As someone that has curly hair and is only willing to wear it curly about half of my time, I had a great need to master the blow out. I am not a fan of just stick straight hair and have always needed more volume, so blow outs were always my favorite look. For years, I came out from my hair appointments loving the way my hair was blown out but a the same time frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to make my hair look the same way on my own.

I started asking more from my hairdresser what I could be doing wrong and researching products online, and finally, after years of trials and research, I truly feel that I have perfected the blow out technique and have found the perfect products for my hair. So I am here to share some of my secrets…

1. Step 1 – The key to a perfect blow out starts in the shower. If I know that I will be blowing out my hair, I won’t just use a regular conditioner. I will do a hair masque in the shower to try to prep my hair. I am yet to find that one perfect mask, so for now, I will just say use one that targets restoration and making your hair look healthier and shinier. I am currently using Briogeo’s “Don’t Dispair – Repair” deep conditioning mask in the shower. So far so good but it hasn’t “blown me away” (get it?).
2. Step 2 – I always let my hair air dry for a few minutes (more like 15-20 minutes) before I start blowing it out. Many people may disagree with that and especially people with shorter hair that dries pretty quickly. I have long, thick hair that takes forever to dry so I am definitely sticking to my method of letting it air dry a bit because that allow me to blow dry it for less time (and the less heat damage the better).
3. Step 3 – The Products. This is the most important part in my opinion (closely followed by the actual brush you use).  I am going to break down product – by -product what I use and why I use it for my hair before blow outs. These products will also be listed in order of how I put them in my hair.
   1. Living Proof “Perfect Hair Day Fresh Cut Split End Mender” – This product is available everywhere that carries the Living Proof line (Sephora, Ulta, etc). I am constantly battling split ends because of how dry and curly my hair is so for me, sealing those bad boys is pretty important. I have dark hair so split ends are extra visible so for me it’s very important to reduce that as much as possible.
   2. John Frieda Frizz Ease Beyond Smooth Frizz Immunity Primer – This is the newest product to me of the ones mentioned. I found this a few months ago when I was researching best products to use to fight humidity. I live in a city that is humid year round despite being landlocked (not my favorite thing about Cincinati) so I needed a good product to keep the frizz away. While this product is still not perfect, it is the best out of many that I’ve tried and does seem to help keep the frizz away in humidity. I just use one pump of this.
   3. Colow Wow Pop & Lock Crystalline Shellac – I’ve mentioned this in a monthly favorites post but this stuff is no joke. If you want your hair to look super shiny, look no further. A little goes a long way. I learned that the hard way when I put multiple pumps of this product into my hair and my hair instantly looked greasy. One pump is enough and your hair will look ultra shiny and healthy while using this stuff.
   4. 12 Benefits Rapid Blow Out Argan Oil Spray – If I was only able to use one of the products that I’m mentioning today and nothing else, this is what I would choose. This is the most important product that I’m going to talk about today. I discovered this via Birchbox about 3 years ago and have not gone without this product since. This is the perfect primer for your hair before blow outs. It makes it look healthier, it cuts down blow drying time and protects your hair all at once. This stuff is literally amazing and I don’t think anything will ever replace it. If you only take one piece of advice away from this post, then it’s the fact that this stuff is the real MVP of all hair products when it comes to blow outs. This definitely does not get enough recognition.
   5. Living Proof Humidity Shield Hair Spray – This is the best hair spray I’ve tried for fighting humidity. It is pretty pricey for a hair spray but if you live in a place with high humidity, I definitely recommend trying this out.
4. Step 4 is technically not quite Step 4 because this next thing happens before I spray my hair with the Living Proof Humidity Shield Hair Spray mentioned above. When I am done blowing out my hair, I turn my blow drier on cold and spray some Macademia Healing Oil Spray in it and just blow the cold air onto my hair. This makes your hair look so much healthier and shinier! I would check out your local TjMaxx for this product line because I bought my spray there for only $15 and they frequently carry it.

So some things that should be mentioned outside the “Step” process are that I use a 2.5 inch round ionic brush that has changed the way my hair looks after my blow outs for the better. I attribute my success to this brush in fact. I bought mine at Sally’s Beauty Supplies but these brushes are sold in other places as well. The blow drier that I use is a Rowenta Inspiration Pro which has an auto sensor and every time you put it down, turns itself off. It’s really convinient and I love using it.

If you have any questions for me about the products mentioned or any other hair tricks, please don’t hesitate to comment below. Also, please follow me on Instagram @styleprn !