Hair vs. Hotel Hair Dryers
October 22, 2009 by Aly Walansky
Filed under Hair Care
I’m going to be spending the greater part of November in one hotel room or another, and that’s making me already think along the lines of travel, baggage, and room factors.
Sxc.hu
Something I’ve noticed: Often hotels with the fanciest of features skimp when it comes to hair dryers. My theory? These are items that are stocked by people, most likely men, who do not realize the huge importance of erring toward quality!
USAToday.com actually had an awesome article on this very topic yesterday, and I wanted to share an excerpt from it.
“Hair dryers are a cheap upgrade to a room and well worth the cost if a hotel’s demographic skews toward women with money to spend,” Valyn Perini, executive director of OpenTravel Alliance.
In several interviews with female road warriors yesterday, women told me again and again that they want to find a clean and powerful hair dryer in their room’s bathroom.
Chicke Fitzgerald, a social networking guru who last year founded Executive Girlfriend’s Group, a professional women’s networking group, told me that hair dryers are a make-or-break amenity for her when it’s humid outside.
The quality of hair dryers in the three- and four-star hotels is usually fine, she says. But she’s discovered a surprisingly unique problem in minimalist-style boutique hotels: She can’t find the hair dryer!
Seriously. I can vouch for this all being true – often you’ll find the cheap drugstore variety hair dryers that you KNOW will leave your hair frizzy – or none at all. When you are at a hotel that may be using $500 sheets, it seems lame they won’t invest in a $100 or even $200 hair dryer that will keep their female guests happier – especially since those dryers tend to last, not need to be replaced, and save money in the long run!
I often elect to bring my own hair products and tools when I travel. It adds bulk to an already heavy bag but it avoids problems like readying for an important dinner – and realizing I will have to go frizzy – or jumping in the shower, and finding out there’s two shampoos and no conditioner. (Yes, that actually happened once – in a 4-star hotel!)
Obviously, it’s on my mind – especially as I travel across various countries with unique voltage, wattage, and yes, ingredient issues. So, I wonder, how do all of you handle factors like this when on your own travel adventures?
