Master Class: Blow-Dry Your Hair like a Pro

If your arm aches just thinking about blow-drying, take heart: These easy hair-saving tips will cut down on your mirror time and deliver salon-level results. By Lisa Whitmore, REDBOOK.


Short hair


Step 1: Spritz a heat-protecting leave-in conditioner through damp strands from roots to ends (for fine hair, just on the bottom half).

Step 2: Clip up the top section of hair--no need to be precise. Starting at the back, blow-dry using a flat brush to sweep hair forward (this keeps it from getting puffy). Repeat on the sides

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Step 3: Let down the front. Blow-dry bangs first, smoothing them with the brush from one side, then to the other. Unclip the rest and work back toward your crown until the top is all dry.

Step 4: To finish, warm a tiny dab of pomade between your fingers and pull it through the ends for a piece-y effect.

Medium hair
Step 1: Spray a volumizer at the roots of wet hair to add body, then apply a bit of leave-in conditioner to the ends.

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Step 2: If you have bangs, blow-dry them using a big, round brush. Pull them straight out from your forehead and aim the dryer's nozzle toward their ends.

Step 3: Dry the sides and ends without a brush until they're 95 percent done. Clip up the top and finish drying those sections, using the brush to pull hair taut, aiming the nozzle toward the ends.

Step 4:
Unclip the top section and dry the whole chunk at once: Pull it straight up and point the dryer up too, which will help lock in the lift.

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Long hair

Step 1: Put a bit of shine serum on the ends of damp hair, then blow-dry all of your hair without a brush until most of the moisture is gone.

Step 2:
Pull up the top sections of hair and clip them. Starting at the back, wind small sections of hair from the ends up to the scalp around a ceramic brush and hit with the heat until dry.

Step 3:
Unravel hair from the brush. As you do, rotate your wrist so the hair curls on itself, forming a loose ringlet. Repeat until all hair is dry.

Step 4: Flip your head over and mist hair's underside with a texturizing spray. Use your fingers to massage the roots, then flip back up and finger-comb into place.


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