How I Diffuse Wavy Curly Hair With A Hair Dryer Under $100 ( Not A Shark, Dyson, Or Curlsmith)

My channel has been around for like two and a half years now, which is kind of weird to think about, but that being said, one of the First videos I did, I think it was the second video uh - was how I diffuse my hair and going back And re-watching it is a little bit hard um, let's just say that I've improved pretty dramatically on my filmmaking skills, my being on camera skills, things like that, so uh. Now that I'm much more comfortable, I want to redo this video, in addition to the fact that I've obviously just improved in my filmmaking skills. I'Ve also gained, in my diffusing knowledge things that work for my hair things that help give me more volume things that really just work for me. So I want to talk about those things and those changes as well and then the last reason I kind of wanted to make this video was because I know when I'm watching YouTube videos of other influencers on YouTube. Diffusing their hair like something like 80, are using things like the shark or the curl Smith blow dryer or the Dyson, and those are all some pretty pricey blow dryers. So I want to come about this from a perspective as someone who uses one that's under a hundred dollars uh. That being said, if you are new to my channel hi, my name is Lena and welcome to my bathroom and if you do like content like this like And subscribe, it helps me at a time. No, for the most part, the actual styling routine doesn't really matter too much when it comes to actually diffusing your hair um. I will leave a link up above to how I style my hair, so you can definitely check that out if you're curious, the biggest difference. I think comes at the very end of your routine, so at the very end of every single styling session, I do micro pop my hair and I try to get as much of the water out as possible. That'S going to make a big difference for the length of your actual dry time, you're not going to spend quite as long with that blow dryer on your hair. If your hair is a little bit drier, if your hair is super wet, it's going to take a little bit longer to diffuse. That being said, the product can alter the dry time as well, so if you're using several products on top of each other, it's going to take a little bit longer. So things like, if you are doing a cream and a gel, it's going to take a longer to diffuse than if you're, just using like a hair, mousse or something like that um, it doesn't really change things drastically. It tends to alter things, but just a couple of minutes, but that is something to be aware of. I use the do moves Dev, texture foam for this particular routine. I am working on a product battle, including this, so if you want to see that definitely like And subscribe, because that should be coming out next week. That being said, talking about the dryer that I use, so the dryer that I currently use is the BaByliss pro nano titanium, hair dryer. This ranges, I think, anywhere from, I think I've seen it anywhere from 60 to 100, so it really just depends on when and where you buy it. If you look it up and it's like a hundred dollars, you could just sit on it for a while, because I think it does drop down in price um. That being said, I do really like this blow dryer. I did a full review of it. Almost a year ago, exactly - but I like this, because the low heat is pretty much no heat at all and then the medium is a little bit on the warmer side. It does have a cool shot as well, but that low heat gives me more flexibility. So I'm not burning my hair and then it has a low and a high speed as well. It'S not super heavy, so that's definitely nice as well. Now, moving into the diffuser I use, this is the one I've used since I first started using a diffuser, and that is the Black Orchid extava diffuser and there's a few reasons I like this, one of which is just the size like you can see. It'S a pretty big diffuser. Another reason that I really like this is the prongs are super long, so it can really just get up into your hair, which also helps cut the hair as well, and then this does actually have holes in the prongs as well, which is going to allow the Air to get through, where it's up in your actual, like scalp area and help kind of dry that as well. So that's really nice. I think I got it for about twenty dollars, so I think it ranges somewhere around there, typically, but again, just kind of keep an eye on it. You might be able to find it for a really good deal on Amazon. I will link everything I've used down in the description box below, so you can take a look at it for yourself as well. So after I finish my routine, how do I actually diffuse my wavy curly hair um again, I just want to know the importance of microplapping, whatever I'm using to micro plot my hair. I really want to just make sure that when I'm squeezing and coming away, the fabric is pretty dry at that point, I'm not really bringing much moisture away with it. So after that point what I do is I actually tip my head back and I shake my head a little bit and get my hair sitting as much away from my face as possible and then I'll go in with my diffuser on high speed and high heat And I will diffuse that section. The main reason I do that is because, by setting it backwards away from my face, it means that when everything is all said and done, I'm done diffusing I've fluffed it. I scrunched it's less likely to fall on my face just while I'm going about my day by actually a couple orders of magnitude. Now I know a lot of people will flip forward and diffuse their hair flipping forward. I never do that