This time, when I put it back into place, a piece of plastic came off. Now the filter is hanging. I took it off, looked more closely, and discovered at some point in time, another of the plastic pieces had broken off and the filter is currently held on by one prong thing. (You can sort of see it gaping on the right.)
This hair dryer has to be at least fifteen years old, maybe older than that, so I can't complain about how well the plastic held up. But I didn't want to look for a new hair dryer. I really like this one.
You see, I used to just go to Target and pickup whatever hair dryer they had that didn't seem outrageously priced, but they'd only last a few years at most. So when the previous hair dryer died, I decided I was going to invest in a good one. It had to be cheaper than spending $35 every other year. I don't remember how much research I did, but I ended up with this red and black model. It's lasted forever, well worth the cost at the time.
I really didn't want to buy a new hair dryer now, not when the only thing wrong with this one was the broken filter, but what were the odds I could find a replacement part for a dryer that was at least fifteen years old? I figured slim and none.
I started by going to Amazon and searching for the brand there. Imagine my surprise to see that they're still selling this same hair dryer!
OMG! If they're still selling the dryer, maybe I can find a part.
I did an online search and found a family-owned store in Florida that sells replacement parts for small appliances. They had my filter! Only in red, not black, so it's not going to match exactly, but I can live with it because this dryer is now nearly double the price I paid for it when I bought it. Besides, the red will match with the front of the dryer, so it won't look completely weird.
Once I get the part and I verify that it fits exactly as it should, I'm going to buy another one or two to keep on hand because this dryer is apparently going to last forever and who knows if filters that fit will be available in another fifteen years?
