If I only knew what I know now... Allison vs. her hair

I was talking to one of my clients the other day about how when I was in high school it use to take me forever to dry/style my hair. I was telling her about how clueless I was when it came to styling and that it would take me over an hour to just blow dry and round brush my hair. I know…Ridiculous but when your young you don’t know all of the fun tricks. All I can say is that only if I knew what I know now that my junior high and high school hair styling days would have been so much easier. The picture on the right is from my freshman year so you can have an idea of what I was working with...I have a bob with a little 60's flip and a bad center part...maybe some stuffed animals?!?! I have no explanation for those except their kind of cute?

I started giving my client some examples, tips and tricks and she was listening to me so intently. Finally she tells me that she had no clue about some of these hair tricks and that she has also been making styling harder then it had to be. It got me thinking that a lot of people probably haven't had much help with doing their hair and they've just been taught by mom, sister or friends which is great but sometimes they don't know all the fun tricks that hair dressers use. Now remember…I just color hair/work with chemical, but I still have some great tips from working in the industry and I’m not half bad when it comes to doing updos :0).

When it came to blow drying/styling my hair back in the day I would get out of the shower, towel dry my hair and then with my hair soaking wet I would start round brushing away. WRONG!!! Here’s where I did a couple of things wrong right off the bat.

First off, I didn’t use any kind of heat protectant or styling products to protect my hair from the heat. You ALWAYS want to use a leave in conditioner or some kind of product with a heat protectant so you don't burn your hair while drying it. Right now I’m using this leave in conditioner called It’s a Ten and this is ONE of my favorite products in the whole world right now (Yes...The packaging and the name are lame, but the products awesome). After you apply your leave in conditioner now is the time where you would want to add any other product such as smoothing serum, thickening cream, mousse…

I will eventually do a post on hair products I love or if you want some instant gratification, you can check out my “Products I love” board on Pinterest (I will tell you guys about this site another time also) let’s just say it’s awesome!If you want to check out my boards with some product recommendations just click on the Pinterest box.

Second, I didn’t power dry aka dry my hair 80% of the way dry before round brushing it. When you power dry you’re just using your blow dryer along with your hands or a paddle brush to take out most of the moisture from the hair. So many people do not know this second rule and this is where I would have saved a ton of time with the whole blow drying process.

IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure the filter in the back of your blow dryer is clean. If it’s dirty and full of hair it will slow down the air and causes your blow dryer to over work and heat up hotter than it should which equals damage/burnt hair. 9 out of 10 of my clients have burned their hair at home because of this so check that filter once a month.

If you are blow drying your hair regularly it is a good idea to invest in a professional hair dryer or at one that is at least 2000 watts. If a professional one is too much for the pocket book then check out Sally’s Beauty Supply or Ebay. A new blow dryer will change your life…or at least just cut your blow drying time down in half which is great if you have a ton of hair or are just tight on time in the morning (what gal isn’t). Here’s the one I use at work and it’s been a pretty good little hair dryer. It gets hot, has a good amount of settings (cool button…), 2000 watts, is under $100 and has a 3 year warranty. The downside is that it’s a little heavy but I like that. Some of these new dryers can be so light that they feel like you’ll break them or that they’ll go flying out of your hand.

 Third no, no was I would take huge and messy sections of hair which does not give you enough control when trying to style. Ideally you should take sections no larger than the round brush you’re using. When doing my hair I still tend to be in a hurry so my sections might be a little bit larger than the brush (wink, wink) but it really is helpful when you take smaller sections and the end result usually turns out better.

Large Thermo Ceramic round brush

For some reason I would use a wooden round brush (another huge no, no for my hair type)& I would proceed to try and dry my hair so it would flip out. I should have used a Large Thermo Ceramic round brush instead. If you have curlier hair you’ll want to use a round brush with boar bristles so you have the tension to smooth your curl out and prevent frizz. I like this Denman one a lot and you can get it at Sallys for a reasonable price. This would have made adding curl a lot easier. If you’re trying to get the curl to hold in your hair, it’s helpful to use the cool button on your dryer and direct the cool air over your hair in the round brush for a second or two. The cool air will set the curl and add shine to your hair.

Last but not least…Now is the time to tease your hair and make it big and beautiful! I love big hair!!! I can't help myself! You can also tweak with a curling iron for some more defined curls or maybe you want that extra smooth look that you’ll get with a flat iron. Your options are endless! After your done tweaking your style, now is the time to add your finishing products. I personally just use hairspray (I love Bed Heads Hard Head Hairspray). It’s the best hard holding yet workable hairspray ever! Sometimes I’ll use Paul Mitchell Spray Wax for some fun texture. A lot of clients like to use some spray shine, gloss drops, or something for a little texture or you can skip this step completely. You have so many options and you will eventually find products and tricks that will work well for you.

I know this post was a little wordy which I am still working on, but I hope you were able to find at least one helpful trick or tip. I’m a woman of many, many….many words.

I’m hoping to get some Sassy Hair video tutorials going on in the next month or so.

Please feel free to comment with any hair or product questions or any tutorials you would be interested in seeing. I would love the feed back :0)!

QUICK BLOW DRY TIPS  
(The condensed version)

*Fun TIPS

1) Towel dry your hair and apply your leave in conditioner and other styling products.

*Fun tip: Using a microfiber towel will add shine and help reduce frizz big time. This is great for curly hair!

2) Bust out the blow drier or air dry until hair is 80% dry

When drying direct the air down the hair shaft to help seal the cuticle which reduces frizz and adds shine.

* A fun tip: I will spray a little hair powder (I use KMS Hair Play Makeover Spray) at my roots and in my fringe before drying. It gives my hair more texture and it doesn’t get greasy by the end of the day.

3) Section your hair with clips, pony tail holder…

I find that dividing my hair into 4 sections works best by dividing my hair into twisty buns (2 in the back and 1 on each side) I usually start with the sections in back and if you’re round brushing remember to work with sections the size of your round brush.

4) Use your “cool button” to lock in the style

The cool air locks the style in.

* A fun tip: This is also great when getting hot rollers to set faster and last longer.

5) OPTIONAL- Now’s the time to tease your hair or play around with some fun updos.

6) Finish your look with your finishing products

Hairspray, shine serum, spray wax (my favorite)…