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I have curly hair, but zero patients. I know that with curly hair the best course of action is to air dry it, but I don’t normally have 3-7 hours for my hair to get completely dry. So here is my dirty secret. Are you ready? I blow dry by hair. *GASP*! Yep, to be completely honest I diffuse by curls with my secret weapon, an amazing blow dryer.
Hair and Hot Air Relationship
My hair and I have had a turbulent history. It has naturally gone from curly, to straight, to curly, to frizzy and everything in between. As a baby my hair was full of ringlets. Age 5-12 my hair was straight. After puberty hit my hair just got curlier. The longer it got the more weighted the curls, but still, they were.
At age 13 I found my first blow dryer that had a diffuser attachment. This weird little device that looked like a scary sea urchin-ish creature was the answer to my hair prayers. Adding hot air to my hair took it from flat beach-ish waves to voluminous curly and big! I am convinced that my head is a little too small, so having bigger hair makes me feel more proportionate.
Now, I was a firm believer that the diffuser was the key to my hair success. It was the only really different item right? So for years I used the same blow dryer, after some time the first diffuser I bought fell to pieces. I bought a new diffuser and held it with my hand for years with my head upside down. My hair routine started out taking roughly 5 minutes, then over the years it took 7, then 10 and finally, before I even knew it, it was taking 20 minutes!?!
It takes Fire
My hair continued to get more frizzy, less definition to my curls, and more limp. I tried different products, more product and more techniques, but nothing helped. Finally, after sparks started to come out the end of my blow dryer something in my brain clicked. (Yes, it literally took fire for my brain to come up with this idea.)
Maybe, just maybe, it was time for a new blow dryer?
The Answer
My hair dryer was dead and it was time for a new one. Now, I would like to take credit for the decision to find the blow dryer I ended up with, but that would be wrong. My cousin is an amazing hair stylist, she is the brains behind this operation. She found the perfect blow dryer, and then told my (then) fiance about it. Come Christmas morning, there was a brand new amazing Rusk Super Freak blow dryer under the tree.
The first time I used this puppy I was pretty impressed, 5 minutes into my normal diffusing routine and my curly hair was dry, full, less frizzy and all around felt better!
The Moral
Don’t be like me, don’t wait for fire to spark a thought! If you have curly hair, or honestly any type of hair, don’t just assume that your styling products or shampoo is the culprit. Look at your blow dryer, is it decrepit and about to catch fire? How about a new dryer that is amazing! What would you do if your hair drying routine left you with 15 more minutes in your day? Worth it? Heck Yes!