BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush review

One-minute review

Having one of the best hair dryers can go some way to creating a salon-worthy style at home. However, there’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours perfecting your hair only to head outside and have the weather ruin your style. 

Whether it's rain, humidity, or wind, the elements can very quickly turn fab into drab, so it’s no surprise there’s been a surge in the number of cordless hair stylers making their way onto the market. Powered by a rechargeable battery, they’re small enough and lightweight enough to be slipped in your bag, ensuring you can re-create your style in minutes – if the weather does plan havoc with it. 

For creating sleek and smooth tresses, both the Dyson Corrale and the GHD Unplugged are some of the best-performing cordless straighteners on the market – but what if you want bouncy locks on the go? This is where the BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush comes in. 

This cordless hot brush uses heat to style hair, working in the same way as a hair dryer and barrel brush, creating body at the roots, while ensuring the strands are smooth. The hot brush has a 30mm barrel and offers three different temperature settings. 

BaByliss says the battery will last up to 40 minutes between charges, and it takes around three at the roots. The hot brush also comes with a heat-protective glove and mat, so you can protect hands and surfaces when using the hot brush. 

At £180, this is one of the most expensive hot brushes on the market. However, for those who want the flexibility that such a cordless model provides, it’s worth the investment.  

BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush price and availability

•  RRP: £180 

The BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush is priced at £180 and is available direct from BaByliss in the UK, as well as through retailers such as John Lewis, Argos, and Lookfantastic.com. Currently, it isn’t available in the US or Australia. 

It’s the most expensive hot brush available in BaByliss’s range of products; however, this is in part down to the rechargeable battery, which pushes up the price compared to mains-powered styling appliances. If you’re on a tight budget, consider the BaByliss Sheer Volume Hot Brush, which is mains-powered and costs only £60.  

Design

• 30mm barrel
• Three temperature settings
• Includes heat-protecting mat and glove

The BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush is relatively slim for a hot brush, measuring 34.5 x 6 x 4.5cm (h x w x d), although it’s one of the longer cordless hair styling appliances we’ve tested. Since it’s powered by a rechargeable battery, it’s slightly heavier than mains-powered heated stylers, too, weighing in at 441g. 

The device comprises a glossy black handle with rose gold accents, while the top of the hot brush is a 30mm ceramic barrel covered in plastic bristles. In use, the appliance mimics the effects created when using a hair dryer and barrel brush to style your hair. Offering three different temperature settings – 160 C, 170 C and 180 C – it’s suitable for fine as well as thick hair. You select the desired level of heat by pressing the power button once the styler is switched on.  An LED ring around the power button glows either green, yellow, or orange to indicate battery level. 

On the bottom of the hot brush, you’ll find a port for the charging cable. BaByliss says the battery will last for up to 40 minutes before it runs out of juice, taking around three hours to recharge. The BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush comes with a case, for those occasions you want to take it on-the-go, along with a heat-resistant glove and mat for protection for your hands and surfaces. 

Performance

• Quick to reach temperature
• Left hair looking bouncy and shiny
• Unwieldy length

The BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush is extremely simple to use. Just press the power button for two seconds, and you’ll hear a tone to indicate it’s been switched on. It will start heating to 160ºC; to select a hotter temperature, simply press the power button once, or twice, for the other two options. 

The LED ring surrounding the power button will illuminate green when the hot brush is powered on, while three smaller LEDs above this indicate the temperature selected. The relevant LED for the temperature selected will flash white while the hot brush is heating and glow solid when the desired temperature has been reached. During testing, we found it took 43 seconds to reach 160ºC; 50 seconds to reach 170ºC, and 55 seconds to hit the top temperature of 180 degrees. 

We used the BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush on our fine, slightly longer than shoulder-length hair to test performance. We were able to style it in around three minutes, sectioning hair as we would when blow-drying. The hot brush passed through our hair smoothly and created a sleek finish, with very few flyaway strands. Hair was left looking shiny and healthy. Unfortunately, the style didn’t last the day, but that’s more a reflection of fine hair rather than the hot brush’s performance. 

While the hot brush felt balanced and was easy to use in both left and right hands, we did find the appliance a little long. This made it slightly unwieldy in use, and also meant the device wouldn’t lay flat in the bottom of our handbag. 

We were impressed with the inclusion in the box of a heat resistant glove and mat to protect your hands and surfaces during use. 

Battery life

• Battery lasts for up to 40 minutes between charges
• Takes around three hours to fully recharge
• Lacks a clear battery level

BaByliss claims the battery in the 9000 Cordless Hot Brush lasts 40 minutes between charges. We used the hot brush heavily throughout the testing period and found we were able to style hair four times and perform several touch-ups before needing to be recharged. 

The battery took around three hours to fully recharge. Note this hot brush also includes a handy auto-off feature, which ensures that if you don’t use the hot brush for five minutes, it will enter sleep mode and lower the temperature to 120ºC to preserve battery life; simply press the power button to wake the styler from sleep mode. However, we were disappointed there wasn’t a clear battery life indicator. Instead, we had to rely on the LED surrounding the power button flashing red, yellow or green to gauge the level of battery life remaining. 

Should I buy the BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hot Brush?

Buy it if...

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First reviewed: December 2021

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