A good hair styling tool is one that's basically insurance for consistently decent, if not excellent, hair days. A great hair styling tool can do that while epitomizing the low effort, high reward lifestyle.

With that in mind, there are two things you need to know about your reviewer up top: One, the ends of my hair are dead and dry and in need of cutting like you wouldn't believe. Two, I have never in my life considered myself to be "good at hair."

Now let's get into the review of one of the most popular hair tools on the market — the Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer and Volumizer(opens in a new tab) .

If you've started to move your cursor over the back button, hold it for a sec. Let's not forget the whole conceit of the Revlon One-Step is that it makes it easy to achieve a salon-style blowout from the comfort of your home. So in theory, the One-Step should have been able to get me to a consistently excellent (or at least decent) hair day, dead ends and minimal skill be damned.

Don't you love it when theory and practice align?

Yes, it is true, the ravings about the One-Step on TikTok do not lie. My hair actually looked styled with the help of this hot air brush (maybe not quite professionally, but definitely skillfully). That's not to say this is 100 percent the perfect, holy grail hair product you need to go out and buy right now. It has its cons, and at least one of its claims feels a little misleading. But before we get into all that, let's start with the basics of what the One-Step actually is.

For the hair uninitiated and the sweet souls who don't sink hours of their day on TikTok, the Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer and Volumizer is a hot air brush that's supposed to dry your hair and give you volume in the same step (hence, its very straightforward name). It's not Revlon's latest crack at this type of hot tool (review for the One-Step Plus(opens in a new tab) coming soon), nor the only hot air brush(opens in a new tab) on the market, but it is the one that went viral.

The tool itself looks mostly like a standard round brush with a 4.25-inch barrel and a large handle with the three heat settings at its base: cool, low, and high. The brush itself has a combination of nylon pin and tufted boar bristles you typically find on round brushes — the nylon penetrates most types of hair while the boar provides that sought-after smoothness. The cord is six feet long and swivels at the bottom, so it never really tangles around itself. As an added bonus, the One-Step retails for $59.99, but it's not hard to find for $30 or less.

Obviously, this one brush has the power to replace the old song-and-dance of figuring out how to hold a blow dryer in one hand and use a round brush in the other. As someone who never figured out how to do that and do something other than blast myself with hot air and make my hair frizzier, I was excited that this product could eliminate both steps.

Though the temptation to look up tutorials beforehand was strong, I wanted to really put the One-Step's intuitiveness to the test. I spritzed my my hair with water so it was slightly damp, applied heat protectant, turned it onto the low setting, and started styling away. While I wouldn't say I figured out how to get a ton of added volume, within 10 minutes, I had hair that looked kind of blown out with '90s sitcom-esque flips. And that was with no tutorial on try number one.

Once I did decide to dive into recommendations for how to use this product, my awe lessened some.

Ostensibly, the One-Step should replace a blow dryer (since the hair dryer part is half of its very long name). But TikTok tutorial after TikTok tutorial recommended not using the One-Step on completely wet hair to avoid frying it. It is true though, that even with standard hair dryers, starting with dripping-wet hair means exposing the hair to more (and likely higher) heat for a longer period of time. Still, if you're trying cut down on time or can't wait to air dry, the styling process might be more than the one step you want.

Using any kind of hot tool on your hair regularly isn't the healthiest move, but the One-Step's design means that hot air gets much more close and personal than it would with a traditional blow dryer. Revlon's instruction manual doesn't say anything about waiting for your hair to dry, but it does mention that for the fastest results, towel-drying and brushing the hair before going in with One-Step is the way to go.

I also recommend using a heat protectant with every use, especially if you think you'd use the One-Step regularly. The manual also instructs to use the low setting for fine or thin hair and high for thick and coarse, but I would definitely try to see how cool you can go — my medium thick, slightly wavy hair was plenty happy with the low setting.

Overall, it's better to think of the One-Step as a styler rather than a hair dryer (even though its dry times were impressive. I'm just already prone to dry ends and I barely use heat on my hair, so I'm really not trying to rush the damage process).

Beyond its styling and drying capabilities, the Revlon One-Step is also known for being the forerunning dupe for the Dyson Airwrap. Which brings us to the next question on everyone's mind:

Personally, I’ve never used the Dyson Airwrap, a hair tool that is both $600(opens in a new tab) and constantly sold out. People justify the Dyson's insane price because it can dry, straighten, volumize, and curl hair. Instead of one attached barrel, it comes with six interchangeable heads, one of which is a round volumizing brush not unlike the One-Step's.

If we break down the pure numbers, the Dyson's six heads come out to about $100 each (obviously, this is not an exact math, but indulge me). Let's dock an additional $10, half for fun, and half to account for the versatility of the base. So that would mean the one round brush would approximate out to $90, making it still a full $30 more than the One-Step at its MSRP, which again, it usually sits far below.

Of course, the Dyson is pretty unique and its versatility is part of the appeal. Plus, people love the videos of how it curls hair. I love those videos, and the One-Step simply can't replicate that (I did see some videos of people "curling" their hair with the One-Step, but my knot-prone locks could actually never).

It is worth noting, though, that in 2018, our reviewer wrote, "If I could buy a more reasonably priced version of the Airwrap, just with the [smoothing] brush head, I would." While she wasn't talking about the round brush head, she was talking about a tool that could provide volume, shine, straightness, and a bit of that blowout magic with ease.

In other words, she was looking for the One-Step. So, if you're most into that aspect of the Dyson, the One-Step is by far, the most affordable and effective dupe on the market. If you're most into the curls and versatility, either save up, or stick to your current hot tool arsenal. 

