Among the ever-changing styles that come and go, there are some basic styling techniques that should be staples in any woman’s arsenal. Apart from being able to safely and
effectively use curling irons, hot rollers and flat irons, or to wrap a wet-set, a woman should understand the basics of the ‘blowout’.
Now, you probably think of the blowout as just “drying the hair”, but in actuality, the blowout is a styling technique, and when done properly, you can create soft gentle curves
in the hair. A proper blowout can add fullness and volume to the hair, can straighten curls, and can even add shine. We’ll go over a few simple tools you need, and then take you through the blowout process.
What you need:
• Clean, conditioned hair
• A Blow Dryer
• Heat-Protective Styling Product (preferably mousse or foam)
• A Comb
• A Vented Brush
• A Round Brush
• Clips for Controlling the Hair
As with many styling demonstrations, we want to start with the hair having been freshly shampooed and conditioned. This ensures an even starting point for our styling.
Residual styling products can leave the hair stiff and can change the look of the hair during the styling process. It’s important to know what’s in the hair when you’re planning to try out new techniques, and it’s
doubly important to know what is in the hair when you’re trying to get a feel for how a technique is supposed to work.
Now, aside from clean hair, the most-important factor in this technique is the blow dryer. Any blow dryer can help you dry your hair. But if you want to get the best result
from a blowout style, you want something that allows you to control the temperature and airflow more than just your basic blow dryer.
You want a hair dryer that offers at least a dual-settings switch on the fan and the temperature. You also want a dryer with a ‘cool shot’ button which disengages the heating
element as long as the button is pressed. This allows you to change the temperature of the airflow to cool and ‘lock’ a bend in the hair.
(Click to enlarge)
The vented and round hair brushes are for drying and then styling the hair respectively. The vented brush is called such because it has vents in its base that allow the air to
circulate through the brush and dry the hair more quickly. The round brush generally has a metallic or ceramic barrel at its base that is designed to hold heat and allow you to reshape the hair shaft along the bend
of the barrel. It’s this barrel curvature that allows the hair to be shaped into soft curves. Just as with rollers, you want the barrel of your round brush to be larger depending on the length of your hair.
