Styling Tips

After a few years in the beauty industry, a stylist builds up a vast storehouse of styling tricks. These are things they don't teach in cosmetology school, aren't found in a textbook, but are gained by experience.

Women are always trying to find shortcuts and time-saving techniques for styling their hair, and can anyone blame them? After all, who likes to spend an hour in the morning curling and blow-drying?

One of the easiest ways to save time in the morning is to "prep" the hair the night before. If you want straight hair, shampoo, condition, and blowdry the hair about 75% dry. Then work a quarter-sized amount of straightening balm throughout the hair, from roots to the ends. Place a plastic cap over the hair (you can buy a box of a hundred of them for a few dollars at most beauty supply houses), and when you wake up, your hair should be fairly straight and dry. All you have to do in the morning is brush through it, and smooth some pomade or gel wax over it.

On the other hand, if you want volume and body, take a tip from your mother and set your hair in large rollers at night. It's a little sad to see how many women's rollers are gathering dust in a bag in the back of their bathroom closets. For long-lasting waves or gravity-defying volume, nothing works better than a good old-fashioned roller set. So go dig them out from your closets and see how much time you'll save in the morning.

Some people would rather curl their hair with a curling iron. That's okay too. Hey, it won't hurt my feelings....But there are a few tricks you can use to make your curling iron sets last longer. Try spraying finishing spray on the roots of the hair while it's still wrapped on the iron. Many people wait until after they curl the hair to spray it. As a result, the weight of the hairspray will make their hairstyle collapse by lunchtime. Spraying while curling creates a foundation for the rest of the hair. Think of it like a building or a bridge; without a strong base, the structure will fall. Hairspray at the roots will reinforce them, making them capable of supporting the weight of the hair. I recommend a fast-drying finishing spray, like Proforma by Matrix, or Sebastian's Shaper Plus.

Perhaps the quickest way to change your style is by experimenting with different parts, other than the center part. Even a slight change, like an off-center part, can make a big difference.

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