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Remember when I said I’d never use a flatiron again? I love wearing my hair in soft, loose waves so I pretty much abandoned my flatiron in favor of my favorite curling iron/wand, and never looked back.
makeup used for this look: charlotte tilbury color chameleon color morphing eyeshadow pencil| NeuLash | dior overcurl waterproof mascara | charlotte tilbury lip cheat lip pencil in “pillowtalk” | the best $12 lip gloss| Urban Decay’s primer potion | laura mercier transluscent setting powder | MAC 150 powder brush | Sigma blush brush | bobbi brown peony blush | eyeliner (color zero) | anatasia brow powder | MAC studio finish concealer | NARS’s Laguna bronzer
But then, I had my second baby, and things got…wonky. In addition to losing a ton of hair, my hair changed texture in some spots, especially in the crown area. It went from being relatively smooth and manageable to a wiry, rigid texture. I noticed that I had a lot of fly-aways, frizz at my crown and that the re-growth wasn’t blending well with the rest of my hair due to its texture. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like my hair, but it did become more difficult to style and I wasn’t sure how to deal with smoothing out my roots where the re-growth and textured hair was most problematic.
If you read my updated hair routine post from several months ago, I basically just added one extra step that has made a difference for me. It seems counter-intuitive since there’s nothing I love more than hair with volume, but I don’t feel like I lose a ton of volume by doing this extra step. I brought back the flat iron, this time, opting for T3 single-pass luxe flat iron. I hadn’t used one in years, but this step has made all the difference because it helps to seal in the cuticle closer to the root, where my hair has become harder to tame. It makes my hair look glossier, too.
My new hair styling routine comes at a perfect time — it’s getting hot and humid outside and for most of us, that means we need to step-up our styling to withstand mother nature.
So, here’s the breakdown of how I style my hair and what products I use to keep it smooth and more tamed in summer’s humidity. All of these fab products are available at Nordstrom, my favorite place to shop for hair + beauty products. Shipping and returns are always free and Nordstrom carries a ton of my favorite brands.
W A S H + P R E P F O R S T Y L I N G
It all starts in the shower — I love Living Proof’s Perfect Hair Day Shampoo and conditioner and Alterna Caviar Repair RX shampoo. Both formulas clean hair without stripping. Recently I’ve been double-washing and I find this really gets my hair clean and gives it more volume. I think when you only wash your hair a couple of times a week, double washing helps!
I’m still using this microfiber towel to dry my hair — it helps get more moisture out so that air-drying takes less time. I also sleep with a clean towel on my pillowcase when I wash my hair.
After brushing our your hair, apply styling products to damp hair. In my opinion, volumizing mousse is a not-to-be-missed step (try this one or this one) and this styling cream from the nape of my neck down to my ends.
D R Y + S M O O T H ( D A Y 1 )
In the morning (after washing my hair the night before), I use T3’s new Cura hair dryer to get the rest of the moisture out (it’s usually 70-80 percent dry by then). The Cura has a sensor so that if you set it down, it pauses, which is a pretty cool feature. It also has more heat settings and a volume-blast setting, which is perfect for my big-hair loving heart.
Before blow drying, I apply this blowout spray liberally throughout my hair. I find it helps make my hair smoother and the heat protection is a bonus since I do use heat tools in between washing (which is why I air-dry my hair in the first place).
A couple of years ago, I would blow dry my hair in sections and then set it in Velcro rollers, but once I had Lincoln and my hair texture changed, I found this method wasn’t as smoothing as I needed it to be. For a while, I was curling my hair with my T3 curling wand after blow-drying it with a paddle brush. That was working pretty well for me, but it didn’t address those pesky hairs at my roots and my crown.
Enter — the T3 single-pass luxe flat iron. I never thought I would have a need for a flat iron again, but I was wrong. This ended up being the perfect solution to tame my unruly regrowth and I only have to go over each section once to get smooth, straight hair. I pay extra attention to the top of my hair where a lot of the new growth is choppy, uneven and wiry and being able to get the flat iron right up to the root has made a difference for me. Plus, I’m not having to go over the same sections multiple times, so it saves on heat damage too.
If you’ve sequestered your flat iron to the dark areas of your bathroom storage or you don’t own one at all – it may be time to give it a second go (or to purchase a new one since the technology has improved a lot). I’ve seen a tremendous difference in how smooth and manageable my hair is since I started using the flat iron on “day one” of my styling routine.
S E C O N D + T H I R D – D A Y H A I R ( T O U C H – U P )
On second day hair, I use my T3 curling wand to add waves to my hair. I find that even on second day hair, the day-1 flat ironing has made my hair more manageable and smoother. Occasionally I even use the flat iron to touch up a few pieces before I curl it, but typically I don’t do this unless I’m taking photos that day.
Before I curl my hair, I use Living Proof’s heat protectant hair spray –this is a new-to-me product I’ve been using for a couple of months or so. It’s a flexible hold, so you can totally brush or finger through your curls.
In the summer, I also add Living Proof’s humidity shield hair spray. I literally buy a bottle of this every single spring/summer and use it any time I curl my hair. This is the secret to keeping hair as smooth as possible even in the blazing heat. I’ve been using this hair spray for many years and can’t say enough about it! It will be coming with us on our upcoming beach vacation, too.
When I touch up my hair in between washing, I use either this styling cream or this no-frizz nourishing oil on just the ends of my hair. I find that this helps smooth out and “revive” my curls from the previous day. In fact, some days, I can get away with using no heat at all and just using the cream or serum to bring a little shape and bend back into my hair.
B E T W E E N W A S H I N G
Y’all know I love dry shampoo — I still use and love my top three brands — Living Proof Perfect Hair Day dry shampoo, Aveda’s shampure dry shampoo and bumble and bumble’s pret-a-powder.
The trick here is to ensure you’re evenly distributing it and using your fingers to massage it into your scalp. You can also use a brush and hair dryer to really work it into your roots and “revive” your hair. I love this method because it really gives hair a volume boost.
I hope this post is helpful as we head into summer and also for you ladies with texture changes in your hair post-pregnancy.
Have a great week!
Other items from this post: pajamas | stud earrings | earrings
S H O P T H E P O S T
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Do you find that your hair holds the curl as well after flat ironing? My hair will hold a curl for days, but if I flat iron it first, it’s much harder to get it to stay curled, because I have sort of sealed the cuticle with the flat iron.
Shockingly, yes! The curls seem smoother, too. My natural hair texture is wavy, so maybe that’s why. I will admit on days I don’t feel like curling, I will just leave it or touch up the ends a bit with the flat iron — definitely having more more “straight hair” days lately 🙂
One other thing I wanted to mention is that you can ONLY flat iron your roots or trouble areas and then curl the midshaft to ends if your hair has trouble holding curl. That way you still smooth out the pieces that give you trouble, but focus only on the roots to ensure the rest of the hair will hold the curl.