Better Hair Styling Results Guaranteed If You Avoid These Blow-Drying Mistakes!

You can make every day a good hair day just with a little know-how and these few tricks.

Did you ever wonder why some days you can blow-dry your hair and use the same products that made it sensational the day before only to find it refuses to do what you want the next?  If this has happened to you more than you would like, then listen up because my stylist has shown me some great blow-drying tricks that really make all the difference when it comes to good hair days.

Instead of just grabbing your round brush and working with your blow-dryer, it is important to section your hair first.  I’m not just talking about parting it, but actually using butterfly clips or bobby pins and dividing your hair into four sections–the top of the scalp around the crown, in the back of head, and one for each side. The reason for this pinning is because it keeps you from working on the same pieces of hair over and over again, saving from dehydrating them in the process.   

I don’t know about you, but I’m right-handed.   Being the case, I always have held my blow-dryer in my right hand and my brush in my left.  However, I learned that if you switch hands and use your dominant hand instead to hold the brush that you gain more dexterity  to manipulate it for twisting and pulling as you need. At first, it felt strange, but I got to admit you get a lot more control this way.

Another thing she warned me about was over twisting the brush as you dry.  Instead of wrapping the brush too tightly, you need to just to start at the base of a section and give it a quarter-turn to grab the hair only enough to achieve some tension.  Now that it is initially secured, you want to smooth the section by tugging the brush away from the head to the place in the middle of your hair’s length. This is when you can begin making additional quarter turns as you go without running into problems of your brush getting stuck in the hair.

Also, don’t pull the brush down with a firm hold as you dry toward the crown to get the hair straight because this robs the hair of lift.  The ideal way to get more height in this area is to pull the hair up straighter with that round brush over the top and long layers that would make up the top of a side bang portion or those layers circling the crown area.  

Despite putting on a thermal protective spray, it is better for the health of your hair to put a safe distance between that hot appliance and those strands.  You can make the problem worse if you allow that blow-dryer to touch the hair while holding the brush in place to style, especially if you don’t attach the plastic nozzle. The best distance to keep is about one to two inches between your hair and that blast of heat.

Just as critical to hair drying success is remembering to keep your blow-dryer moving.  Concentrating the heat too long in one spot is damaging.  You don’t have to swing the blow-dryer back and forth, but just move your hand holding it slightly back and forth is enough. 

If you are constantly battling frizz, then you need to dry your hair completely before walking away from that blow-dryer because even the tiniest bit of moisture remaining is detrimental enough to cause frizz or curl within a few hours.

Something else that needs thought is how you hold your blow-dryer.  Unless you aim the nozzle parallel alongside a section of hair, you are only creating flyways instead of smoothing it.

One last piece of advice, don’t rush blow-drying just to save time.  You can partially dry to remove the excess water at first, but taking more care through sectioning and correct technique with the blow-dryer and brush helps considerably for more of a polished, stepped out of the salon finish.