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Because...Blow Out!

Published 10.17.2006 | Permanent Link | Comments (7)

Amy,

I just recently had a spa day with friends to celebrate a milestone in the world of hair. Yes, you got it, I had a foot of hair cut off and am donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths which gives wigs to women who have lost their hair due to cancer. This was cause for such celebration and revelry you see, because I have not had a drastic hairstyle change in years. Shoulder-length, it’s now shorter than I’ve had it since high school. Since.High.School. With a few exceptions, I’ve really only bothered to dry my bangs enough to style them. Now I need to dry all of my hair in a timely manner. While it is fine, I have a ton of it and it takes forever to dry (not that I’m complaining). My current hair dryer is a travel size Vidal Sassoon 1875 watt with two speeds. It does ok, but Mom had one just like it and it started to shoot sparks at her. Sparks+Product+Hair = Doom. So, I’d rather keep it’s use limited, if you know what I’m saying. To sum all this up, I need a new hair dryer. Ion, no ions? Who knows? There are so many choices, I was hoping you’d have a recommendation. (I could swear you had addressed this before, but didn’t see anything in the archives.) I’d rather not spend more than about $35-$40, especially after the wad of cash I dropped at the spa.

If it helps, here’s my new hair routine/product usage: I wash and condition with Pantene Pro-V Color Revival because Pantene Pro-V has worked really well for me in the past, and the stylist said I needed something to keep my newly highlighted hair well conditioned. As she put it, volume comes from the cut. To help add volume, I use Aveda's Sap Moss styling spray on the roots of my hair while wet, and then blow dry upside down. I use this really bizarre stuff, Aveda's Hair Potion on the roots when dry. It’s a powder that turns into a thick liquid on your fingertips. The lift this stuff provides is amazing! (It had better be amazing at $22 for a tiny bottle.) And it helps you go a second day before washing because it keeps your hair from laying on your scalp and getting greasy. When everything’s tousled into place, I finish with Pantene Classic Ultra-Firm Hair Spray. Most hairsprays have something in them that gives me a nasty headache, so I’ve stuck with what works but mostly keeps me headache-free.

I’ve attached photos so you can see the dramatic before and after. Let me know if you need to see any full-sized images.

Thanks for any help and smooches to Noah,

Yet Another Amy

So it sounds like you've got your product routine down pretty well. I'm not a fan of Pantene shampoos, and even less of a fan of shampoo/conditioner combos, but if it works for you, then I'll leave that alone.

(No, I won't. If you're looking for volume, you shouldn't be conditioning your roots at all, so the shampoo/conditioner combo will drag your hair down after awhile. A good cut can do wonders for volume, yes, but too much product or conditioner build-up can easily undo it all. PLUS, you should leave conditioner on colored or highlighted hair for several minutes at least, something that also doesn't work too well with the combo product.)

(However, I also love Pantene hair sprays -- I use the volumizing one -- and never use anything else. So this isn't just my Inner Salon Snob talking, although she is always around and is always a huge pain in the ass.)

B0007ZAFTO.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_.jpg ANYWAY. Your question is about hair dryers, for which I have an insanely simple answer: ionic, concentrator attachment, cheap.

Yes, you could go all out and pay over $150 for a professional dryer like your stylist uses, but for us straight-haired girls who don't have tons of frizz issues, a $19.99 Conair or Revlon will get the job done just fine.

My all-time favorite hair dryer was also an old Vidal Sassoon travel-sized relic, and I used that thing until it actually blew up in a puff of smoke. When I went to replace it, the Vidal Sassoon models were all getting horrible user reviews online and the "ionic" models had hit the market and I remember standing in the Target aisle in frustration because I didn't want to get suckered into some crazy ionic fad thing when I JUST WANTED A DAMN HAIR DRYER.

I ended up buying an ionic one, and because that's pretty much all you can find nowadays and they all cost the same, there's really no sense in arguing over whether the whole "negative ions" thing really does deliver on all it promises (less frizz, breakage, faster drying time, etc.). They all cost the same, and hey, the ionic thing isn't HURTING anything, so just go with it.

The proper blow-drying technique is a WHOLE OTHER MESS of a question, by the way (and where that angled concentrator attachment thingie comes in), and it takes a lot of practice and patience (which is why I have not blow-dried my hair on a regular basis since...2005? Late 2004? I think?). And since you did not ask me specifically about the proper blow-drying technique I am ducking for the exit. Look! A bird! Over there!

*ducks*

Visit us on Monday for more Q&A.

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Comments (7):

St. Eph said:

Not to disrupt a shampoo/conditioner routine that's working, but I've fought my whole life with (thick, straight) hair that takes forever to dry, and I have a couple of suggestions on the wet end.

