hairdryer treatment

noun

a confrontation where someone stands very close to a subordinate and lambasts them very loudly.

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Meanings

nounhairdryer treatment (plural hairdryer treatments)

plural hairdryer treatments

  1. a confrontation where someone stands very close to a subordinate and lambasts them very loudly.

    2013, John Prescott, Ed Miliband is Labour's Alex Ferguson and he needs to give any slacking ministers the hairdryer treatment, in Mirror online, 20 Aug 2013, If Shadow Cabinet members aren’t pulling their weight, give them the hairdryer treatment and kick ’em out.

    2 more examples

    Of course, sometimes the hairdryer treatment can be taken with a pinch of salt.

    2004, Gaynor Morgan, The Real David Beckham: An Intimate Biography, John Blake, →ISBN, page 52

    He insists Wilkinson's hairdryer treatment did the trick. He...points out, 'When I got back in, I stayed in.'.

    2013, Dave Simpson, The Last Champions, Random House, →ISBN, page 57

Origin

From hairdryer + treatment (the image being of shouting at someone so close to their face that your hot breath could dry their hair).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hairdryer treatment. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hairdryer%20treatment

MLA

“hairdryer treatment.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hairdryer%20treatment. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hairdryer treatment,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hairdryer%20treatment.

Source: hairdryer treatment on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.