Though the learning curve isn't at all steep with this product, there are a few things you can do to get the best style with the least damage.

Before you turn the One-Step on:

Let your hair air dry some. Microfiber towels(opens in a new tab) are great for getting a quick and gentle dry. Once your hair is at least half dry — I found that the cold and damp sweet spot worked best for me — it's time for the One-Step to work its magic.

As per Revlon's instructions, running a brush through your hair prior to hitting it with the One-Step isn't a bad idea, just to get out any particularly nasty knots. The nylon bristles do a decent job during, but you want to minimize the amount of time you let the heat stay on your hair.

Use heat protectant. This is your mantra with the One-Step. Even if you only use the low setting, even if you only use the cool setting, and especially if you need the hot setting, heat protectant is crucial.

It's also worth noting that you can technically use the One-Step on dry hair, but it works best when hair is slightly damp. I'm a night shower-er, so I always wet my hair with some water in the mornings to get things going.

If you're really in a pinch, I was able to get a good smoothing style on completely dry hair, but I had to hit it with the highest heat setting, and it didn't feel as kind to my hair (sorry hair, I had to do it for science). I'm not sure hair types even slightly more wavy than mine would get decent smoothing on completely dry hair, so if you can, add a little water to the mix beforehand.

Start with the coolest setting you can. Revlon recommends using the cool setting to lock your style in, but we saw people online with curly hair use it as a first pass before going in with a low setting (instead of going straight to high) to minimize the amount of heat applied to hair.

Another way to minimize heat exposure is by sectioning the hair. It takes more time, but sectioning gave me the best style and helped me make sure I wasn't going over the same portions of my hair over and over again. You really don't even have to be precise about this — I just threw half up in a claw clip and called it a day.

If you're looking for bouncy, flippy ends, nailing the technique down might be a bit tricky at first. I found that rotating the brush some when I got to the bottom third of the hair strand, working somewhat slower, and brushing through the ends of the hair before rotating back up one last time worked most times for me. (I should say, too, I have layered hair that lends itself to these kind of fun flips — it was definitely more difficult to achieve on the longest pieces of hair.) For rotating, you can also grab the cool tip of the brush for more leverage during twisting and brushing, but I preferred keeping both my hands on the handle.

Obviously, this product isn't perfect. The internet certainly had some complaints (there are, after all, around 285,000 reviews on the One-Step's Amazon page(opens in a new tab) alone and they're not all completely glowing). Here are a few that came up quite a bit:

It brings too much heat: With all the talk of how hot this hot brush gets, there was a part of me that expected my hair to literally light on fire during the first use. And though concerns about heat damage are real, that didn’t happen then, or the second, third, or any other of the succeeding times I used it. The high setting was definitely hot, and I wouldn't use it regularly if I could avoid it, but the low setting felt pretty standard for a styling/blow dry experience.

It’s way too loud: Yeah, it packs some decibels, but what blow dryer doesn't? I didn't want to use the One-Step early in the morning because I live in an apartment with thin walls, but I feel the exact same way about using my normal blow dryer. The cool and the high setting definitely were the loudest, so if you think you'll stay on low for the most part, you probably won't notice that this brush is that much louder than a blow dryer.

The heft makes it hard to use: This complaint about the One-Step being heavy genuinely has me wondering if I'm stronger than I realize, not in a mental fortitude kind of way, but in an extremely literal way. It just simply wasn't all that heavy? Granted, I think the longest it took me to do my hair was 15 minutes or so, but I never found my arms feeling even kind of tired. The classic blow dryer and round brush combo is much more of a workout, imo.

Fine hair should beware: If you have very fine, thin hair, this brush does provide heat and tension that it might not like all that much. I consulted a friend of mine with fine, thin hair who's been using the One-Step for some time, and she said it didn't seem to damage her hair any more than a regular hot tool would. With that said, she always uses heat protectant and goes in on slightly damp hair with the cool or low setting, and says she wouldn't use the One-Step in place of a traditional hair dryer.

My own final gripe, that I didn't see too often expressed online, was that this brush has some bulk. The head doesn't detach from the handle (unlike the slightly more updated One-Step Plus), so it will take up a decent amount of space under your bathroom sink — not much more than a blow dryer would, but again, you don't want to use this as a blow dryer replacement, so anticipate having those side-by-side.

I'm almost positive I wasn't even maxing out this hair tool's potential (I never quite figured out the key to consistent volume) and I was still super happy with how my hair looked — and I prefer it wavy nine out of 10 times.

Getting bouncy, smooth, and shiny hair has literally never been easier for me — I also have hair that, though naturally wavy, generally agrees with being straightened and smoothed out. And again, my hair is layered in such a way that kind of lends itself to creating easy flips and bounce (I'm sorry this sounds like an egregious humble brag, I am merely trying to report the facts). My roommate, on the other hand, has naturally sleek, straight, non-layered hair, and when we tried the One-Step to try to give her more shape and bounce, nothing really happened.

But as all those videos on the internet show, it looks like the One-Step doesn't just work for one type of hair. Basically, if you're someone who finds yourself wanting a polished hairstyle at least a few times a month, the price point of the One-Step is really hard to beat. While it's not an absolute hair essential, for those willing to clear out the storage space and religiously apply heat protectant, it does simplify getting that blown-out look.

It may not be a Dyson, but for its claims and price point, it's really not trying to be. So if you have 30-something dollars to spare and a desire for sleek locks, it's worth giving the One-Step more than one look.