While a professional cut should ensure your hair keeps on looking good day to day, maintaining healthy, shining hair takes the right equipment. And sometimes you just want to liven things up. This kit will help you do both.
Blow-dryer:
The best blow-dryers are between 1,400 and 1,600 watts. This will speed drying time, reducing the hair’s exposure to heat. They should also have a diffuser and a nozzle so you can direct the air.
Round brush:
The best brush to use while styling hair as it allows you to move through the hair while you blow-dry.
Tongs:
Good for creating precise, ringlet curls or flicky styles.
Straightening irons:
For adding shine to hair and taming waves or curls.
Butterfly clips:
Essential to separate off sections of your hair while you style.
Rollers:
Large rollers can help give volume to hair.
Setting lotions or styling waters:
These are spritzed onto the hair to create hold while you’re styling.
Mousse:
Used to create body in styles. For best results apply a golf ball-sized blob mainly to the roots of the hair to give lift.
Gel:
For more sculpted, defined styles, it gives more lasting hold than mousse. Too much will make hair stiff though, so use a pea-sized blob on short styles or a 10p-sized blob on long styles.
Wax:
For tousled or messy styles that need control and shine, use wax. It’s better on short hair than long and always remember that using too much will make hair sticky and attract dirt. For best results, use a pearl-sized blob warmed in your palms and smoothed down the hair – wipe off any excess.
Serum:
Used to create shine, it doesn’t really hold hair in place but just enhances the finished result. Use no more than a pea-sized blob of serum on short styles, a 10p-sized one on long – more than that will make your hair look greasy.
Hairspray:
The finishing touch. Don’t spray it directly onto your hair, as this will make it stiff. Instead spray a fine mist over the hair from about four inches away. This will set without stickiness or stiffness.
Hair elastics:
The only way to put hair up, they are smooth to the touch and don’t snag.