How can I get salon blow dried look at home when I’m utterly incompetent with a haidryer

[KalaniM]

Just went to the hairdresser yesterday for a cut and blow dry and omg, my hair looks and feels like hair instead of the usual garden broom. I HAVE to learn how to do this myself. I don’t have a dressing table and skills. I can’t afford to go for a blow dry once a week. Please teach my blow dry for dummies? I have longish thickish straight hair that s super drrrrry.

I have the babyliss one and it's useless on me at least - and my hair isn't even that thick. But I think you still need to know what you're doing. All I can do with it is to give my bangs a 'rounder' shape.

Sorry but the Dyson airwrap is brilliant. Like a salon do every time.

My hair is very shredded wheat naturally and I have both the BBH and the 1step. I also have a keratin blowdry both at the salon and the Amazon home kits.

On the BBH and 1step, the BBH takes a lot longer to do (sectioning etc) but it gives fab results for bouncy glam hair. it’s like putting your hair in big rollers.

The 1step I use much more often, it is much quicker and no need for sectioning etc. Still a nice finish though.

I totally recommend the keratin blowdry but I have had better results with the home kit from Amazon than the salon ones. The home kit does require you to leave the stuff in for three days. So worth it tho.

Also - get hold of IGK Mistress balm. So good.

I also second the babylis big hair and a parlux hair dryer. I also recommend colour wow dream coat. Spray into wet hair, blow dry ( its heat activated), need to do it three times in a row and then every third time after that. Amazing stuff. I also have the dyson air wrap ( was a present) love it - Keep an eye on second hand or facebook market place( especially after xmas) you can pick up second hand ones good price. I did get the Keratin treatment a few times, however stopped as it made my hair flat and limp, my hair stopped being frizzy but i also lost its natural volume. Tried Olaplex, personally didn't see the point of it

Apply Kerastase heat protector / blow dry cream
GHD hairdryer - the best on the market - dry to 70%
Revlon one step, gives me big, swishy hair (big hair did nothing for my long, v thick hair)
Finish with Kerastase oil

It tangles if you try and work with too much hair at once - you need to work in sections.

Oh - almost forgot. Superdrug are doing an Olaplex dupe called Revolution and it seems to get very good reviews. I saw Aldi are also doing one this week - no idea if it's any good, but it's only something like £4, so worth a try maybe?

I have the babyliss big hair and it's ok, certainly not life changing. I'm saving up for the dyson air wrap 😬 honestly though it just takes time, practice, a good hairdryer and good brushes. Copy what the hairdresser does, take sections and run the hairdryer continuously over it using the barrel brushes. Keep the hairdryer moving at all times don't just keep it in the one spot. Practice practice practice!

I've just ordered the Revlon One Step brush and some Wella Fusion shampoo and conditioner in the hope that I will be able to style my hair better than I do at the moment.

If this all fails, I may order a Parlux hairdryer.

Revlon one step! I'm on my 2nd one now and the minute my rabbit chewed through the cable, I immediately ordered a new one. I have very thick, waist length hair and it dries it in under 10 minutes.

I’ve tried both the Babyliss and the Revlon. The Babyliss was more difficult to use and the bristles sort of flattened over time from the pressure of my hair (if that even makes sense) The Revlon is much easier to use and puts less stress on my hair

I only have Parlux,you won't regret it.

Yes! That's what happened to me too.

I use the Babyliss Big Hair and it really works for in giving me smoother swisher hair. I'm terrible at styling usually and my hair is quite thick. However, I've noticed lots of breakage in my hair which I'm putting down to that as I've never noticed it before. I do try and limit my use for this reason and would prefer not to use it but as I say i'm terrible at blow drying normally.

If you get your technique right, I don't really think it matters what product you use. Afterall, every hairdresser uses a different hairdryer.

You need to take the rough of your hair first by blasting it with a hairdryer. Focus on the roots especially here. Don't put loads of product on your hair cos it weighs it down.

Then you need to finish your hair in sections with a hot air styler, like the one step. I brush out the bit I want and then clip the rest up out of the way with a claw.

I don't like the finish I get with a hot air styler so I tend to use straighteners on mine instead. My hair is very curly. If you use the straighteners in the same movement you would with a round brush when drying, so lifting up and around, you still get that nice bounce and lift.

I have BBH. But it takes me a while to do it with having to section, I’d be interested in Revlon if it was cheaper!

I use the Revlon One Step with Revlon UniqOne 10 points smoother and leave in conditioner

My hair is part grey, highlighted and thinned out due to menopause or maybe post Covid/stress.

I can get decent hair with these

I have this ! It's really good ! Better than my air wrap !

I have fine shoulder length hair and zero interest in styling (also zero ability and zero patience). So I just blast my hair dry.

I noticed a difference using a Diva hairdryer at my old gym so have been using one of those. (Gym hairdryer selected by a PT who was a former finaIist on Britain's Next Top Model so she clearly knew her hairdryers). I also have a Parlux (I use it when I'm travelling) and there's no difference in results between Diva and Parlux despite Parlux being twice the price.

Then it all got very expensive. My current gym got Dyson hairdryers last month. OMFG. 🤗The difference is huge. HUGE I tell you! I literally just blast my hair so I can walk home not looking like a complete sweaty mess and people constantly comment on how nice my hair looks. Almost every day someone comments. So much so that I've just bought my own Dyson hairdryer. (Note: hairdryer rather than air wrap). I am so anti-Dyson and thought it was such a load of bs but the results don't just speak for themselves, they apparently speak to everyone around me. It took a while to get over the price shock. I would never have spent that much if I hadn't used the gym Dysons and seen such a visible difference. (As an aside, the Dyson takes longer to dry my hair than the Diva / Parlux).

I need neither a new hairdryer nor the revlon as I had two hairdryers and both the BBH normal one and petite! So why am I looking at Eva hairdryer now !

Seriously op, I can't recommend the Babyliss air styler enough. I only use the blowy adapter to zap my hair to dry ish then the big round barrel to get the salon style. The prongs on the brush are butch enough to cope with my thick wavy hair (I've tried the bristley brushes before, completely useless/bend really quickly) and it copes really well with quite thick sections of hair. I think I chucked the other two attachments away.

I tried the one that rotates and I got so much of my hair twisted up in it I gave it up before I was halfway done.

I have the babylis big hair which is fabulous and easy

But I do hear the revlon is even better

Nah I don’t think this is true at all.

It’s really hard to shape your own hair with a hairdryer and brush the way professional hairdressers do.

Tools like the BBL and Revlon are designed for home use by amateurs and are way way easier

Can someone link to the revlon? People keep saying it’s expensive but a quick search on Amazon shows something for £35, that can’t be right (she asks hopefully).

I cant be bothered with sectioning etc but I now have a GHD hot brush and that does the trick. Rough dry my hair then brush through and under with the hot brush until smooth. I also like the Label M rejuvenating oil, not too heavy just enough to calm fly aways.