Blow Drying Tips For Textured Hair

By now, you know that drying textured hair takes a special kind of finesse. A good blowout is the foundation for most styling techniques, so making sure you know how to blow dry each hair type is imperative. That being said, a constant barrage of heat can cause more tangling and breakage on textured hair, so you need to consider your techniques carefully. Help your clients learn the tips below, and you will be setting them up for success with healthier hair and less breakage.

Prepare And Detangle Hair

All steps of service that you offer should protect a client's hair and avoid damaging it further. Before you add heat, you need to make sure to do things in the correct order. With textured hair, especially when it is dense, start with a conditioning treatment that will help you to detangle the hair before you even start with any tools.  Satin Finish Conditioning Treatment is a professional-grade conditioner that penetrates to the cortex of your client's hair, protecting it from thermal damage and environmental toxins. This is even more important with textured hair as dirt and grime can get caught in the hair's density, and thermal damage can make textured hair more brittle. With two parts silk protein and one part hydrolyzed silk, the conditioning treatment offers maximum hair benefits, and your clients can enjoy a less tangled experience.

Determine The Density

Once you have prepped the hair and detangled it, experts recommend using the density to determine how much heat you will use as you dry. You always want to use the lowest possible setting to avoid damaging the hair. The more dense a client's hair, the more heat is required. If you had a client with very fine, silky hair, you wouldn't come out with heat blazing. Instead, you would use a lower heat setting.

You definitely want a powerful dryer that has a quality adjustable heat setting and will work with you as you blow-dry. Elite Professional Series Accelerate 2200 Dryer is the right tool for the job in this situation. It features a brushless DC motor and the power and performance beyond other AC-powered tools. With a four-slide switch and a quiet yet powerful motor, you will still be able to chat with your clients while you dry. This hair dryer releases negative ions more evenly than others on the market, allowing you to lock in hair's natural moisture and leave hair shinier. The powerful infrared heat dries hair from the cuticle, giving you faster and smoother results.

Using less heat, especially on textured hair, is helpful to cut down on tangling. "Remember, it's not about heating the hair. It's tension and allowing the hair to set in that straighter position. Don't think you need to blast the hair with heat—especially if you are just smoothing to style further—less is more," said ULTA Beauty Pro Team Member Michelle O'Connor.

Choose A Brush Carefully

Experts also agree that the type of brush you use can make or break your hairstyle--literally. A paddle brush is best for textured hair since the bristles are farther apart, allowing hair to pass through it without getting pulled. The UNbrush is a great choice for your clients if they have especially thin hair. While styling, you can also choose a boar bristle round brush that adds more volume.

Take Care With Tangles

No matter how careful you are with conditioning your hair before you dry, tangles are bound to happen. If this occurs, stay calm and think it through before you act. Rather than pulling and tugging the hair, which can make things worse and cause more breakage, start from the bottom and gently try to work the tangle from the bottom. With the brush carefully situated under the tangle, gently try to pull up. With patience and finesse, you should be able to work out the tangle. The Liquid Satin Treatment would also help, as it offers a serum that creates more elasticity in your hair. This can be used on wet or dry hair, and will make hair more flexible, smooth, and shiny.

With a few pointed tips and the simple yet important techniques above, your clients with textured hair will be on their way to tangle-free tresses, and will be able to build some client bonds that are tangle-free as well!