Quick & Easy How To's

Do you have a need for speed when you are styling your hair at home? Do you start out good, but then get tired when you get to the other side? Do you feel like you style one side great, but the other just so,so?

If you answered Yes to any of these questions, then here is an article just for you.

TURBO STYLING.

So what is Turbo Styling? Simply stated, Turbo styling uses advanced techniques with the highest quality products, tools and techniques to dry the hair faster without compromising the integrity of the hair.

First of all, you should ask your personal stylist for recommendations on what products he/she suggests for your particular hair type. Stylists are trained on what products to use for different types of hair, and for different effects. Often poor product selections is why the style does not work. It all starts with a good shampoo and conditioner, we love CHI 44 Line to protect your hair from heat when thermal styling. When you finish your scalp and hair cleansing and conditioning you should gently towel dry and then apply your styling product, comb the product through for even saturation, and then direct the hair the way you would like to style it.

Second - The Blow Out.

As we said earlier - direct the hair the way you want it to go.

Do You want VOLUME? Do You want Movement? Do you want Curl? This is the time you need to decide the direction your style is to take and what tools to use.

Check out my earlier article on combs and brushes for the proper brush selection. Now for the Blow Out. Start your Blow out at the nape section of the head, gently blow dry the hair using your fingers as a tool at this time, dry until the hair is almost 80% dry before switching to your favorite brush. As you can see in the diagram, the hair cuticle is what you will be dealing with the most when you are blow styling your hair. Think of the cuticle, like tree bark, a young tree has a smooth bark, where as an older, weathered tree has a rougher bark, sometimes parts are chipped away and void. This happens with hair too. If you apply too much heat, if you dry the hair opposite of the natural cuticle, it will rough up the cuticle risking damage, and frizz. It is important to always dry the hair in the direction starting at the scalp area toward the ends, this will keep the cuticle in tack, resulting in a smoother, shinier style without frizz. After you finish the nape, work upward on the back section of the head until you reach the crown, now go to each side and finish with the top and bang area last. Once your blow out is finished you can go on to your hot styling tool.

Finally - The Hot Tool

Select your hot tool according to the finish you want to achieve. If you want curl, use a curling iron or hot rollers. If you want smooth and straight, use a flat iron. Once you have mastered your curling techniques with the basic tools, then you can move on to the 3 in one tools and adding curls with the flat irons. The metals on each tool will give you a different result. Ceramic tools are excellent for smoothing the hair, but if you have hair that really needs volume don't overlook the gold irons, as long as they have an adjustable setting, and please, please, please use the proper heat for your type of hair. If you have extremely fragile hair, I suggest the basic silver tools, they don't get as hot, but heat is not always your friend. Too much heat for too long will damage the hair.

Check out CHI's new lava tools- excellent lower heat needed do to the lava- infused with minerals to help fortify your hair. Less damage, and better color retention.

Quick & Easy How To's

Have you ever wondered why it is your hair does so well in the salon, and just so, so at home? It could be your choice of styling tools.

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Hair brushes come in a wide variety of options. Each different type of brush has different qualities, and different uses.

Let's start with the "Wet Brush".

The Wet brush is used to remove tangles from wet hair.

You should start a few inches from the bottom of the hair, brush toward the ends and then slowly move farther up the head, working in the same manner until you make it all the way up to the top of the head, back through the ends.

You should be careful not to over stretch the hair as to avoid harming the hair and stripping off the cuticle of the hair strand. When the cuticle is stripped off you risk further damaging the hair and making it even more tangled.

Using a wide tooth comb can also be useful, however, avoid a fine tooth comb, because this too can lead to a lot of damage.

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The Vent Brush.

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Vent brushes are used for the first stages of blow drying. The "Vents", are simply used to help air pass through the brush and the hair and to help the hair to dry faster. I recommend using the vent brush until the hair is about 80% dry and then switching to a Denman style brush or a Thermal Brush to complete the style.

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The Denman Style Brush.

The Denman Style brush has a rubber base with tighter spaced teeth. It normally does not have any vents. This is used to help stretch the hair into position while blow styling. Due to the tighter spacing you can put tension on the hair and help to mold it into position. This brush is best used on thicker hair, and is wonderful for sculpting the hair and giving it a slightly bevel to the ends or to the hairline.

The Thermal Brush.

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Thermal brushes can come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors. Some even have detachable handles, so you can heat the hair and then release the handle to allow the curl to cool around the base of the brush. These are a great asset to your styling tool collection. Thermal brushes also use a wide variety of metals - there is more to the color of the metal than you think. Silver barrels hold a moderate amount of heat, gold and ceramic barrels will hold the most heat, so if you have fine, delicate hair silver would be best for you. Medium to thick or resistant hair requires more heat to get the hair to style well, therefore, ceramic and gold brushes would work the best for these types of hair.

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