I've found that the mass-market shampoos and conditioner with silicones (which are, like, all of them) tend to make my hair more resistant to drying. Since I switched to non-silicone products a few years ago, I've cut the blow-drying process in half, at least. It takes a little while to get over missing that "silky" feeling silicones leave on wet hair, but the final product is even more bouncin' & behavin'.

I'm partial to Lush, especially their solid shampoos & conditioners, but I'm sure there are plenty of "natural" product options, if Yet Another Amy is open to trying a different routine.

Also, as dorky as it is, both in name and in function, ten minutes in a Turbie Towel will also make thick hair more amenable to drying. Plus, while wearing it, one can pretend that one is a Miami Beach divorcee waiting for one's cabana boy to bring one a Mai Tai.

And now I have to go find this magical Aveda powder, which sounds miraculous.

Posted on October 20, 2006 12:51

YetAnotherAmy said:

Hi Amy,

Thanks for answering my question! As for the Pantene, I do use the separate shampoo and conditioner unless I'm already really beyond running late. I'm definitely open to trying new products though, and will check out suggestions by commenters here. I already keep my hair up in a towel until I'm ready to dry it, and I do find it helps considerably. St. Eph - do you find the Turbie Towel works better than a standard smallish bath towel?

Posted on October 20, 2006 13:13

b said:

I use the turbie as well. It works much better than a standard towel becuase it it made from a microfiber which sucks water up like a sponge, which is why it literally cuts drying time in half. A good alternative to the "dorky" turban version is:

http://www.marathonbooks.com/cgi-bin/database/book.cgi?b=301w

They are small in size and come in a better variety of colors.

Now, I must go accost my Aveda stylist for not sharing this magic root powder with this fine haired girl.

Posted on October 20, 2006 13:32

b said:

Okay, so instead of screaming at my sylist I googled it for anyone else who might feel as left out as I.

http://www.aveda.com/templates/products2/spp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY10538&PRODUCT_ID=PROD10351

Posted on October 20, 2006 13:39

Jenn Bo said:

Amy has taught me to be passionate about many things I never once considered (toner? foundation brush?), but now I love them dearly. I was a little surprised that I would have a passionate opinion about a "primping accessory" that was different than Amy. But it might just be that I rely on my hair drying way too much.

About my hair: It is shoulder length, thin follicles and mostly straight (it likes to get a kink or two here and there). By appearances, think Calista Flockhart. Even though the follicles are thin, I do have a lots of hair (relatively speaking). Colorists always comment that I have lots of hair to work with for the highlights, but I think its because the thinness leads them to believe there is not much there. So wrong, but I'm still not in the Julia Roberts hair for miles category.

For me, the hair dryer I bought for $50 dollars 3 years ago was my favorite investment. It is a Hot Tools Professional Ceramic dryer http://tinyurl.com/y4oyw2 . I use the hair dryer with a round or flat boar haired brush to dry my hair and get a little curl at the bottom (sometimes under, sometimes up). What makes the complete difference is the high heat at a low power setting - hot enough to curl my hair, but slow enough to keep my hair in the brush. My experience with hair dryers of the Conair variety was that, even with the low power / high heat setting, the dryer blew my hair right out of the brush. If I used low power with a lower heat setting, it just didn't give enough hear for the curl-under to hold. As an aside, I don't use the ion setting on my dryer very often.

Changing hair dryers was a religious experience for me. I've since tried one of the newer Conair dryers (at the gym) that look like they should be just the same as my Hot Tool, but I still had the blow-the-hair-right-outta-my-brush experience. My advice, spend the $50.

As for technique, a ceramic based brush (boar or nylon, I'm not particular) made a world of difference for me.

Posted on October 20, 2006 16:28

Jenn Bo said:

I forgot to mention that I'm going to look into this Magic Hair Potion, too. It sounds delicious! Thanks for the tip Yet Another Amy.

Posted on October 20, 2006 16:34

linda said:

Butting in to say that, yes, a microfiber towel is FAR, FAR superior to a regular terry bath towel. Aquis is another brand that's generally available. They make a turban style and a flat towel. I have both and prefer the flat, but my hair is much different than yours (shoulder length and curly). Good luck!

Posted on October 22, 2006 09:47

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Amalah is a pseudonym of Amy Corbett Storch. A Washington D.C.-based freelance writer. The Smackdown is published on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. You can follow Amy's daily mothering adventures at www.amalah.com. Also, it's pronounced AIM-ah-lah.

Amy also documented her second pregnancy in a Weekly Pregnancy Calendar, Zero to Forty.

Amy is mother to delicious preschooler Noah and baby Ezra. NomNomNom.

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