We Put the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS to the Test on Five Hair Textures
The Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS was named the winner of the Best New Hair Tool category in the 2023 Beauty Awards.
In the whirlwind of holiday preparations, finding the perfect gift can be a daunting task. But what if we told you there's a gift that can also be a time-saving treat for yourself? Revlon's latest innovation, the One-Step Volumizer PLUS blowout brush, is here to elevate your hair styling and gifting game all at once. This buzzy new tool was named the winner of the Best New Hair Tool category in the 2023 Beauty Awards, and rightfully so. Leaving your hair shinier and more voluminous in up to half of the time thanks to its 2.4” oval head, four heat settings, and charcoal-infused nylon pins. It also features a travel-friendly detachable head and a lightweight, slim handle for easy styling.
To truly put this award-winning tool to the test so it can earn a spot on your holiday shopping list, we tasked five beauty experts with various hair textures to try it out themselves and share their first-hand experiences.
Lora Grady, Beauty, Trends & Features Editor for Cosmetics magazine and freelance beauty writer
I typically air-dry or blow-dry my curls using a diffuser, so I was very curious to see what results I would get from the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS First impressions: It’s super easy to use, thanks to its cool tip and swivel cord, and works really well. As much as I’ve tried over the years, I never mastered the art of using a round brush in one hand while operating a blow dryer in the other. This tool does both, which means it delivers mega volume—something I struggle to achieve with my fine hair. I also appreciate the multiple heat settings, including the cool one (almost every pro hairstylist I’ve ever spoken to about hot tools has mentioned the importance of setting a look with cold air as a final step). This is definitely a tool I would use again.
Janu Yasotharan, Creative Director and Writer
I can honestly say that the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS is a game-changer for me. I love tools that combine round brushes and blow dryers, and to me, this specific tool is the most accessible—in price point and in how easy it is to use—way to get that salon-blowout look at home. I really like the oval-shaped barrel over the round barrels that are in the market at the moment—this means maximum contact with my hair, which leaves me with a smooth and sleek finish. I also love that the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS multiple settings, including cold. Most consumer-brand brushes in the market require users to press a button while using the brush to get a cold shot in so they can set their look, which I was often frustrated with. It was nice to set my roots with the ease of simply switching the temperature dial.
Vanessa Fontaine, Beauty and Health Writer
I hate drying my hair. It usually takes about 40 minutes to blow dry and tame this frizzy mess. That wasn’t the case with the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS, which gave me a polished, salon-worthy blowout in about 15 minutes.
I’ve tried other drying brushes before but always found myself going back to my trusted blow dryer. Without a nozzle that I can point downwards, I would usually end up with a flyaway explosion. So I was surprised to see how the mix of short and long bristles on this brush could detangle and smooth everything all at once, without the need for flat iron touch-ups. The heat settings took some getting used to, but after a few tries, I just started counting the notches without looking: three clicks allowed me to go from the hottest setting to a final blast of cool air, leaving my strands with Kate Middleton-esque bounce and shine.
Ingrie Williams, Beauty and Style Writer, Co-Founder of The T-Zone
It took mere seconds to snap the brush head of the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS onto the wand (the design is a travel-friendly dream), and the first thing that caught my attention was the shape and weight of the brush. It was very easy to hold on to, and the contoured handle sat nicely in my palm without feeling bulky or cumbersome. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was much lighter in weight than many styling tools I’ve encountered. I have a lot of very coarse, coily hair and my upper body strength is a WIP, but my arms and wrists never felt fatigued throughout my styling session. And it didn’t take as long as I thought it would to work through my mane. The airflow output is also powerful. After playing around with the settings, I used the medium one to work through looser curls at the nape of my neck, and I switched to high for the tighter texture near the crown of my head. What I was most impressed by was how easily the bristles grabbed my curls and ran through them, but also how the oval brush shape was easy to wield. I thought I would experience some moments of tangling because I don’t have professional skills, but that didn’t happen. With minimal effort, the brush dried and stretched my curls better than I expected, offering the perfect prep for a protective style or additional smoothing.
Suzie Michael Galway, Acting Beauty Director, FASHION
I’ve been curious about the Revlon One-Step Volumizer PLUS since, like everyone else on the planet, it took over my TikTok FYP last year. I have wavy hair (somewhere between type 2A and 2B, depending on the day) that’s quite fine, though there is a lot of it. Perhaps most importantly, I do not enjoy styling it and usually just…don’t. So while I was certainly curious about the Revlon brush’s performance, I was equally as curious about the user experience because I’d heard it made blowouts so easy and, dare I say it, enjoyable.
I’m happy to report that not only did it give me the best at-home blowout ever, I really didn’t mind the process of blow-drying my hair. The blow dryer/round brush combo really takes the arm workout out of styling, and the entire process took about 10 minutes. I did have to touch up my hair the following day but that’s not much of a chore with the Volumizer PLUS. I’ll definitely be incorporating it into my regular styling routine. (Or I guess I should say, I’m excited to finally have a regular styling routine for the first time ever).