It's a Swishy One

[NeverDropYourMooncup]

What actually works for swishy? Can anybody who does actually have that healthy, strong, moveable hair suggest what I can do?

Is it

Hairdryer

I've just replaced my 2002 Wella travel dryer today (because I figured it's the same age as this September's Early Career Teachers) and ordered a Parlux Alyon because they're the brand I've seen in nearly every hairdressers for the best part of fifty years. I'm going on the assumption that if they last there and can be repaired, it'll probably outlast me. I am not convinced by the ceramic ionic hydromatic automatic supermatic greased lightning spiel everything seems to have now, but I have been using something with more in common with a black and decker paint stripper throughout my adult life. Could this actually make a difference - or have I just gone for overpriced/pretty when I could have spent a tenner on a generic Chinese brand on Amazon and got equally dry hair?

Drying technique

I've only ever rough dried because if I don't dry it before I go to bed, I wake up in a nest of squiggles. I wash it at night because getting up at 5am is bad enough. I'm guessing I should probably start using a round brush occasionally if I can sort out the coordination for it. Or just order a diffuser, plonk my hair in like worms in a basket and hope for more squiggles?

Styling

I can't imagine spending £3-500 quid on something by Dyson or Shark. Or getting up earlier than Oh My God, It's Early o'clock as I already do for work. But is that the only way people get that look? Do I actually need a million different products, gel, mousse, spray, protectors, curlers, and to do something with the generic round brush instead of the tangle teazer and handbag sized denman I have to get tangles out without having handfuls of hair in my hands?

Shampoo/Conditioner/treatments

Apart from Psoriasis flares (where I look and smell like a motheaten dog that's swum through an oil slick that's on fire whilst wearing a raffia wig from the assorted steroids and T-Gel), it's all just so 'meh'. My hair kind of looks OK, but it's just there. I've used Wonder Water, which helps a bit, and Eucerin scalp balm to calm down the prickling sensation I get outside of actual flares, but I'd really like it to look strong, shiny and healthy. Mane & Tail is alright in that it doesn't make my scalp burn like Body Shop Ginger did (the day I begged DP to give me an undercut before I scalped myself with a fork), but it doesn't really look or smell 'nice'.

I have a good diet, supplements, medication for the immune system, have started using a shampoo brush/scalp massager and I do get it professionally cut to shoulder/just above shoulder instead of the Covid era crimes against hair committed by DP in the bathroom with a freshly sharpened pair of Boots scissors - but I feel like it just doesn't have that life to it, even with some layering.

For context, haircare, skincare and hygiene was never a thing when I was a kid. The fact that I have a shower, use moisturiser on my face and body, deodorant and I didn't get it all chopped off for a tight cauliflower perm I could leave unwashed until it grew an inch whilst puffing it out daily with an afro comb fifteen years ago - never mind having a silk pillowcase or not biting my nails and using a nail file instead of tearing them off with my teeth - is shocking vanity on my part (in the back of my mind - childhood messages never quite go away sometimes).

So how could I maybe get a bit of swish? And yeah, I probably am asking for permission that it's OK to want it as well - especially as part of me is going 'HOW MUCH HAVE YOU JUST SPENT ON A HAIRDRYER?'

I have healthy long swishy hair that people seem to like enough to comment on

It's quite fine and should really be washed daily

On a normal day to day work basis I wash it the night before early enough for it to dry naturally

If I'm going out out I blow dry it with a fat round brush with holes in like they use at the hair dressers and do this at a right angle from my scalp. I use hair mousse at the roots and wipe the residue to the ends. This gives me lovely swooshy hair

I do have a babyliss curl secret which works brilliantly but I can never really be bothered to use it.

I use different shampoos but am quite happy with Garnier food products but I do have Aveda which I use once a month more to clarify my hair and Herbal Essences.

Most (all) shampoo and conditioner tend to weigh my hair down so I change them around but Garnier is my favourite price wise. More expensive shampoo and conditioner don't actually make much difference tbh

As for a hairdryer I just use a normal babyliss one or it could be a revlon one. I tend to swap with DD esp if DS has borrowed either of our for a hair emergency

It's okay to want swishy hair, OP

My hairdresser uses a Dyson hairdryer (she has shoulder problems and it's lighter than a normal hairdryer). I can see no appreciable difference in my hair when she's dried it, or I've dried my own using my over 20 year old hairdryer 🤷‍♀️

I do have a Revlon One Step which is awesome. I have slightly wavy hair but it's too much hard work to make it look presentable for work at 5 am (I'm another early riser), so I use the One Step to smooth and swishify my hair.

Products - not big on 'stuff' in my hair as it makes my hair not feel nice (to me). I wash it with Dove shampoo and use Hask argan oil conditioner (either the normal one or the hair mask one). Every week I use Michael Van Clark's pre wash conditioner stuff (put it on dry hair at night, rinse and wash as normal in the morning). My hair loves this stuff, definitely helps with the swish.