For example, replace the filter in your central humidifier regularly according to the manufacturer’s instructions. You don’t want the humidity in a room to be at more than 50 percent. When the humidity exceeds this percentage, bacteria and mold can grow. This can trigger respiratory conditions like allergies and asthma. Even if you don’t have color-treated hair, it’s important to stay on schedule with your haircuts. The basis for shiny hair is strong hair, and the best thing you can do to support this is keeping split ends at bay with regular trims.

Humidifiers add moisture to the air, which can be particularly beneficial in environments where indoor air tends to be dry. They work by releasing water vapor or steam, increasing the humidity levels in a room. This added moisture can have several health benefits, such as alleviating dry skin, preventing irritation in the nasal passages and throat, and reducing the likelihood of respiratory infections.

What Is a Humidifier?

This energy-smart evaporative model isn’t quite as easy to use as our top pick, but it’s great at keeping the humidity consistent and distributing it around the room. To use a humidifier, start by cleaning the water reservoir with mild dish soap to remove the residue from the manufacturing process. Additionally, place the unit at least 12 inches away from the walls in order to prevent mold and moisture damage.

Thanks to that impressive fan and evaporative humidification process, the EVDC300 does make more noise than our other picks, which are all ultrasonic. We measured the EVDC300 at about 51 decibels on its lowest fan setting; this is 9 decibels quieter than what’s considered an “average” conversation tone. The noise is slightly more pronounced on the higher settings, but even then, it still measured only 55 decibels. We personally find that kind of white noise tolerable, even pleasant, and it easily blends into the background.

LEVOIT Humidifier

These are standalone systems that you can place in the room of your choice, plus you can pick them up and move them around. “First, it’s best to empty the water tank and refill with fresh water daily,” Drake says. “If you think about it, the mist coming out of your humidifier is created from your water, so fresh water will provide fresh mist.” Empty the humidifier of standing water and rinse each day.

We tested this in a Brooklyn apartment using Lascar data loggers, to track the humidity changes over time as the radiator heated up a pot of water. We compared the fluctuations with the performance of our budget pick and with the alternative option of doing nothing at all. Dreo is still a newer company, however, so we can’t vouch for the quality of its customer service in the same way we can for Vornado’s and Levoit’s. The onboard buttons are more streamlined, but they’re also harder to navigate. The Classic 300S has four buttons—night mode, night-light, mist level, and power—that are labeled only with images, rather than with words (like on our top pick’s buttons). This can be a bit jarring if you don’t have the instruction manual handy; it doesn’t help that the order of the buttons is a little counterintuitive as well.

Humidifiers can help you add moisture to a dry room and relieve unwanted health symptoms. Some humidifiers require filters or have other parts that need to be cleaned or replaced.

Read more about best humidifier for singers here.

Ahead, we spoke to Haliti as well as dermatologist Marisha Garshick, MD, to get their 12 best tips on how to get the shiny hair of your dreams. During the cold winter months, you might focus most of your efforts to stay comfortable indoors on your heating system. But as the temperature drops, don’t forget about your humidity levels to help ensure you’re comfortable in your home. As we bring in outside air and heat it, the humidity levels drop substantially. When humidity levels are off, both you and your home may feel the effects. Ultrasonic humidifiers come in both cool mist and warm mist varieties, and some actually come with the option for both. This type of humidifier rapidly vibrates the water into small particles.

This is why the air inside any heated building in the winter feels so dry. Any time the temperature outside is below freezing, relative humidity inside will be below 20 percent unless you do something to increase the humidity.