Dough - Hairdryers

Sliced Bread

How do modern hairdryers protect against damage from excessive heat?

Dough is a new series from BBC Radio 4 which looks at the business behind profitable, everyday products and considers how they might evolve in the future.

In this episode, the entrepreneur Sam White speaks with experts from the world of hairdryer manufacturing, namely Robyn Coutts, a senior design manager at Dyson and Andrew McDougall, director of beauty and personal care research at the analysts, Mintel.

Also joining them is the technology expert and applied futurist Tom Cheesewright, who offers his insight and predictions on what might be coming beyond the current production pipeline.

Together, they explore how hairdryers went from gas-powered chimneys to handheld devices, examine some of the latest trends and technology before giving their expert opinions on game-changing - and pointless - hair drying innovations.

Dough looks at where the smart money's going now and what that could mean for all of us in the years ahead.

Produced by Viant Siddique and Jon Douglas.

Dough is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in August when Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread.

In the meantime, Dough is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sound