5
Natural texture is in, anything too perfect looks dated. Sam suggests, “stretch drying” for achieving natural texture. “There are two ways to style hair, with tension and with heat. ‘Stretch drying’ relies on tension more than heat, resulting in texture that’s natural and not overdone,” explains Villa.
Sam says to use an asymmetrical (oval) shaped brush versus a symmetrical (round) shaped brush when ‘stretch drying’ for two reasons: First, round brushes create a gap between the scalp and the brush, which means that portion of the hair does not get stretched and lifted. An oval shaped brush can grab hair right at the scalp lifting it for maximum volume. Second, when using a round shaped brush, one must twirl hair around the brush and then pull for tension, creating a strain on fingers and wrists. Oval shaped brushes allow for twirling and stretching the hair at the same time, achieving maximum results with minimum effort.
Professional Stylist Tips:
· Brushing hair under each section creates more volume than running the brush on top of each section, which straightens hair.
· When wrapping hair around a brush and directing heat, do not pull brush down and out of hair, it will straighten hair. Instead, gently unravel the brush preserving the texture created with the brush.
· The closer hair is stretched to the head, the straighter hair will be. For more texture and volume, lift hair up from the root.