{
  "id": "emitters:hair-dryer",
  "collection": "emitters",
  "slug": "hair-dryer",
  "name": "Hair dryer and electric shaver",
  "summary": "Motor appliances held against the head: among the strongest ELF magnetic fields in a home at the point of use — up to 700 mG (70 µT) at 15 cm across the models measured — but used for minutes a day, and down to at most 70 mG (7 µT) by 30 cm.",
  "status": "verified",
  "lastVerified": "2026-08-12",
  "data": {
    "aliases": [
      "hairdryer EMF",
      "blow dryer radiation",
      "electric razor EMF",
      "shaver EMF"
    ],
    "category": "elf-magnetic",
    "environment": [
      "home"
    ],
    "bands": [
      {
        "label": "Power frequency",
        "minHz": 50,
        "maxHz": 60
      }
    ],
    "dutyCycle": "Minutes per day, only while the motor runs — the shortest exposure of any high-field household appliance.",
    "distanceProfile": [
      {
        "meters": 0.15,
        "value": {
          "quantity": "magnetic-flux-density",
          "unit": "mG",
          "value": 1,
          "max": 700,
          "basis": "measured",
          "note": "Measured range at 15 cm across hair dryers (1–700 mG / 0.1–70 µT) and electric shavers (4–600 mG / 0.4–60 µT) in the EPA's 1992 survey of 60 Hz appliances. The spread between models is three orders of magnitude, so the appliance class predicts far less than the individual unit.",
          "sourceIds": [
            "nrc-1997-appliance-fields",
            "epa-1992-appliance-fields"
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "meters": 0.3,
        "value": {
          "quantity": "magnetic-flux-density",
          "unit": "mG",
          "value": 0,
          "max": 100,
          "basis": "measured",
          "note": "By 30 cm the strongest shaver measured 100 mG (10 µT) and the strongest dryer 70 mG (7 µT); the weakest units were indistinguishable from background at this distance.",
          "sourceIds": [
            "nrc-1997-appliance-fields",
            "epa-1992-appliance-fields"
          ]
        }
      }
    ],
    "mitigations": [
      {
        "action": "Treat these as duration exposures, not level exposures: brief daily use is a small share of a cumulative dose.",
        "effect": "Epidemiology on power-frequency fields uses time-weighted averages, in which a two-minute peak contributes little.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "who-elf"
        ]
      },
      {
        "action": "Measure the specific unit rather than trusting a class figure, and prefer a dryer whose motor sits away from the handle.",
        "effect": "Field strength at the hand and head is dominated by the motor's position and winding, which varies by three orders of magnitude between models."
      }
    ],
    "measureWith": [
      "elf-gaussmeter"
    ],
    "related": [
      "emitters:household-background-magnetic",
      "limits:sbm-2024-magnetic-bands",
      "quantities:magnetic-flux-density"
    ],
    "questions": [
      "what-is-a-safe-milligauss-level"
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "nrc-1997-appliance-fields",
      "title": "Possible Health Effects of Exposure to Residential Electric and Magnetic Fields, Table 2-3: magnetic-field strengths of common household appliances",
      "publisher": "National Research Council (US), National Academies Press",
      "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK232734/table/ttt00003/",
      "year": 1997,
      "kind": "peer-reviewed",
      "retrieved": "2026-08-12"
    },
    {
      "id": "epa-1992-appliance-fields",
      "title": "EMF in Your Environment: Magnetic Field Measurements of Everyday Electrical Devices (EPA 402-R-92-008)",
      "publisher": "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air",
      "url": "https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=000005EP.TXT",
      "year": 1992,
      "kind": "government",
      "retrieved": "2026-08-12"
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "self": "https://emfbase.com/api/emitters/hair-dryer",
    "html": "https://emfbase.com/emitters/hair-dryer",
    "markdown": "https://emfbase.com/emitters/hair-dryer.md",
    "collection": "https://emfbase.com/api/emitters"
  }
}