Oh, hair. I’m never happy with mine. Or, I’m not usually happy with it unless I’ve just walked out the salon with a fresh blowout. How do these ladies do it?
#Inspiration. I’ve been trying to get a little better about making my hair look polished and done — I was in a bad habit of letting it air dry and then pulling it back into a bun or ponytail, which is not exactly the level of manicured elegance I’m hoping for. A couple recent finds are helping me along the way:
+This 3″ round brush came highly recommended by my hair stylist. It’s the best way to get a great blowout with a nice level of bounce and volume.
+I’ve splurged on several hair dryers in the past and have never been happy — I need one that really cranks out the heat because I have a lot of hair and absolutely hate drying it. Basically I need a jet engine. The Conair Infiniti Pro is affordable (less than $40!) and it gets the job done.
+Hot Tools curling irons are the absolute BEST. I have several with different barrel sizes and swear by them. They heat up quickly, get very hot, and last forever.
+While getting a blowout the other day, my hair stylist told me that the secret to getting your blowout to last is a silk pillowcase. She said you can extend your blowout for a few extra days (?!) Gotta check this out for myself.
+The other trick is, of course, dry shampoo. I’ve used Oscar Blandi’s formula for a long time — love the scent! — but my sister, who has the most gorgeous hair on the planet, swears by plain old baby powder. I’ve also used DryBar’s before, and love that they have a version for brunettes.
+Speaking of DryBar, I recently snagged their Triple Sec, which is sort of like a dry shampoo, volumizer, and texturizer all in one. When my hair is looking a little blah towards the end of the day, I’ll spritz this on at the roots for a little lift and VOILA.
+Pre-styling, I swear by Bumble + Bumble’s hairdresser’s invisible oil ($40) and primer ($28). These two together detangle and smooth your hair. Love love love. My hair gets pretty tangly, so without those two and a good detangling brush ($15), I’d be a mess.
+Post-styling, hair spray is my best friend. I guess I’m kinda a sucker for Drybar, but I love their Money Maker flexible hold spray.
+For workouts, I love these hair ties by Emi-Jay ($8 for 5). They never get stuck in your hair or get overly stretched out (hate that about the standard elastics!), and they add a little punch of color. My bestie has informed me that these Invisibobble hair rings ($7 for 3) are the absolute best and will never leave a crimp/kink in your hair.
+I don’t know about you, but I need clips for hair drying. Also love these when I’m washing my face at night. Mr. Magpie calls them “alligators.”