Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel cut from her Friends heyday is still being emulated! Are you looking for tips and tricks on how to get a perfect blow-dry without damaging your hair each time you do it? Then this article is for you! The experts at Velecta® Paris have compiled all their partner hairdressers’ secrets and share them here with you now, so that you can achieve the same (or almost the same) results at home as you get from a salon. So, how do you dry your hair in a way that straightens it without damaging it? Find out here!
Drying, an essential step in hairstyling
Hair is much easier to sculpt when it is wet or damp. In fact, due to the mechanical properties of hair - and the transformations that take place when it goes from wet to dry - the shape given to the hair during this phase tends to remain "set" once the hair is completely dry. This is the physical principle behind styling and blow-drying, and involves two distinct factors:
- Mechanical shaping (e.g. using rollers to obtain curly hair, or smoothing the hair with a brush as you blow-dry it);
- Using heat to speed up the drying process and to style the hair.
→ When it comes to straightening your hair, it's important to understand that the hair drying stage is where pretty much anything and everything can happen. And using the right tools, starting with a good brush and a suitable hairdryer, is essential. Read the tips from our experts on how to get impeccably smooth hair with a flawless blow-dried style.
How do I achieve a perfect blow-dry for straight hair?
Unless your curls are particularly stubborn, it's reasonable to expect to get a perfectly smooth style by blow-drying at home: all you need are the right tools and the right moves. Here, Élodie Comtesse gives you a step-by-step account of how to achieve a perfectly executed blow-dry for smooth hair, then zooms in on fine hair.
Equipment you will need:
To achieve a smooth finish when blow-drying, make sure that you have all of the following equipment and products:
- a hairdryer with variable power and temperature settings, and ideally with an ionic function to remove frizz;
- a diffuser to spread the heat evenly;
- a quality brush with either boar bristles or a nylon/boar bristle mix;
- clip(s) to hold your hair back;
- a styling product, to be applied to wet hair just before drying, which will also play a thermo-protective role;
- a finishing serum or split ends repair product, to be applied after drying.
How to get your hair to straighten: step-by-step blow-drying technique
- First of all, make sure you have a hairdryer that is powerful enough to dry your hair effectively. If your hairdryer is not powerful enough, you will have to use it several times over the same strand in order to dry it properly, which can damage the structure of the hair, especially at the ends. Browseour rangeof powerful and silent hairdryers to find one that suits your hair type. Ideally, get an ionic hairdryer, with an anti-frizz function that can be activated on command to remove static electricity and reduce frizz.
- How can you get straight hair by blow-drying, without damaging your hair? It is important to apply a thermo-protective styling product to your rinsed and towel-dried hair (be careful not to rub your hair, simply dab it with the towel to remove as much water as possible).
- Choose a cylindrical boar bristle or mixed nylon/boar bristle brush to straighten your hair while leaving enough volume at the roots.
- Start blow-drying from the front of your hairline, lifting up the top part of your hair towards the crown of your head. Hold your hair up with a clip or two while you dry the bottom part. Activate the ionic function as you blow-dry each strand for the last time. This will prevent static build-up in your hair, which can lead to frizz and ruin all your hard work!
For a perfect blow-dry, read our article "How to blow-dry your hair - tips from Velecta® Paris";
- How can I get my hair to straighten if blow-drying isn't enough? If necessary, use a straightening iron at a reasonable temperature (no higher than 180°C); be careful not to make two consecutive strokes on the same strand, as this could damage your hair.
- Finally, apply a finishing serum or advanced conditioner to nourish the hair until the next time you shampoo it.
Especially fine hair: extra tips
While all of the above is good advice for all hair types, a few clarifications and nuances are necessary when it comes to straightening fine hair with a blow-dryer. Blow-drying fine hair is a little more technical than it is for other hair types: on the one hand, because fine hair is more sensitive to static electricity (and therefore more susceptible to frizz) than "normal" hair, and on the other, because it is more fragile against the heat from the hairdryer and straightening iron.
How do you blow-dry fine hair straight? Here are some more tips from our expert, Élodie Comtesse:
- Look for a hairdryer with an ionic function and adjustable power and temperature settings: there's no need to go for power if you have fine hair, as high speeds and temperatures are not recommended; the hairdryer our expert recommends is the Original Silence 1.7i .
- Use a diffuser to spread the heat evenly over the strands while you are drying.
Now you know how to get your hair straight with a gentle blow-dry!