because of that reason that it just means that my hair is always going to fall on my face uh so anyway take that diffuser hover diffuse over the top um part of the reason I use a high heat is because my blow dryer Takes a little bit of time to actually get up to a higher temperature. If I start to notice that it feels too hot on my scalp or my hair, I will typically flick it down to the medium, because the medium is kind of it's a little hot. But not too hot if you're a couple inches away from your hair, so I'll do that for probably about a minute. I don't really keep track of the time frame of these things. It tends to be just when I get bored with it or in this case, when my arm starts to hurt, and then I move on to the next phase and the next phase is hover diffusing. So I move all of my hair over to one side of my head. I take my blow dryer and again I put it on a medium Heat and then I just hover it around my head. I try to keep the airflow going downwards and then you just hover over the top. You want to hover under the bottom and then flip to the other side. Do the same thing and go back and forth a couple of times. So I typically do this particular section for about five minutes. I kind of have two ways of deciding when to move on to the first phase. The first is, if I do get a gel cast, that's a good sign that it's safe to move on to the next one, because it's going to help just protect your hair and keep the frizz down. If you do get that gel cast. That being said, I don't always get a gel cast, so if I'm going through a particular routine, where I don't have that gel cast again, I kind of just go based off of when I get bored with it and I just move on. It typically takes four to five minutes for that to happen, and then I go on to pixie diffusing. So if you've never heard this term, what pixie diffusing is you want to make sure that your blow dryer is off? No airflow should be coming out of it. You take that diffuser scoop your hair up into it and then you can turn your diffuser on and let it go so a few things of note here. When I'm doing this, I'm really making sure to move slowly. So I'm not agitating my hair too much and then I get to the point where I push those prongs of my diffuser up against my scalp. I want to feel it on my scalp and then I lift yet again just a little bit more and what that's going to do is it's going to help my hair dry with a little bit more volume in it, and it's also going to get a little More space between my strands to allow for more airflow going through it. So the other thing that I do want to note here is the temperature on my particular blow dryer. I want my heat to be on low, because the medium on this once it's actually in contact with my hair, is just too hot, and if I actually let it sit there, it's going to cause damage. That being said, the low on my blow, dryer is probably better described as a cool setting. I don't know if there's any warmth to it at all, so what I actually tend to do is I scoot my hair up and then I let it sit on that low setting for a couple of seconds and then I flick it on to medium count. To three and then flick it off now, I don't always count. It goes more based off of when it starts to feel too hot. On my scalp and the reason I do this is because warm air is going to dry your hair faster, but you don't want it so hot that it's going to damage your hair. So, by flicking between the two settings back and forth a couple of times, it allows it to kind of hover in a Range. That'S a little warmer. That'S going to dry quicker without actually doing damage. So then I'll cut my hair up and hold it. The amount of time that I hold it in that cupped position. I don't really count it. I don't know if I could say 100 again, it kind of just depends on when I start to get bored. I think it probably ranges anywhere about 30 seconds. Before I move on to the next section. I typically do about three sections per side before flipping and then doing it on the other side. So I go back and forth a couple of times. I think I do it on each side of my head about twice before kind of stopping at this point is a really good time to kind of diagnose your hair and see, if there's anything you want to fix, because it's never too late to fix something. So if I notice a couple of straggly pieces, I will go in and wet them down and then I'll take a brush and brush through them and then sometimes I'll, even go so far as to do a finger roller finger quilling or something like that to help Them get back in their Clump and if I notice a lot of frizz, you can go in and do what's called the Smashers technique. So what you do is you take your hold product, your gel, your moves or your foam, and you put it in your hand. If it's a thicker consistency like a thicker gel, I would add a little bit of water to it at this point. But if it's a mousse or film or more runny gel, you can just put that product in your hand, specifically and then you're going to gently glaze it over those frizzy areas, use your praying hands technique to smooth things down, and this is going to make a Huge difference in the overall frizz, especially by the end of the routine, once I've done that I'll typically hover over it for a couple seconds to help that product kind of set in place again. So I'm not just throwing it right back into a frizzy State and then I'll move on this kind of depends. So at this point this is what I do. I check my hair to see just how wet it still is. I check the top layer and the bottom layer to see if they're still damp, if they're still relatively damp. I will go back to hover diffusing for about