairdryer comes with a two-year warranty and is intended for home use, i.e. not a salon and you likely won’t be covered for commercial use.

First look, controls and temperature

The Laifen Swift is a sleek hairdryer that is ergonomic. It terms of build quality, it feels solid. It’s slim and has a modern design like the Dyson and unlike your traditional hair dryers, which seem dated now.

The first thing I noticed about the hair dryer in comparison to my Dyson is the length of the cable being shorter. The Laifen is 1.8m long, whereas the Dyson is 2.6m.

But what it has that the Dyson doesn’t is a built-in cable tie. This is handy if you are traveling with it or want to fold the cable for storage.

The Swift has two buttons on the arm – one power button at the bottom and another for speed settings which gives you a medium and high mode for the fan speed. The power button lets you rotate the temperature, more on that below.

The attachments clip on magnetically, just like Dyson, but the sound is not as loud. It is solid once attached and won’t move or fall as you dry your hair. More on each one below.

It also has a built-in filter at the base of the handle which you can easily clean.

Another nifty feature on the Laifen is that it has LED rings at the back, which is so clever so you can easily see the colour and know what temperature setting you’re on.

Blue is cool mode, which is room temperature, supposedly between 20-25°C; warm mode is orange and is 50°C and Hot mode is 80°C. Apart from the three main temperature modes, you long press the power/toggle button and it will rotate between hot and cool hair, which is great if you want to balance it.

Laifen says it has built-in temperature controls from its thermal sensor, which regulates it so it never overheats. Temperature is monitored 100 times per second, according to the company.

It also has negative-ions to neutralise static electricity generated while drying your hair.

Attachments 

When it comes to attachments, it is on par with the Supersonic. The Smooth nozzle eliminates frizz and is for every day use. You can use it with a wide paddle brush downwards as you dry your hair. This would be the quickest way to dry hair daily.

The Concentrator nozzle is for precision styling, like if you want a salon blowout using something like a metal roller brush to dry. Because it is narrow, it will style the area you are pointing it towards, without disturbing other parts of your hair.

And lastly, the diffuser is for drying curly hair. It disperses the airflow to give you a more naturally dried look and also eliminates frizz. I have curly hair and dry mine with a diffuser, there’s no other way.

So basically the attachments are suited for both curly and straight hair looks.

Real-world usage

I have since used the dryer to style my hair both curly and straight. I need to state upfront I have thin hair, and it’s not very long. And so it takes me quicker to dry my hair than anyone with long hair.

My first ever test with the dryer was with the diffuser. It was simple to use, I just had a spray-on leave in conditioner put on my hair and diffused it. It literally took me three minutes to get it done.

If you’re in a hurry, you don’t get better than that.

Thereafter I dried my hair straight with it. I didn’t take pics when I did this normal way, but what I can say is, it was not pin straight – remember I do have curly hair and by the end of the day, I could see some kinks in it, we are going through a heat wave. However, the next day, I used dry shampoo and used a hot brush for two minutes to comb it down, so minimal maintenance on day 2.

And then I also gave it the most important test, as requested on Instagram, to compare it to the Dyson. I sectioned my hair in half down the middle and used both hair dryers. It took me five minutes to do each side, so 10 minutes for this look.

The result you see on the right, I posted a video on Instagram asking followers to guess which was the better result. I marked the left half of my hair as A and the right as B. A received an overwhelming majority as best with 80% of the votes, which was the Dyson, whereas B was the Laifen with 20%. Some replies said they can’t tell the difference and that’s fair, which I will explain further below.

You can definitely see the Laifen gives it a little bit of volume, whereas the Dyson appears flat in comparison. I wouldn’t have noticed this if I didn’t do a side by side test. Another result that surprised me is that Dyson half was silkier. You could tell by the video I posted where the hair fell faster than the right.

I was not aware what my hair looked like from the back. I am no expert at drying hair, just used a downward direction with a bristle paddle shaped brush.

Regarding the comments from people who said they can’t tell the difference. That is true, it really is a much of a muchness. Both dried my hair straight but the Dyson was more “pin straight” and there is a reason for that: temperature.

The Dyson’s highest temperature setting goes up to 105°C, whereas the Laifen goes up to 80°C. This is important when it comes to not wanting to apply too much heat to your hair because we know heat causes damage. But, you could also use a heat protecting spray.

Final thoughts 

The Laifen Swift Special is indeed the Dyson Supersonic dupe that is more affordable. At R4 499, it is half the price of the Dyson, which is currently listed for R8 999.

The Swift’s biggest criticism to me is the length of the cable; if you are tall you may find that at 1.8m, it is not sufficient. However, that cable tie is ideal for traveling with it.

Regarding the temperature, at a lower maximum setting of 80°C, it causes less heat damage, but then with the results of my side by side comparison, you can tell it won’t be as pin straight when dry if you have curly hair like me. I think this is subjective, most people don’t like flat hair. It feels like it has some body or volume, however not as silky in comparison to the Dyson.

At the end of the day, the Laifen Swift will dry your hair quickly, mine took 10 minutes to straight because it’s short and thin. And for my curly hair, it took 3 minutes. If you want to cut down the time it takes to do your hair, the Laifen nails it.

If you’re in the market for a more efficient hairdryer, the Laifen is hard to beat. If you were considering a Dyson, the results are so similar that it really comes down to price.

More info on Laifen SA.