[cestith]

"Hair dryer" is such an imprecise term in a use case like this. One can find 600 watt units all the way through about 2300 watts. A typical general-purpose heat gun one might use to strip paint or shrink some heat-shrink plastic is usually between 1500 watts and 1800 watts.

[mannykannot]

While the power consumption may vary considerably, the maximum temperature is presumably constrained by what humans and their hair can tolerate.

[londons_explore]

Put a thermocouple in some hairdriers and you'll find some get well over 400 Celcius (750F!).

They just rely on the fact air has a low thermal mass, and it's easy to just keep it slightly further from your skin if necessary - the air quickly cools with distance as more room air mixes in.

[cestith]

There is a huge difference in whether one can actually reach that temperature, how quickly, and how much airflow it provides across the heating element and on target. A heat gun is a much more consistent tool for the uses for which it's designed.

[bombcar]

A heat gun is also designed to put pretty consistent heat an inch or so away from the nozzle, whereas hair dryers often have what appear to be left-over jet engines for fans, for when you need to dry someone's hair from ten feet away.