A Dry Idea

Here is a shockingly simple way to ensure that your hair looks shiny and super smooth.

THIS REALLY WORKS | Had you told me that it would be this easy to get shiny salon-smooth hair without a professional blow out, doubting Thomasina that I am, there’s no way I would have believed you. But that was before I tried this one simple trick.

The easiest way to get shiny, smooth hair is to let it dry 90 percent on its own before you pull out the hairdryer and round brush. I discovered this manoeuvre by accident last year when I didn’t get around to blow-drying my locks until they had all but dried on their own. “You’ve just figured out the secret most curly girls already know,” my stylist Heather replied when I told her about my awakening.

And here’s why this technique is so effective, according to New York-based hairdresser Mark Garrison in Cosmo: “Too much hot air focused directly on your [wet] strands dehydrates it, making it frizzy—especially during the winter months when the air is less humid. If you have straight to slightly wavy hair, let your hair air dry 90 percent of the way, then use a dryer on it for the last 10 percent.”

Garrison doesn’t say anything about applying extra product to amplify the shine, but I sometimes (not always) spritz on a mist of inexpensive Citré Shine Anti-Frizz Spray Laminator before I apply any heat; the first time I did this, the results blew me away. —Annabel Lee