Shampoo & Blow Drying

Blow Drying Straight 

In todays lesson we worked on blow drying hair straight. This is something I have experience in after working in a hair dressers when I first started working. Despite this I still faced some challenges! I also regularly Blow Dry for friends and family so I have added some photos of other straight blow drys I have documented in my own time. 

To begin with I washed and conditioned my models hair.To prepare for the was I gowned my model and protected her neck by placing a towel around it for comfort when leaning on the sink as well as to soak up any water that may trickle down onto her neck and become uncomfortable. 
The first sink we went to failed to get hot and was far to freezing cold to use on my model, this going against what I feel is correct health and safety I took my model to another sink. We luckily have more then one sink however if this was in a shoot or film situation and had there only been one sink I would have overcome this by having to wet the models hair using a spray bottle with water and then proceeding with the styling. If the models hair absolutely needed to be washed there are products such as dry shampoo which can be a life saver for quick cleaning in situations like these. 
With clawed fingers I gently massaged the scalp with shampoo I did this twice. When rinsing the shampoo off I made sure to check the heat was controlled and to a perfect temperature. My model told me she does like when the water is slightly colder then usual so I also asked her how it felt and she was happy. I conditioned the hair once applying it slightly from the roots by running my fingers through the scalp and then concentrating on the bottom. I then proceeded with about a 2-3 minuet massage. Once finished I made sure all traces of conditioner or any product were removed. This is really Important! I have once had an experience when I first started working in a hairdressers and I didnt rinse the shampoo out completely this meant when it came to styling the hair was flat and extremely hard to style meaning I had to wash it again. This was not a nice experience for the customer and has always stuck with me. 
To finish the cleaning session I wrapped a clean towel around my models head to stop water dripping down her back.

After washing my models hair I then sat her down in my chair drying of the excess water with a towel, there are a number of reasons why this is important to do. Some of these I picked up working in a salon.

• Firstly Its safer to blow dry hair that is not soaking wet because of the use of electrics. 
• Any products applied to soaking wet hair will of course become diluted with all the excess water. This means they will just drip of the hair during the blow dry. 
• "The key to a perfectly balanced blow dry requires hair that is equally moist from side to side which is less possible with soaking wet hair"1 

To prep the hair I didn't apply any products to the hair. I don't think this was the correct decision to make because I noticed once I had finished there were some fly away hairs I think this could have been prevented by applying a mouse or setting spray I think this may have helped by providing some hold. They both would also have helped to give some volume to the hair. To overcome this once finished blow drying I applied a tiny amount of dressing cream mainly at the ends of the hair. This helped because it reduced the static look and controlled some of the strays. 

When blowdrying I sectioned the the hair into two parts on either side of the head and blow dryed smaller sections taken from either of them. I did this so that the wet hair didn't have contact with the hair that was blow dried. The brush I used to blow dry was a Classic Denman brush. I find this a really good brush to use for obtaining very sleek hair. Especially for my self with naturally very frizzy hair. 

I was very pleased with the end result. In the middle picture there is some volume at the roots of the hair because I teased it slightly by the tips of my fingers at the roots. Just to give some lift to the hair. As my model doesn't like her hair to look to dead straight. I asked at the beginning where she normally wears her parting when I was sectioning the hair. 

Below are some photos of a Blow Dry I did for someone in my own time. The model wanted her hair to be very sleek and straight for a night out. To save time she decided to wash her hair herself. I learnt from the first time when I didn't use products and decided this time because my model was going out for the night it was necessary to support the hair with some holding mousse. I used Philip Kingsley Weatherproof styling Froth. I really like this product and have used it for quite a few years. It does give a really supportive hold to the style as well as providing lots of shine and volume. Another reason I like it is because it doesn't have that really sticky feel that I have experienced from some high street products. I think you can really see a difference from the before and after picture just how much fuller my models hair looks. I think the product has also helped to control fly aways and there isn't at all a static look to the hair which I experienced on my first blow dry when I didn't use any product on the hair.

To Blow Dry the hair I used Head Jog Medium Radial Ceramic Brush I find these brushes really great to use. They have tiny wholes so the hair drys faster which is great in a shoot environment when time is minimal. Also I find that even when using them to brush dry hair they are very good at getting hair very straight. I think I prefer them to use for blow drying then the Denman Classic brush I used on the first Blow Dry so from now on they will most likely always be my first option. 

Before the blow dry 

After Blow Dry

After Blow Dry