A hair dryer (10) has a hand-held housing comprising an air inlet (12), an air outlet (14), a motor (1) between said air inlet (12) and said air outlet (14) to draw air in from said air inlet (12) and drive air out from said air outlet (14). A heating element (17) is located in said air flow between said air inlet (12) and said air outlet (14). The hair dryer (10) further comprises a filter on said air inlet (12). The filter comprises a metal filter plate (20) bearing a plurality of holes, wherein at least some of said holes have a maximum lateral dimension of less than 1.5 mm and wherein vertical walls of said holes through a thickness of said filter plate are substantially straight or at least partially concave.