Step by Step How To Tutorial for a Shiny Blow Dry

Don’t tell anyone, But shiny hair doesn’t mean healthy hair. I know, mind blowing . . . right? The secret to shiny hair is simple. Make it reflective. These are a few easy things to help every time you want shiny hair, and should help to make your hair more reflective and shinier.

The Wash

Let’s start at the very beginning, and mean the absolute beginning. With the wash. To make sure we get as much moisture into the hair as possible, we need to find the right shampoo and conditioner. This is the first phase, and creates the foundation for the rest of our blow dry. 

Try and imagine how the cuticle of a hair looks in a microscope. It’s made from hundreds of tiny tiles, like the roof of a house. Now imagine if they aren’t sitting flat. The rain can’t flow down. It’s exactly the same with hair. When the hair is damaged, the tiles don’t sit flat, this is why hair gets tangled.

Drying

So now you’ve washed and conditioned the hair, we have all those tiny tiles sitting where we want them, but it’s still soaking wet. The last thing we want to do is make those roof tiles sit up again. So we have to be super gentle when we dry it. You know in the movies when the hero comes out of the shower drying his hair as hard as he can? That’s exactly what we shouldn’t be doing. We want smooth, shiny hair, not messed up tangled hair. Sometimes it’s good to use a paper towel, they’re super absorbent and they’re not as aggressive as towels.

Blow Drying

OK, so that bits done. Now we have to remove the excess moisture. This is important for two reasons. ONE, it’ll be faster to dry your hair, and TWO, most importantly; it won’t dilute the product you use. There’s not much point in putting product in soaking wet hair, it just gets wasted.

I know I said remove excess water, but this isn’t an excuse to blast dry the hair any old way. Remember how the roof tiles need to let the water slide? It’s exactly the same with air. The air flow from the dryer needs to flow DOWN THE HAIR, making sure the air flow is always coming from above. This is the key. The more we encourage a smother hair shaft, the shinier the hair.

Applying Product

Apply your product, maybe something moisturizing, and let’s start drying. But which brush? We need to encourage shiny hair, so feel your brush against your skin. Is it sharp or soft? Typically a rounder brush is quite sharp. It needs to grip the hair for lift, so it has to be. Now think about something like a paddle brush. Usually they have a bigger surface area and softer bristles. This makes it quick and smooth.

Try and work methodically through the drying, imagine the hair in quarters and work round the head, a quarter at a time, working in sections. Heat the hair in the brush and when it’s dry allow it to cool. Imagine the hair is like wax, when it’s hot it’ll do what you want, and when it’s cold it stay where you left it. Even if you don’t necessarily want it there.

Contributing author Samuel Ryde knows whereof he speaks with years of service to clients as Senior Stylist at Ena Salon in London. You can follow Samuel on Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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DIY Blow Out How To

The blow-out has now officially been made a requirement of your beauty routine! All hair stylists will say that a great blow-out is the basis of EVERY great looking hairstyle. The added polish and body that a great blow-out gives hair, is what its really all about.

Salons are now catering to blow-out only clients, and blow-dry bars are the hot new item catering entirely to the art of the blow-out! Blow-dry bars are especially great for the styling impaired, or on-the-go fashionistas, who want a quick make-over to go from work to play, however, the service doesn’t come cheap. If you learn the art of the blow-out, you’ll have the secret to achieving great hair styles that have more staying power, more body and more shine.

• Step One ~~ Cleanse hair with your favorite smoothing shampoo and conditioner and finish with a cool rinse. The cool rinse is key to locking in moisture and shine.

• Step Two ~~ Apply leave-in conditioner to towel dried hair and gently comb through with fingers followed by a wide tooth comb.

• Step Three ~~ Add your favorite smoothing serum, mousse or gel. Applying products to damp hair reduces some of the heaviness that they can add. Rough dry hair upside down, using fingers and dryer set on high. Direct heat mostly at roots, and fluff through the rest until 70% – 80% dry. (Curly hair girls should most definitely skip this step as this will only cause frizz.)

• Step 4 ~~ Divide hair into 4-5 sections and clip out of the way to make styling more manageable. Start at nape and working with one section at a time; drop down hair, about the width of your round brush and dry from root to end using tension and following the brush with the dryer. Finish one section before going to the next and make sure the hair is completely dry. The tension of the brush and the direction of the air flow of the dryer, will leave the hair polished and smooth.

• Step 5 ~~ Elevation creates volume, so by over-directing your hair from the root with brush and blower in the crown area, you will give your finished look much more more height and volume.
  • To add soft curls to your blow-out without extra heat – set each section of hair (as it’s still hot) by  simply rolling each section into the shape of a barrel curl using your fingers and secure with pins or clips. Velcro rollers can also be used to get big volume curls. Mist curls with a light finishing spray and allow curls to cool. Unpin curls, warm a dime size amount of your favorite shine serum in the palms of your hands, and gently run through strands from mid-shaft to ends.

Et voila! A beautiful blow out is yours!

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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Gone are the days of needing to decipher the how-to’s of hair styling on your own

Those of you with naturally wavy hair are in luck this year . . . as long as you know how to make the best of your natural waves. Most women when told by their hairdresser that they are fortunate to have naturally wavy hair, will come back with something like; “But my hair doesn’t have a nice consistent wave that I can let it go natural.” It’s true, most naturally wavy hair will be more wavy in one area than in another. You need a good haircut with some layering that will allow the natural wave to come through and give a good shape to the hairstyle.

Has a hairdresser been able to coax your hair into a hairstyle using just your natural wave and a product or two? If so, you can duplicate it and save styling time and wear and tear on your hair.

Richard Ashforth, the International Creative Director for Saco, has put together an easy to follow, comprehensive video for styling your natural wavy hair. I particularly like that he doesn’t get carried away with hair care products. Too many hairdressers will have you believe you need a half-dozen products to make a hairstyle come together. Richard suggests only two products, that’s it! He uses a thick leave-in conditioner to bind the hair together and a mouse to aid in styling and to add shine to the hair. Using more products for this hairstyle would weigh the hair down, resulting in loss of both volume and curl.

A subtle step Richard gives that is important not to skip, is gently massaging the product out. Doing this will make your hair look softer and get rid of the “crispy” look, that hair care products can give to the wave. Check out the video here:

VideoJug: How To Blow Dry Hair With A Natural Wave

For pictures of great looks check out our Pinterest Curly Hairstyles and Wavy Hairstyles Boards.

Barb Quinn on Google+  

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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