A SALON-PERF BLOWOUT AT HOME? YOU GOT THIS.

What you’ll need: round brush. volumizing product. hair clips. hairspray. shine serum. 12 minutes. 

Everyone loves a good blow out. You look full of volume and flawless, completely polished and feel so fresh and clean. Unfortunately, it’s a struggle to get the same look at home with your own two hands (talk about wishing you could carry your stylist in your pocket)! But it is possible to nail the whole blow-drying-at-home thing yourself; it just takes a few how-to tricks and a bit of time. 

Start with clean, almost-dry hair.

The major key is to shampoo and condition first. (If you need advice on the how to shampoo and condition right, read our shampoo and conditioning guides.) You can’t achieve a good blowout with hair that’s already been styled and contains product or dirt and oils from everyday activities. 

Start by lightly drying your hair so that it’s about 60 percent dry. Doing something as simple as running your fingers through your hair is ideal, because you don’t want to put too much pressure on the strands. When your hair is sopping wet, the elasticity of your hair is at it’s all time high, making it prone to breakage. That’s why you don’t see your stylist begin to brush through with the blow dryer until your hair is just damp, rather than still wet. 

Prep with product, then go upside down

You’ll want to apply a volumizing/control product like our new Raise the Roots 2.0 to the roots of your hair in sections. This will give you extra control when you begin blow drying. 

After you have prepped your hair with styling product, bend over and blow dry a little from the upside down position. Use your fingers to comb through your hair. This will help “train” the follicles in an upward direction for volume. 

Clip up sections and grab that brush

It’s important to not try to blow dry your whole head of hair without separating and clipping it into sections first. We’ve found it’s easier to think of your hair in four or even six sections—two on the top and two to four on the bottom. Clip up everything except for one of the bottom sections. Begin at the nape area of your head. Using a round brush, practice rolling down through the unclipped section of hair so that it flows freely and is untangled. Begin drying—AND THIS IS IMPORTANT!—keeping the blow dryer pointed down the direction of the hair so that it dries sleek and smooth. You want to lift the roots, so don’t be afraid to pull your hair upward gently with each stroke of the round brush. That’s the whole reason the round brush is, well, round! 

Roll through each section from roots to ends, creating a gentle C curl downwards at the end of each section. Caution, do not hyper-blast the ends of your hair with super-hot air. Those ends are already the most damaged and dry parts of your hair strand—which is why we specifically condition the ends and specifically shampoo the scalp—so we don’t want to cause them further harm. 

Don’t forget to spray!

You’ll be able to move pretty quickly through these underlying sections. But you’ll want to pay closer attention to the top of your head. After all, it’s not the underlying layers that’re visible to others, it’s the top! 

As you place each section on the brush, spray our Extreme Lift Brushable Hairspray on each section. This little trick will give you a fuller overall look as it helps “fluff” areas that lack in density. (We don’t recommend spraying all of the underneath sections because you’ll weigh down pieces that are already heavier than the visible top layers of your head.)

For the final top sections, here’s one total insider tip for maximum volume: Make sure you roll each section 180 degrees from the roots away from the scalp. You ‘ll see that your hair is fuller than ever once you put it back in place! For those of you with bangs or face frames, simply roll out the sections in the front of your head with hairspray as desired. You can also spray just the ends of your hair to emphasize and hold the layers. 

Finish off by combing through your hair with your fingers, from the nape up, to give an extra jolt of bounce, then lightly spritz hairspray all over. You may also want to apply shine serum: squeeze a dime-sized amount onto your palms, rub it in your hands to activate and lightly gather and comb through the ends of all your hair with your hands. Make sure NOT to use too much as it can weigh down the volume you just created or make your hair look greasy.

Now give yourself a total 360 in the mirror. Proof-positive that you’ve totally got this no-pros thing down!