I recently made peace with my long, wavy hair, and by made peace I mean surrendered long after I had been soundly beaten. Despite the unrelenting nature of my hair's innately thick and wavy texture, I have been blowing it out and straightening it since junior high, and before that I made my mother do it.
My earliest beauty memory is clutching a bottle of new shampoo as a child and hoping against hope that it was this particular bottle that would finally transform my wild mop into the shiny and sleek tresses of a golden girl. I wanted straight hair, and always have. That shampoo bottle did not contain the magic potion, and I have spent the last three decades being easily seduced by every new appliance and product being peddled by the hair care industry in search of it.
When the flat iron came around, I thought I had finally been given the key to achieving the hair of my dreams. With no small investment of time and amount of hair product du jour I was able to get my hair as straight as a supermodel's. For about five minutes. I live in Florida, the land of humidity and hurricanes, so good hair days for me are few and far between.
One day about six months ago I just couldn't fight nature any longer and started letting my hair dry naturally, about a three hour process. My friends and family let me know right away they liked my wavy hair and, oh yeah, I looked ten years younger. Gaaaaaahh! Still, I wasn't content and I felt my hair always looked a little homespun.
A week ago my life changed forever. I read about a strange new hair dryer by Remington called the Emi Airwave Anti-Static Style System. Allegedly, this hair dryer would spin and smooth your hair into perfectly styled waves in a fraction of the time without so much as a brush needed. Yeah, right. I raced to Target to get it. See above problem with hair products.
Remington Emi Airwave Anti-Static Style System
After reading the directions, I got started on what I figured would be another shameful chapter in my hair saga. See the attachment tube? I separated a section of hair at a time, turned on the dryer, and dropped the ends of the hair sections into the tube. A vortex of air sucks the hair in and spins it round and round, drying it from the roots to the ends into a perfect curl.
When all of the sections of my hair were dry a mere eight minutes later, it looked like I had smooth dreadlocks, a look I hadn't really considered at this stage of my life. After letting my curls set for a minute or two, I finger-combed each section apart and checked myself out in the mirror. Holy hairnet! My hair looked amazing. The curls were perfect and I looked like I had just come from the salon. Shower to done in about 10 minutes, with an actual hairstyle. Life changing!
I am in awe of how well this hair dryer works. It's got the necessary 1875 watts, speed and heat settings, and uses ionic and ceramic technology. Of course, this level of fabulous comes with a steep price. You're going to need $24.99. Can you even believe it? Get thee to a Target immediately! I'm sure there's going to be a run on these things once the word gets out.
It is impossible to overstate how amazing this dryer is. Unless I were to tell you this is my "after" picture.
Photo Source: Amanky, Target, Remington, Zimbio
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There are only good hair days for Laurin as she blogs at Laurin and Kelly Talk where she and her hair are finally friends.
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Wow! I share your hair story. I have long, thick, wavy hair that I have been fighting with and straightening for most of my life. At least 30 minutes for a decent blow out, every.single.day. Lately I have been trying to figure out what to do because with two rambunctious children the 30 minute minimum hair do just ain't cutting the mustard. I am seriously running out to Target as soon as I am done typing this. I am *very* excited about the possibility of a 10 minute hair do.
Laura, so glad you're getting it. It is amazing. You can also spin dry the sections about halfway and then air dry with the curls "set". That might save some more time. It used to take me 3 hours for my hair to dry, without much style. Let me know how you like it!
Do you put any product in your hair while it is still wet?
Yes, I use Nick Chavez Flocker. It's pretty amazing stuff. Here's a link if you want to read my post about it. http://bit.ly/jIGSf
I have also used products for smoothing hair like Frizz-Ease and Ojon glossing creme. Hope it works for you.
Okay, I am so tempted to try one of these. I rarely – if ever (read: NEVER) straighten my hair anymore, but I love the idea of having smooth waves with half the work!
Thanks for sharing…and I second Becky's question. What products do you use with it?
The best part is how great the curls are, in addition to the de-frizzing and time savings.
See my reply above on the products. Oh, I also use Phyto 7 Daily Hydrating Botanical Cream once it's dry. I put it on my hands and then pick the curls apart and arrange the front of my hair. Sometimes I spray Ojon shine on after that because I'm loving my hair so much I can't stop playing around with it.
I am totally intrigued. I moved back East 6 months ago and my hair has completely rebelled. Let's just say humidity is not my friend. It's kinda funny because I wrote a post about "what you need to know about flat irons" a few months ago. Thanks for the info – I can't wait to give it a try! Stopping by from SITS to say hello.