Blow Drying Tips for All Hair Types

Blow Drying Tips for naturally straight hair or freshly relaxed straight hair by Benita Blocker:

1) When there is little to no curl pattern present, blow dry from root to end slice by slice based on the diameter of your brush.
2) Take your time.  There is no need to hurry.  Thoroughly dry each slice before going to the next one.
3) If you just completed a fresh relaxer, you may want to foam the edges down and comb the hair in the style for the final look.  Then let the client sit under the platform dryer for 5 to 10 minutes to offset any extra blow-dry tension prior to starting the actual blow out.

 Blow Drying Tips for wavy to moderately curly hair by Benita Blocker:

1) There is no need to "divide and conquer" if the hair does not seem prone to shrinkage.
2) If the roots are kinkier than the relaxed ends, then focus on the roots as you go slice by slice.  You can return to thoroughly dry the ends as soon as you get all the roots straight and under control.  You do not want the roots to set in its naturally curly state.  You may want to explain this blow drying method in case they are used to a traditional blow-out in a specialty "blow-out" salon.

Blow Drying Tips for resistant curly hair by Benita Blocker:

1) If the hair has 50% to 75% shrinkage as you are combing through it, then you need to "divide and conquer."  I have discussed this method in a different article on this blog.  You must work quickly to get the hair detangled and plaited down into 13 or more large plaits.  You may need to re-wet the hair as you complete your "divide and conquer" step.  Water often gives more control over the hair.
2) Find a brush that the resistant hair will slide through but the brush needs to have enough bristles to hold some tension on the hair to keep from springing back.  Sometimes a first cut, soft, boar bristle brush may be your best bet as far as hair brushes are concerned.
3) If the "divide and conquer" technique is in place, then you do not have to hurry.  Just blow-dry slice by slice or plait by plait from root to end.
4) Clean partings are important even though it maybe difficult to part the hair.

Most blow dryers no longer have these long, narrow necks, but when they did, we as hairstylist would hold the blow dryer around the neck to control the blow dryer.  I wanted to include this picture from a historic blow drying perspective.

The Denman Straightening Brush

As you know, the Denman brand is well-known for quality brushes.  Well, this Denman model is the D79.  It is called their thermoceramic straightening brush.

 It closes similar to a flat iron. The short boar bristles inside the brush aid in gliding hair straight.  This brush is now a  God send for me.  80% of the online reviews were very favorable for this brush.

Occasionally, I get clients who have resistant, long, thick natural hair.  I tried the paddle brush, the traditional Denman brush, round brushes, vented brushes, and comb attachments.  None of these worked without maximum effort.  Most of the time, there was too much hair to control at one time even after dividing the hair up into many sections.

So finally, I gave the Denman straighening brush a try.  I was able to control my sections as I blow dried on medium heat. I only closed the brush partially and kept working it like I was flat ironing with a handheld blow dryer in the opposite hand.  Once the section was about 80% dry, I used the comb attachment to finish out the straightness.This has been the best combination of tools thus far for long, thick, resistant, natural hair.

Actually, this Denman straightening brush is probably good for short, resistant, natural hair as well.  Any hair that springs back really quickly when stretched out can be controlled with this straightening brush.

The uans crema conditioner also provided great moisturizing in a short amount of time.