Did you know that the first hair dryers were vacuum cleaners that were adapted for drying hair? We've come along way since then, but some travelers remain skeptical of compact hair dryers.

The compact hair dryers claim they can do the job of their full-size counterparts. The editors at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute decided to find out whether that claim is just a lot of hot air.

You can try, but you can never take everything you want when you travel. One way to lighten your load is with a travel hair dryer.

"We're intrigued by the claims that portable hair dryers can work as well as full-sized dryers," said Nicole Larsen with the institute. "So we decided to put them to the test. We evaluated them for dry time, durability, weight, size and electrical safety, using both laboratory and consumer evaluations. We found some of the portable hair dryers were comparable to the full-sized dryers and took up less space."

Two portable dryers blew the competition away. The Andis Ionic Ceramic Folding Hair Dryer ($39) aced Good Housekeeping's lab tests with the fastest dry time.

"This dryer has 1875 watts, which is the same as the majority of full sized dryers and it dried hair just as well," said Larsen. "Andis weighs a little over a pound, which is slightly less than a standard hair dryer and smaller."

"It had enough power settings that there was really quite a difference if I wanted to have it low or medium, or high," said tester Debby Goldsmith. "And also it had this cool shock, which sets the styles immediately."

Good Housekeeping's other winner was the Remington All That! Compact Dryer ($25). It's about the size of the Andis, but costs less.

Whatever hair dryer you buy, it should have an immersion-protection plug to prevent electrocution.

"It's a safety precaution that can help save your life if you hair dryer should happen to fall in the water. There have been recent recalls on products that haven't had a full-immersion plug, so make sure you just double-check your products," said Todd Kent, engineer with the institute.

By the way, the Remington All That! Dryer was the favorite of the consumer testers, who especially liked its compact size.