7 Tips to Blow Dry Your Hair for Maximum Volume

Who wants more hair volume (put up your hand)?? Everyone, right? The good news is that you can seriously ramp up the volume in your hair by adding a few blow-drying techniques to your daily routine!  Keep reading to learn my hair-drying hacks for boosting your hair volume.Let’s start in the shower.  You can’t have volume without clean hair!  I don’t wash my hair every day, but on the days that I don’t wash it, I lower my expectations for volume. If you have really thick hair like me, you will want to use a shampoo and conditioner that helps protect your hair from damage when drying, curling or straightening your hair, without weighing your hair down, which is KEY! I’ve been using the GLISS Ultimate Repair shampoo and conditioner leading in to summer and find that it works best for my hair.  If you have thinner hair, try something designed to boost volume: I would recommend the GLISS Extra Volume shampoo and conditioner within the GLISS line (purple bottles).

I’m a sucker for leave-in conditioner on those days where I don’t wash my hair and I’m giving it a break (those days where you see me wearing it in a braid or bun!), and the GLISS Ultra Moisture Leave-in Conditioner is what I’ve been using.  If your hair is really dry, you can also use it as a conditioning treatment on damp hair before blow drying it to soften your hair and provide a boost of hydration (and you get the repairing benefits of keratin).

As a busy mom, stepping out of the shower isn’t always the most relaxing time. Can anybody relate? If I’m going to be completely honest, I feel like a rock star if I can even get in a shower in the morning some days! With little hands tugging at me wanting ‘up’ and Charlie and Max needing my attention, I sometimes forget some of the details that make a big difference in my hair routine! Two of those details include a volume spray and mousse. If you want some added lift and bounce, try spraying the GLISS Extra Volume Lift-Up Spray to your damp hair at the roots before blow drying (see below): this is great for thin hair or long hair that gets weighed down. You can also try using a non-sticky mousse like the got2b Volumaniac Bodifying Mousse before blow drying your hair (work a small amount through damp hair with your fingertips before blow drying).  It really depends on your hair, but experimenting with some of these products may make a big difference!

 

When it comes to blow-drying techniques, here are my tips and tricks!

1. Gently towel-dry your hair. Don’t rub your hair with the towel as this will lead to extra frizz. I simply wrap my hair in a towel getting out of the shower and leave it for 5 or minutes or so prior to drying my hair.
2. Find a brush that works for you! A lot of hair stylists recommend the rounded, soft-bristled type of brush (which I have about 5 of) BUT… I can’t stand them! It’s more of a practical thing since I have a ton of hair, I find that they are difficult to use (my hair gets tangled in them) and it takes me forever to dry my hair because I’m not very coordinated using it.  I actually use a rounded brush with bigger bristles that are set a bit further apart like the one you see in these pictures. You can get one at any drugstore or salon, they aren’t expensive and they do the trick. If you have thinner hair or more patience than I do (haha!), I would recommend sticking with the rounded brush technique described below as you will really see a difference.
3. Dry your hair in sections.  I clip the top part of my hair and dry the bottom first, starting with the brush at the root of my hair and holding my hair pulled tight with the brush, slowly pulling it down while holding the hair dryer angled at the brush toward the end of the hair. I repeat this with each section until it is dry. I find this gives WAY more volume to my hair as it’s very difficult to properly dry the lower section otherwise. I spray the extra-volume root spray in the top section of my hair as described above.
4. Dry your hair in a downward motion. Dry from roots to ends, moving the brush and the dryer together down the hair shafts. Angle the air flow toward the tip of the hair to help the hair cuticles lie flat and look smooth and shiny.
5. Don’t forget to dry under your roots. One trick I’ve learned when drying the top section of my hair is to first briefly point the hair dryer under my hair section at the root first, then continue to dry it as usual from the top. Combined with a root spray, this will give you awesome lift at the top of your head and help prevent your hair from falling flat.
6. Dry the upper section toward the back of your head. This is hard to describe, but starting at the crown of your head, dry those sections toward the back of your head versus the sides (where they naturally fall). Again, drying them in this direction will give you some added oomph at the top of your head!
7. Finish with a blast of cold air. This is optional, but some experts believe that finishing your hair dry with a blast of cold air (as cold as your dryer will go) helps to seal the hair follicles and adds shine.

 

I always curl my hair after I blow dry it, you can check out this post here if you want to learn how I do it!  I hope these tips and tricks help, I would love to hear if you have any tips to share below!

This post was sponsored by Schwarzkopf. All opinions are my own.