How do hairdressers get your hair to stay straight?

[Palestperson]

I have mad frizzy hair. When I’ve been to the hairdressers they dry it straight but bouncy for me. They blow dry it and then use straighteners to smooth it but don’t flatten it completely.

When I blow dry my hair (rough dry with a hairdryer ten use Babyliss Big Hair) ten straighten it with GHDs, it starts frizzing and flicking ypmall over within minutes of leaving the house.

I use the same products as the hairdresser.

What magic do they do to hair? The weather is exactly the same today as it was yesterday yet today I have mad hair and yesterday it was smooth and gorgeous because I’d had it done the day before. Someone must know the trick?

I wish I knew the answer to this.

They dry it in sections and take the heat all the way down the hair.

You are just rough drying it and then ironing it.

But I use the BBH in sections when it’s about 80% dry which is surely similar?

I doubt it if my experience with a BBH is anything to go by. The heat and the power is low. I think the BBH is shite though. It can't handle my hair at all (v long and thick)

I use a decent amount of product and a 3800 parlux with an attachment. Section the hair off properly and use a decent brush so that you are drying a small amount of hair at a time right from the roots and all the way down the hair shaft

Ah, my hair is fine and thin so it works really well for me. It makes my hair gorgeous as long as I don’t leave the house wen there is any moisture in the air.

I've just done a keratin straightening treatment at home (as recommended by many posters on here) and it's completely got rid of the frizz.

I was like you, OP and couldn't go out if it was damp without turning into a ball of frizz. I'd look into that if I were you.

I asked my hairdresser last time I went. She said you hold the hairdryer close to the hair, start from the top near your scalp and move it down the section to the end, but the important thing is to point it downwards so the air blows down the strand to the end.

Sort of like the images. However the hairdresser has the advantage of standing above you, whereas we haveto lift the hairdryer high to get it to point sufficiently down. Clear as mud?

I’ve had keratin straightening treatments before and the salon ones make my hair look so thin that it’s almost non existent and the home one only lasted 2 washes! (Yes I used the correct shampoos etc afterwards).

I’ll have another go at blow drying. It’s so difficult to do yourself isn’t it?

Honestly?
I’ve been doing this for years, all the ‘correct’ things, and it is quite impossible to get the same swishy effect that the salon does.
I don’t exactly know why, but it can result in you buying every damn thing to suss out the ‘secret’, and as a pp already said - perhaps it’s because they can see all around your head, get a better purchase on the dryer handle and basically control it better.

I do the parlux/great brush/ nozzle downward/ kerastase/great treatments, etc and it still does not look great.

The babyliss big hair is ok for a finishing effect - ie, ensuring ends of hair aren’t poker like, but it is useless as a replacement blow dry in and of itself. In fact, a lot of my hair snapped and dried out whilst using it on my whole head. Better to limit it really.

I have got decent results from straightening brushes if you lift at root and slightly curl the ends - but again, a really drying effect and snappage over time.

Each time I just go back to my parlux and finish off with ghd’s - same as ever. Nothing has yet managed to do a better job. It bugs me and is time consuming, but it’s the truth.

People often say ‘point the nozzle downwards’ as if we haven’t already been slaving way at that since the 90’s

I find for me, what I shampoo and protect with can make or break the look more so than the tools I use to style it. Find the one which best works for you - I use alternating kerastase with Kiehls.

Trouble with the big hair is that it blows a lot of air indiscriminately in all directions, puffing all of frizz up as it twirls! It doesn’t secure or encourage the hair to actually straighten. More for volume really.

using the nozzle attachment does help. It controls the direction of the hot air and so helps keep the hairs smoother.

I cut my hair at home and use those close tooth combs when I do. For some reason my hair blow dries lovely afterwards and keeps its sleeky shine way longer than when I just do my usual routine. I think it's all the sectioning and combing that helps.