For most women, the best part of getting their hair cut is the blow dry that comes at the end of any salon experience. But more often than not, the next day only brings a sigh of disappointment as the previous day’s fabulous blow out falls limp and can’t be replicated.
Secrets to Getting a Beautiful Blow Dry at Home
While it can be difficult to perfectly replicate a professional’s blow out, Carolyn Riley of Cutler Salon explains that by buying the right hair brush for your hair’s specific texture, you can easily achieve the look you want at home. Riley provides us with her four favorite brushes and demonstrates how to use them to make your hair look its best!
Round Bristle Brush (Spornelle Brush):
Good For: Women who have fine hair or curly hair but want smooth, straight hair with a nice shine and a little volume.
How To Use It: Begin with wet hair, and start at the hairline root to smooth out the curls and kinks that commonly occur around the root. The key to getting smooth hair with just a little volume is to pull the hair straight up and away from the head and blow dry the hair. The clustered bristles of the brush will naturally give your hair shine.
Ceramic Round Brush:
Good For: Women with textured curls who want voluminous, smooth hair and a soft curl.
How To Use It: Begin by spraying the hair with Cutler Specialist Protectant Treatment spray, focusing on the ends, which will help detangle the hair. Because ceramic brushes are specifically intended for heating, you need to protect your hair from the heat. Blow dry without a brush until the hair is 90 percent dry. To get a nice curl from the middle of your hair down, wrap the hair around the barrel of the brush and blow dry. For more volume, tip your head a little and just pull the brush straight through the hair.
Bonus tip: Generally speaking, the bigger the round brush, the bigger the curl. If you just want more volume and a little bend to the hair, use a bigger brush. If you want more curl to the hair, use a smaller brush. If you can wrap your hair around the brush more than twice, it’s too small and you’re more likely to get it tangled.
Nylon Paddle Brush:
Good For: Women with longer hair of any texture who want non-pin straight hair with body and volume.
How To Use It: First off, choose a paddle brush that is about the same size as your palm for comfort as you work. For a simple blow dry, tilt your head upside down and cross brush the hair on diagonals around the head. The brush will naturally help you get volume into your hair because it is a vented brush with space between the bristles.
Bonus tip: Use the brush vertically (instead of holding the brush horizontally) when your hair is wet to help detangle it.
Mason Pearson Brush:
Good For: Women who have any type of curl texture — be it really tight curls or loose curls — in their hair, but want smooth hair at the root while maintaining volume.
How To Use It: The Mason Pearson brush is a high-end professional brush retailing at about $90, but it’s a worthwhile investment. The design of the brush with its natural boar and nylon bristles helps do all the difficult work for you. Just like with the paddle brush, turn your head upside down and blow dry across your head alternating the angle of the brush.
Bonus tip: The Mason Pearson brush is ideal for smoothing cowlicks and difficult curly roots. To control your cowlick bangs, push the hair across the face in one direction, then the other, and then down while blow drying the hair.
Don’t be afraid to ask your stylist which hair brush they recommend. Talking to them about how to style your hair at home will open you up to better hair care to keep you happy and your hair healthy!
Check Out This Video on Mastering Perfectly Polished Hair With a Mason Pearson Brush
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Thank you for the tips. Actually, I have always used brushes. Now what I am looking for is for a special brush to help me iron my hair. A stylist I used to go to, he straighted my hair with the a flat iron and a brush that look like a flat iron, so it was like a double brush. It seems a very practical tool to use, faster and you don’t burn your hands trying to put the hair on the iron. Could you help me find this kind of brush. I will appreciate.