Deconstructing the process, All Things Hair reveals how to create perfect, poker-straight strands with just a hairdryer. You’ll be wearing the bouncy blow dry short of your dreams in no time.
How to Blow Dry Short Hair: Tutorial
It’s funny how when we step into a salon, get dolled up for a wedding or even take a peek backstage at New York Fashion Week, hair and makeup is usually handled by two separate people. In real life, most of that glam lies on one person and one super-glamazon alone: you. From knowing how to blow dry short hair at home the salon-worthy way to acing that glittery cat’s-eye, the burden of looking fabulous lies on our own shoulders—and seeing as we are in the YouTube tutorial generation, the D.I.Y. pressure can indeed mount to pretty stressful levels. As you’ll be using a hairdryer, it’s essential to safeguard your locks against any damage that can be caused by heated styling tools.
Editor’s Tip: Make sure the nozzle of your hairdryer is parallel to the handle, this will ensure your finish is as sleek as possible.
Style the ends by wrapping your hair around a round brush and pointing the nozzle of the hairdryer downwards. This will give them a slightly tucked-under look.
Drying this way will add salon-worthy volume to your short hair blow dry.
For this post, we want to spend a bit more time deconstructing the best way to blow dry short hair. As something that a lot of women rush through every day before heading out to work, it deserves its fair share of focus and airtime, amirite? And although not a lot of steps go into that short hair blow dry since you don’t have that much length to start with, there are indeed proper, efficient ways to do it to maximize time, effort and payoff. Scroll down for our easy-to-follow guide to help you with the task ahead:
Tutorial: The Bouncy Blow Dry on Short Hair Lengths
1. Start with clean, freshly washed hair.
A lot of women like to extend their blowouts to last for more than a day, so starting with freshly-showered hair gives you a cleaner slate.
2. Rough-dry your hair.
By rough-dry, we mean blotting and squeezing the moisture out of hair with a towel right out of the shower. Resist the urge to rub vigorously, as this can break or damage your strands. Ed’s note: Particularly frizz-prone? Try using a clean T-shirt to blot the water from your strands. The smooth cotton surface makes it perfect for absorbing moisture while minimizing friction. This helps result in less of a frizzy halo.
3. Spray on a heat protectant.
A thermal protectant both acts as a shield for hot spots and heat damage from your dryer, as well as a styling primer, providing slip and moisture to help aid in detangling. After hair is evenly coated, comb through with a wide-toothed comb or detangling brush to remove any knots.
4. Section off the top half of your head first.
With the end of a fishtail comb (or even your fingers), create a horizontal part above one ear across to the opposite ear and clip up that section atop your crown. The remaining bottom section can now be divided into three smaller strips: left, middle and right. Clip up two of your three sections, and get to work on the loose section immediately.
5. Dry, rotate and pull.
First pull sections through a round brush, first tugging upwards then tugging downwards from root to tip. For extra oomph or to create sections that form a natural, loose curl as you dry, rotate your wrist as you pull your hair a second time through a ceramic brush. Do so gently to avoid any tangling with the bristles. Repeat on all sections, taking care to blow-dry your hairline away from the face to open up your features. Ed’s note: We suggest choosing a slim round barrel brush made from a natural material, like boar bristles. Natural bristles can help reduce frizz while also distributing the hair’s natural oils, and are less likely to cause breakage. Still not sure which hair brush is best? Find out more on the best brushes for blowouts.
Note: Mind your attachments.
Those extra accouterments are there for a reason! For straight, voluminous styles, use a concentrator nozzle to direct airflow and urge in some lift at the root. Want a curly blow dry? Short hair that’s curly or wavy in texture is best dried with a diffuser attachment, which helps define your curls without separating them. Read here for a quick tutorial on using a diffuser.
6. Blow-dry bangs first.
Bangs usually dry quicker and set in the shape they dry. Style them before they completely dry out by rolling them over a fat round brush in a scooping motion (for fuller bangs) or sweep them to the side with a flat brush (for wispier bangs).
7. Over-direct.
Some women like to over-direct their hair to cheat in more lift at the root—this means tugging hair with a brush to the opposite of where you actually want your hair to fall, or even blow-drying hair way past your forehead to help give it more volume once it falls back on your crown. This technique is used a lot when drying with a paddle brush, or when creating straighter, sleeker looks that still retain some volume.
8. Finish with hairspray.
The final step in learning how to blow dry short hair at home is not being afraid of hairspray. The right product can still give a natural, non-shellacked, not too “done” finish. Modern hairsprays work to protect hair from frizz while smoothing down any flyaways and locking in a look. We like the city-proven hold of TRESemmé Compressed Micro Mist Extend Hold Level 4, which gives us control but without the crunch.
