4 Pro Tips To Achieve The Perfect Blow-Dry At Home

Few things can boost a woman’s confidence like a beautiful and professional blow-dry. The shine, the volume, and the style can leave us feeling swanky and gorgeous before we even touch a make-up brush. But it can be expensive and as much as we’d like to have our hair done a couple of times a week, it’s not financially feasible. With that in mind, we asked four of Ireland’s leading hair stylists (all of whom are nominated in the IMAGE Business of Beauty Awards) for their top tips on achieving the perfect blow-dry at home.

1. Aidan Darcy at Brown Sugar says, “the trick is to prep your hair before blow-drying with a detangle or heat protection spray. Blow-dry your bangs first, stretching out the hair and moving from left to right. Once you have smoothed out the front section of your hair, take out some of the heavy moisture. Pull the back sections around to the front and turn your head to the side – it’s easier on your arms and you can blow-dry the root area more easily. Use some serum or finishing spray to finish off your blow-dry and smooth down any flyaway hairs.”
2. Leah Cunningham at Peter Mark says, “never blow-dry at home, always treat yourself (laughs) – but if you really have to, you definitely need the GHD Curve Soft Curl tong. It’s so easy to use. Always make sure you protect the hair before drying and use a section grip to make things easier. When curling, always bring your curl back off your face rather than curling all one way onto your face. If you’re purchasing these tongs in any Peter Mark salon, the girls will be happy to give you a quick run-through on how to get the best results.”
3. Sarah Ethel at Dry & Fly says, “allow yourself plenty of time in order to achieve a bloody brilliant curly blow-dry! A thickening or volume shampoo and conditioner would work best, followed with a good towel dry and some thickening spray. Remove 80% of the wetness out of your hair and use round brushes only. As you dry the section straight, roll the brush up like you would a hair-roller, and leave to cool. Then repeat and leave hair for 10 – 15 minutes to completely cool down. Remove brushes and shake.”
4. Shauna Millea in The Salon At The Shelbourne says, “I would definitely recommend a professional-use hair dryer, which can be bought cheap as chips these days. I’d also recommend some good brushes that are not going to break easily. For beginners, sit with some Instagram tutorials and it will definitely help you get by until payday arrives – practice makes perfect after all.”

Aidan Darcy, Leah Cunningham, Sarah Ethel and Shauna Millea are all nominated for Best Bloody Brilliant Blow-Dry at this year’s IMAGE Beauty of Business Awards.