When all of your hair is dry, finish with a misting of shine spray or rub a pea-sized drop of shine serum in your palms and distribute evenly from mid-shaft to ends — staying clear of roots (try Kérastase Gloss Appeal, $36).
Make sure not to overdo it. "Sometimes I will spray the brush with the shine serum to help evenly distribute the product and avoid the insta-oil slick mistake," says Ring.
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Crucial Things to Avoid
Now that you know what it takes to achieve the perfect salon blow-out, here are some things to steer clear of:
Never hold the brush in one direction and the dryer in the other. The key to sleek, smooth hair is symmetry.
Don't apply too much product. Gunking up your hair won't help you get the style you crave; it will only weigh it down and prevent it from cooperating.
Don't try to dry hair that's too wet. Your hair will take much longer to dry and be unnecessarily exposed to more heat for no reason.
Don't over-dry your hair. It's a common mistake that can damage your strands. Ring says, "A lot of people think that running the dryer over the section hundreds of times will eliminate frizz — it won't — it'll make it worse!" Dry hair only until it feels dry to the touch — blast it with cold air to help you determine if it's totally dry or not.
Do not move your wrist and shake your dryer around. This serves absolutely no purpose. Keep your dryer as steady as possible.
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The Golden Rules
If you don't remember anything else, the two golden rules for copycatting a professional blow-dry are:
1. Direct the airflow down the hair shaft.
2. Keep hair pulled taut.
Getting a professional blow-dry is like getting a shot of beauty adrenaline. The feeling you experience when you leave the salon is pure exhilaration. Nothing much has changed; your face is the same, and your weight is the same, but somehow you feel ten times more beautiful and infinitely more confident.
The bummer is that splurging on a pro blow-dry every week is hardly practical and (sigh) doing it yourself never yields the same results — until now, that is.
Determined to unlock the secrets of the salon blow-out once and for all, we went to Mari Ring, senior stylist at the Maximus Salon in Hermosa Beach, Calif., who had to admit that her industry cohorts might be a tad peeved that she spilled some trade secrets.
So, what are you waiting for? Muster some confidence and learn to become the master of your own blow out. It will take practice, but in time, you'll never need to spend 40 bucks on a gorgeous 'do again.