a minute or two. If they're not, I move on to the next phase, I guess of my diffusing and that is still more pixie diffusing, but in a more specific way now let me explain. I have high density hair, which means that I have a lot of hair on my head. What that also means is when I'm diffusing my hair, it's really hard to get these middle sections. They just tend to sit there damp for a very long time, so what I've actually started doing. This is something I started just a couple weeks ago is just picking up this top layer and then pixie diffusing that and then doing that on about two or three sections per side. And I do that a couple of times on both sides and that's really made a huge difference for me, it does a few things, first of which is, it just helps dry, my hair all the way through much better too. I have more of kind of this wavy pattern on top and then on bottom. I have a little bit of a tighter texture, but doing that particular cupping technique on that top layer does help it get a little bit more definition and then the other thing it does. It does help give me just a little bit more volume, which is nice as well, but I do it on a couple spots on each side and then I tend to kind of get bored with this all. So at this point it's been probably about 20 minutes. Since I first started diffusing my hair and I'm kind of just done with it or at this point, my daughter's woken up from her nap and I kind of need to just be done typically at about 20 minutes. My hair is about 80 dry. If I do it until 25 minutes, it's about 90 dry and I just let it air dry the rest of the way, one big thing that I do, though, before letting it air dry, I do clip the top up in a wig. I used to use these clock lips so kind of just these medium sized ones, and that worked fine, but what I found with these was especially um with the size. It didn't really help that section underneath it dry well so recently for Christmas again I got the curl keeper clips that have been going they've kind of just been making their rounds, so I decided to give them a try. So, thanks to my mom for buying these for me, the reason that these specifically are nice is because, when they pick up the hair, the hair doesn't sit down against your scalp. Still it actually does pick it up and lift it away from your head, which one introduces volume two helps it dry a little bit quicker if it's not 100 dry at that point, but anyway, so I put those up in my hair. I'Ve done that. The past few times that I um styled my hair and diffused my hair since I got them and then I just I air dried the rest of the way, so that typically takes about an hour for it to air dry. The rest of the way um at this point, it's really important to not step outside, while it's still slightly damp or you're, going to introduce a little bit of Frozen things like that, especially if it's dry, humid windy, the like um precipitating. That'S, definitely a big factor. Now, for me specifically um, I again I have a two-year-old, so I don't tend to come back to film my videos until she's gone down for bed that night and at that point then I will fluff and scrunch and um at that point, it's pretty sure that It'S 100 dry, there's very little chance that it's still going to be damp at that point, because that's almost three to four hours later so um, but do make sure that before you scrunch out any sort of cast that you have that your hair is 100 dry. The best way to do this is take your fingers and then pinch uh, the first person I saw doing this was wavy curly alley, and it really does help. You just feel if your hair is still damp metal in there. So once your hair is completely dry, you can then finish up your studying routine. Do anything else you want to do use oils just fluff and scrunch. Just let it go, you don't even have to fluff and scrunch. You can just leave it be at this point. All right, to sum things up, you don't have to do things exactly as I do them. I know there are a lot of people that entirely hover diffuse if you're trying to elongate your curls. That might be a better option. I know some people that entirely pixie diffuse kind of just work with it and see what works for you. The entire point of this video was just to show you how I get where I'm at um, so you can refer back to it and also, if you're just completely, have no idea where to start this. Maybe it will help give you some ideas. The biggest thing I guess I want you to take away from this is just the health of your hair is the most important thing when you're doing and that's part of why we diffuse versus using just a straight up blow dryer partially, because it helps to cup Your curls to give it more shrinkage, but also because it helps disperse that error and helps keep your hair healthy. So the other thing that's going to keep it healthy is using a lower heat. I know there are a lot of blow dryers out there that don't have a cool option like mine does and if that's the case and your lowest setting is still kind of hot. If you have a cool shot, use that as often as you can, if not try to use something like the dress of my heat Tamer, I would still kind of recommend this. If you're, someone in that camp that doesn't have a cool setting, because using some sort of Heat Protector is really going to help, keep your hair from getting damaged this one does have silicones in it, so just buy or beware so that being said, I do post A brand new video every single Friday keep an eye out next week for that product battle that I was talking about earlier. If you would like to see that, definitely let me know - and hopefully I will see you next time -