Most days you can find me with air-dried hair that's thrown in a bun or ponytail. This year especially I've taken my low maintenance hair routine from a 2 to a 0 in terms of everyday effort. But the second half of the year – thanks to TikTok hair care videos – I've been motivated to work a little harder on my hair health.
(Definitely planning on sharing a series about this next year.)
On the days that I want to put a little more effort into my hair, I've found a system that works so well for an everyday look. It's bouncy, voluminous, and looks like you just came home from the salon – all with minimal effort. Truly, this is for lazy hairstylers like myself!
Sharing in this post the products I use, what I've learned and the final result.
Products Used for this Hairstyle
- Alterna Haircare Caviar Rapid Blowout Balm – I had a gifted blow out with a Greenville salon back in 2017 and they gave me a goodie back filled with Alterna products. Over the past 3 years I've used this product on and off. It gives this incredible smooth bounce to your hair, even if you just blow dry it straight. I don't think I'd be able to get quite as much volume without some sort of styling cream.
- Revlon Hot Air Brush Kit – This year I saw more reviews of the Revlon One Step Hair Dryer and the Dyson Airwrap products and it's for a good reason. They're simple to use and super effective. I didn't want to spend $500 on Dyson's product and I didn't even want to spend $50 on the famous Revlon one, so I went for this $25 product. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it, but now it's all I use.
- Wide Tooth Comb – Perfect for wet or damp hair. It gets the tangles out without pulling my hair out and is much better for your hair while wet.
- Claw Clip - Self explanatory. If you don't have one or ten of these around, it's a good $5 stocking stuffer.
- Living Proof Heat Styling Spray - I often use this both before and after styling. It's a heat protectant and a very light hold hairspray.
How to Get the Style
- Start with damp hair. Not wet. First of all you don't want to be drying your hair when it's 100% wet if you can help it. If you can let it air dry for a bit before putting heat to it, that's much better for your hair health. I let my hair dry about 80% of the way before attempting to heat it up.
- Adding your styling cream and heat protectant. If you're using the Alterna product, I put about a dime size amount in my palm and run it through my hair focusing on the roots and tips. Spray your hair down with a heat protectant for extra strength against the heat.
- Section your hair into 3rds and clip 2/3rds up top.
- Take your Revlon Hot Air Brush or One Step Styler and, starting at the roots, wrap your hair around the barrel and hold until it's dry. *My Revlon tool comes with two sizes of barrels. I use the 1 1/2 inch barrel to create less defined curls and more volume.
- Work your way around the first layer of hair repeating the steps as above. Wrapping the hair around the barrel and pulling it up and out of the barrel until dry.
- Section the remaining damp hair into two more sections and work your way around the second layer using the same technique.
- For the final and front section of hair, wrap the hair around the barrel starting from the roots to get the most volume.
- When you finish you can either pin the hair up into velcro rollers for extra volume or let it all cool down and spray with hair spray for a finished look.
Take your Revlon Hot Air Brush or One Step Styler and, starting at the roots, wrap your hair around the barrel and hold until it's dry.
*My Revlon tool comes with two sizes of barrels. I use the 1 1/2 inch barrel to create less defined curls and more volume.
A Few Things I've Learned About This Hairstyle
- The first two tries with this technique and tool I didn't achieve the results I wanted and almost sent it back. The third time I stopped following the YouTube tricks and did what came naturally and got a really lovely salon-like blow out.
- The volume lasts at least two full days and makes 2nd and 3rd day hair really easy to style into bouncy ponytails, buns, and braids.
- Depending on your length of hair it may take up to 30 minutes to fully dry and style.
- A styling balm on damp hair is key for volume and hold.
- Hair oil on the ends of your dried and styled hair makes it shiny and soft.
