It never fails. Every time you leave the hair salon, you look fabulous, but you can’t recreate the look at home. You remind yourself to pay careful attention to how the stylist blows your hair dry so you can emulate the look, but to no avail. Your hair still doesn’t look the way your stylist made it look. That’s because your hair stylist has some tricks up his sleeve that you should know.
Step 1
Wait until your hair is damp before you start. Hair is too difficult to manage when it’s dripping wet.
Step 2
Prep your hair with the right products while your hair is damp. For fine hair, use a mousse. For medium-textured hair, use mousse, gel, glaze or creams. For thick hair, use extra-strength mousse, gels, creams or wax. Use a quarter-size amount of product and concentrate on the ends of your hair. Comb the product through your hair.
Step 3
Start blowing your hair dry, always directing the heat from the top down. Blow your hair in the direction it grows and then flip it to the other side and blow against the way it grows. Continue in this manner until your hair is three-fourths dry.
Step 4
Divide your hair into sections. Clip up the outer sections of your hair, leaving the hair underneath free to blow dry first. The sections can be 2 to 4-inches thick or three large sections, whichever works best for your hair.
Step 5
Sit down in a chair if your arms get tired. To avoid frizz, you need to keep the blow dryer elevated above your head. The airflow from the nozzle must go downward from the roots of your hair to the ends. This is true whether you want a stick-straight finish, wavy or curly locks.
Step 6
Place a hairbrush in one hand and the blow dryer in the other. Take one section of hair, and put it under the brush. Bring the brush down through your hair, while at the same time blow-drying that section of hair, remembering to keep the blow dryer above your hair.
Step 7
Unclip the top sections of your hair and blow dry using the same method of using the brush along with the blow dryer.
Step 8
Take your time. Do not go onto a new section until you are finished with the current section. You might find it helpful to put the blow dryer down while you get your next piece of hair ready in the brush. Then continue blow-drying. If you go too fast, you can cause frizz. If some sections of hair start to dry before you get to them, wet them with a spray bottle, and then blow them dry.
Step 9
Stop drying as soon as your hair is completely dry. Switch to the cool air to finish and lock in the look. Touch your hair to make sure it is dry. If so, you are finished. If not, repeat the process until it is dry.
Step 10
Apply shine serum through your hair and mist with hairspray if desired.
