At Home Hair Styling Tools: Tips & Warnings

Styling your hair at home is a great way to show off your beautiful cut and color. Although, there are a few things that you will need to know in order to keep your hair from drying out or even breaking! I recommend using a styling product with heat protectant! I like Kerastase Nectar Thermique.

These are three tools that you would typically have at home and here are some tips on how to use them:

1. Blow Dryer


Rough drying is a fast and easy way to get the moisture out of your hair. After your hair is completely dry, you can move on to styling with an iron. Using the blow dryer, without the nozzle, flip your head upside-down and dry throughly. If you want to style with a round brush, get 90% of the moisture out, then use a round brush to dry and smooth the rest. *If you have frizzy/coarse hair, do not rough dry! Start with a round brush on damp hair to pull the frizz out before it sets!*

Every blow dryer usually comes with a nozzle and a vent screen. The nozzle is used to direct the air in a stream. While using a round brush, point the nozzle down your hair shaft to smooth the hair. The vent screen is located on the opposite side of where the nozzle is. It needs to be cleaned out often. If you feel that your blow dryer is over heating or is hotter than usual, take the vent screen off and run it under water to get rid of the lint that collects over time. This is very crucial! If you're blow dryer is too hot, your hair will break!


2. Curling Iron


A curling iron is the best way to add wave and body to your locks! To achieve this look, check out my previous post, Do it Yourself.
It's important to get an iron with adjustable heat. Stock settings on a curling iron may be too hot for your hair. If your hair is fine or over-processed, use a lower setting, your hair doesn't need much heat to get a curl. If your hair is more of a medium to coarse texture, use a medium to high heat setting. The highest setting is not usually necessary. Beware! The most fragile part of your hair is the hair line. Leaving the hair in the iron too long, could cause your hair to break off! 5-7 seconds is all you need. Try it out, starting from a low setting, see what temperature best suits you and your hair!

3. Flat Iron


You can use the same advice for the flat iron as you did for the curling iron. The flat iron can sometimes dry out and break the hair more than a curling iron. Reason being, typically, people go over the hair with a flat iron too many times. A good tip is to use a comb to hold and smooth the section of hair. For a smooth press, have the comb brushing out the section of hair as you smooth with the iron. Slowly, go over the section of hair 1-2 times. Be careful around the hairline!!! Use a lower setting when straightening those pieces, they are ultra delicate!

The photos above are examples of all my favorite tools I use on a daily basis.
Blow Dryer - Elchim
Curling Iron - Hot Tools
Flat Iron - HAI