My blowouts blow.

December 1, 2006 9:45 AM

how do I get my blowout perfect?

I've recently read the 100th article about how to get the perfect blowout (blowing hair straight using blowdryer, brush, and flatiron) and although I have made great strides and it's semismooth, I have some problems that are hard to work out, which those articles never address. What are your tips?

I use: a Revlon Ionic hairdryer ( not cheapo, not expensive either) and an expensive tourmaline flatiron. I use a Sephora boar bristle round brush.

My hair is very curly, highlighted, and short and layered. When curly, it's about chin length.

Here are my problems:

1) The heat from the dryer burns my hands something fierce.

2) In some places, it's easier for me to curl the hair under the brush ( the top) and in under layers, it's easier to curl over the brush. So it ends up all flipped out and under and looks weird

3) Ends stay frizzy no matter what.

4) And of course, never as smooth/flat as I want.

5) When I go to the gym, sweat from my head makes it all curl up. How can I preserve it?

Can you help me get it right, painlessly? Please don't tell me to embrace my curls or get chemical straightening. I want to learn how to do this right.

posted by sweetkid to clothing, beauty, & fashion (10 comments total)

I have curly hair, too. I'm looking forward to reading answers for questons 1,2,4,5.

I do have a solution for #3. When you roll a section around the brush, dry the ends first. sometimes, I use a big flat brush and comb down to the ends and sort of tilt it a bit so the ends are the only part on the brush and exposed to the dryer. A combination of both methods works best.

Before I started drying the ends first, they'd sort of get frazzled and dry on their own before I could get them smooth by drying with the brush/dryer. Hope this helps!
posted by necessitas at 10:09 AM on December 1, 2006

Your hair might be more dry than you realize. Try putting a drop of canola oil on your hands, rub them together till your palms are shiny, and run 'em over your hair. If your hair looks better - guess what! you have dry hair. I was stunned when I did this. The only products that have enough oil in them to really moisturize my hair sufficiently are sold in the "ethnic" aisle at the drugstore -- I'm white, got some funny looks while shopping, but it was well worth it.
posted by selfmedicating at 10:19 AM on December 1, 2006

I bought Loreal "Hot Straight" a few weeks ago and it has helped a lot. Found it at Target - it's in a pink bottle. I use a giant round brush but don't have many layers to contend with.

Two things I've noticed in watching my stylist give me stick-straight hair: she pulls the hair very taught on the brush and she also dries it much longer than I tend to.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 10:36 AM on December 1, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

First, grow it out longer than chin length. That is a really difficult length to make straight. Longer hair has more weight and will stay straighter easier.

Second, are you using a great conditioner and lots of it (possibly leave-in will work well for you...i love Pantene for drug store brands) and an anti-frizz serum (grease in a bottle, yum)? Apply the serum liberally to the ends so they stay smooth (both when wet and later when dry, if necessary - basically, til they look good), but not so much by your scalp so that your hair becomes greasy sooner. Once you get a nice blowout you want it to last at least 3 days. (The 3rd or 4th days are great for an updo.)

Third, be sure to dry in small sections, concentrating on the front and doing the front first, because that's what most people see. If the front is perfect you will feel awesome even if the rest/back is slightly less than perfect.) Also, use the nozzle attachment on your hair drier to direct the heat better.

Fourth, is your straightener ceramic? They work better, but get really frickin' hot, as a warning (like 400 degrees I think)...so mind your ears and forehead.

Fifth, save yourself the grief and spring for a blowout for special occasions. By me in NYC they're usually about $20.
posted by infinityjinx at 10:40 AM on December 1, 2006

it's actually easier at chin-length, for whatever reason. when it was longer it was practically impossible. also, I want to learn how to do it right...it's not that much grief for me, and i'd like to have it every day. The nozzle deal might help my hands.
posted by sweetkid at 10:43 AM on December 1, 2006

Keep in mind that it is going to truly fry your hair. Accept this, and move forward.

If your hair is in bad condition, frizz and breakage is the first result, even with the best dryers and irons. Regular trims and deep conditioning are your best friends. Too many little layers and razor hair cuts tend to encourage friz, even in curly hair that is being straightened. Chunky layers are your friend.

If at all possible, straighten only a few times a week. If you can't do that, blow dry your hair at night and straighten it in the morning, sleeping with your hair up or in a pony tail. The natural oils in your hair weigh it down more and make it easier to straighten. Use a heat protectant product (bed head makes one, as do a few others).

When you dry your hair, dry it in sections, completely. Even a little bit of moisture will cause your hair to curl almost immediately. Twist and clip wet sections that have not yet been dried and attack them one at a time.

