If there’s one beauty thing all girls wish they could master, it would be how to blow dry hair. It sometimes seems like our hair dressers are wizards and the blow dryer is a magic wand that heats our hair into shiny, soft, and bouncy perfection. After countless replays of all those YouTube tutorials, you sit and try over and over again to make your hair look how you want it, but most of the time it just doesn’t happen. Click here to see see our best kept hair secrets and how to get healthy hair.
What most of the online tutorials don’t tell you is what is actually going on inside the strands of your hair while you’re blow drying. So, here’s how to blow dry hair, coming straight from the most trusted source of all, an actual hair dresser! Actually, your hair goes through 5 different stages of texture in the 10 minutes that it takes you to dry and shape your locks and we’ve listed those stages below.
Beauty Tip: ALWAYS use your straight nozzle…you know that weird shaped attachment piece that comes with your blow dryer, that most people throw under their bathroom sink because they have no idea what it’s used for? Well that unknown duck-bill shaped object is protecting your hair from heat damage, and allowing you to close your hair cuticle in one direction, which will make your hair look shinier and feel smoother.
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How To Blow Dry Hair Like a Pro
1. The “WET” Stage
- After you wash your hair, squeeze out all the excess water with your towel. Add your favorite leave in conditioner to enhance shine and give your hair the moisture and nutrients it needs. Then find a styling aid that works best for your hair type to speed up your blow dry and reduce frizz.
- Once you have your product evenly applied through your hair, de-tangle with a wide tooth comb. Now you want to start by pulling the hair tight with your fingers working in small sections from the bottom of your head, at the top of your neck, to the top. Start at the root of your hair and work your way to the ends. Make sure you are aiming your blow-dryer in a downward direction and imagine laying down your cuticle flat in order to get a much smoother appearance.
- On the crown of the head, hold your hair in the opposite direction from where it wants to fall naturally to achieve volume and body. (Do this instead of turning your head upside-down so you are in control of your hair). IMPORTANT FACT! Do NOT use a brush in your hair at this stage- your hair is in its most fragile state right now and pulling a brush through it will weaken your hair.
2. The “Damp” Stage
- Once you get most of the moisture out of your hair, make sure your hair is 85% dry. You want your roots to be 100% dry to guarantee you leave no moisture in your hair at the end of your blow-dry which could end up leaving your hair frizzy after all your hard work.
3. The “Dry” Stage
- This is where you will start to section your hair and use your round brush (to achieve more volume and body, use a vent brush). Your sections should be as wide as the brush and as thick as the length of the bristles. Also, remember the smaller the round brush the more movement you can achieve, and bigger the brush less movement and straight your hair can get, depending on your hair length.
4. The “Frizz” Stage
- The biggest reason why people complain about their hair never looking as good as when the professionals do it is because they give up at this stage. Learning how to blow dry hair takes practice, but don’t lose hope on your hair. So when you think it’s dry, but it looks unfinished, KEEP GOING! It’s important to focus a little extra on your ends so they look fresh and crisp.
5. The “Silk” Stage
- YOU MADE IT! By completing each stage consistently you will find yourself always having shiny, smooth hair looking like you just walked straight out of a professional hair salon. When you’re finished, it’s nice to set your hair with a cool shock using your cold button on your blow-dryer, and add a pea size drop of a finishing serum for extra shine and frizz control.
Editor’s Note: Practice makes perfect when it comes to learning how to blow dry hair. Another important piece of insight to remember is that you don’t need a ton of expensive beauty supplies for a fab blow out, you just need to master the technique. So get to work girls, round brushes out, blow dryers on! Get the salon look all on your own!!
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