Creating and Maintaining Your Blowout!

Hey guys! Today I'm going to be talking about HAIR, and more specifically, blowouts!! Who doesn't love a good blowout? Lately I've been interviewing like crazy for summer jobs, and I of course want to look my best. For me that means taking some extra time to do my hair. Normally I usually just let it air-dry, I admit, although I usually blow-dry it on the weekends for going out and I fully intend on transitioning to doing it everyday (prob not) once I am in grownup world. Speaking of grownup world, a lot of my friends go to those dry bar salons where you can get your blowout done professionally. I unfortunately do not have the means to do that yet, so I've really perfected getting a pretty good blowout on my own at home. (if I do say so myself!) Keep reading if you want to learn my tips and tricks...




Alright, the first thing about giving yourself a good blowout is obviously starting with healthy hair (read my healthy hair tips here). I always use some sort of hair oil on my hair ends right after I shower, as it seems to absorb best that way. The hair oil I am currently using is Amir Argan Oil Leave In Hair Treatment. I picked it up off Hautelook when it was on sale, and so far I am loving it! It has argan oil and acai berry extract (ooo) which is a strong antioxidant that nourishes your hair and helps protect it from environmental damage. Sounds good to me! I rub about a dime size amount in my hands and distribute it throughout my hair ends. 

Once that's in there, I then move on to my Umberto Blow Dry Lotion (I cannot find a link for this anymore, although the Redken Satinwear Lotion is pretty similar). I bought this blow dry lotion AGES ago from Target, and sadly I think it's been discontinued. I've literally been using it for over two years and it still has about a quarter left. As I talked about in my healthy hair post, it is really important to use some type of heat-protectant on your hair before you blast it with heat. This has been my protector of choice for a while now; it's super lightweight and has Vitamin F to revitalize dry and damaged hair. I just use a nickel size drop and spread it throughout my hair, focusing on the ends. 

My arsenal!

Next is a brand new product that I just recently discovered: Pantene Pro-V Smooth Blow Dry Creme. I don't normally buy Pantene hair products, but I randomly saw an advertisement for this blow dry creme in a magazine and I really wanted to try it out. I had tried a Nexxus styling creme before but I found that it really weighed down my hair. This one is the complete opposite, it was very lightweight yet it still makes my hair so sleek and shiny, I'm seriously obsessed! The secret to this little bad boy is KERATIN, which is one of the main proteins that makes up our hair. This blow dry creme is packed with it, and it helps keep your blowout sleek and smooth all day instead of frizzy and unmanageable. It's meant to lengthen the staying power of your blowout, and I really think it does.

Once you completely saturate your hair with all these products, you are finally ready to start blow-drying! Haha just kidding, I know it sounds like a lot but I literally use like a dime-size amount of each of these and distribute it throughout all of my hair. I do have a LOT of hair though, so if you're hair is on the thinner side you may want to ease up. In terms of actually blow-drying my hair, I've found that what works best is first drying it about 70% of the way with no brush, and then dividing it into sections and brushing each section as I blow-dry it. Then I wrap about an inch-amount of hair around the brush at a time and blast it with heat for about five seconds, and then on cold-air for about five more seconds to set it. This usually leaves me with a lot of body, which I love. Sometimes if I have time and I want even more body I will skip this last step and actually curl my hair with a curling iron, and then brush it out.

My hair after using the Pantene smooth blow dry creme. Now do you see why I'm obsessed??

And that's how I do my blow-dry! It's pretty easy, all things considered. Now, in terms of extending the lifetime of your blowout, I have also figured out a really good way to make sure my blowouts stays completely intact for at least a couple of days. What I do is every night I sleep with my hair in a loose pony tail secured by a big scrunchie (that way there are no creases from tight elastic bands). In addition, I spray dry shampoo on my roots BEFORE going to sleep. The reason I do it at night and not in the morning is because I've found that it actually works better if it's been in my roots all night absorbing oil as it appears, instead of trying to do damage control once I'm already a greasy mess. I am loving the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo, it really does the trick.

Happy hair, Happy Patricia!

Another one of my secrets to extending my blowouts is the new Pantene Pro-V Overnight Miracle repair serum. Once my hair is in my ponytail, I apply a small amount of this to my ends to keep them hydrated and healthy. For me, that really helps because I've noticed that if I'm going a couple of days without washing my hair, in addition to my roots getting greasy, my hair ends also seem to get really really DRY. This repair serum is great because it helps restore your hair from damage while you sleep, so that you can wake up with smooth and silky hair in the morning. Absolutely love!

Alright guys, that's it for this post! Let me know in the comments what your hair care tips are, and what products you've been loving recently. Can't wait to hear from you!

xo Patricia