Also, don't overload your haircare routine with shampoos and conditioners that contain sulfates and/or silicones (Pantene is notorious for this). Save silicones for heat-protectant sprays/gels right before drying/straightening.

Naturally Curly has a straightening discussion board that helps a lot.
posted by answergrape at 1:26 PM on December 1, 2006

I have to turn mine under slightly at the ends with the iron in order to get my hair to generally point in one direction. I also have to do 3-5 passes over each section of hair with the iron, on my hairdresser's advice.

I don't use frizz serum anymore (silicone, dimethicone, and other industrial lubricants that end in -cone) to stop making my hair so brittle, and instead rub a tiny bit of coconut oil between my hands to restore a bit of oil after all that heat-baking. I use as little product as possible since almost anything I'm going to use will burn under the iron.

My hair is too thick to re-blow effectively if the roots get damp, but that may work for some people. I can only blow mine out during the winter, otherwise my hair is sweat-wet before I finish blowing it out, and wet roots are the enemy of flat hair.

I hate round brushes, but I'm apparently in the minority. I use big-ass vented paddle brushes. I can get more tension on my hair than with round, and they keep my hands a little more out of the way. My hairdresser doesn't work real hard to blow my hair terribly straight, though, she just blows and brushes it to the conversion point and then goes to town with the iron. I have a lot of hair, so sometimes it has to be re-misted to iron it.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:47 PM on December 1, 2006

I agree with answergrape: there is no way to heat-straighten your hair and not fry it.

That said, this what I've figured out about blowing out my hair:

1) My hair has to be very well-conditioned, or I end up with gross frizzy ends. The best way I have found to accomplish this is:

a) Saturate last six inches of hair with olive oil (I'm sure you could use another kind). Put up your hair and let it hang out for twenty minutes.
b) Wash your hair. Use the smallest amount of a *creamy* shampoo you can. Only wash your scalp. The runoff will take care of the rest. Really, even the oil. (I promise.)
c) Use a really rich conditioner. I like MOIST by Aussie. Let the conditioner work for a few minutes. Rinse.

My hair behaves really well, after this treatment, and I have frizzy ends something fierce.

2) You need a high-powered dryer and concentrated high heat. I don't use a nozzle, but I know a lot of people find it helpful. I'm not sure how you'll stop burning your hands, though. That's a quandry.

3) You need to pull the hair very taut. I do this with a flat paddle brush. I feel like it's easier to control the hair if it's still pretty wet, and it also helps if I remember that I'm essentially taking wet hair and forcing it to dry in an unnatural shape. Try to completely dry one section before moving to the next. If I do this properly, I barely need to use a flat iron afterward.

4) Don't use any of those silicone things. They dry out your hair. (At least, they dry out *my* hair, I don't mean to speak for everyone.) I'm very fond of "Secret Weapon" by John Frieda, which I'm pretty sure is just a cunningly-repackaged conditioner, but it really helps to stop flyaway ends.

5) I don't know that there's a way to re-straighten once you've gotten your head sweaty, or been in the rain. I'm not good enough at blow out my hair to do it piecemeal, though.

6) Have you ever tried putting your hair in giant curlers? If you can get the giant hard kind that aren't heated, and roll your hair up in those, and then dry your hair that way, you can get a really excellent, low-effort fake blowout that's also (bonus!) less awful for your hair.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 3:00 PM on December 1, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

she pulls the hair very taught on the brush and she also dries it much longer than I tend to.

I have spent years bemoaning the fact that I can't do at home what the stylist does to my hair, but it basically comes down to those two things. a/I can't get the angle right to really pull it, and b/I don't have the friggin patience to dry and dry and dry.

The secrets I do have are a Chi hair iron (pricey but new on ebay for half price), Redken All Soft conditioner (gives you amazingly soft hair - don't get the "heavy cream" type, that sucks) and a little bit of Biosilk before you dry. A friend recently talked me into a pricey tourmaline hair dryer and I was a little let down, expecting a miracle salon blowout. However, it does seem to dry the hair MUCH faster, which means I don't get annoyed and give up quite as much, and it seems to have a magic ability to keep the blowout lasting into a second day.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:21 PM on December 1, 2006

Are you making sure to dry point your hairdryer down when you're drying? I find that using a boar bristle brush (round or flat) works much, much better than plastic bristles. Maybe b/c the bristles hold the hair better, I'm not sure. And the aveda hair straightening stuff is really good. I use Pantene shampo and conditioner, but if you're willing to spend a lot of money, Kerastase works wonders with frizzy hair.
posted by echo0720 at 1:42 PM on December 2, 2006