How to Get a Salon Blowout at Home in 8 Steps

3 min read

Illustration: Nightlife Report

A salon blowout looks effortless because the stylist follows a sequence. You can copy it. This guide is built on Good Housekeeping’s step-by-step blowout how-to (published Nov 3, 2026), where beauty director April Franzino interviewed professional stylists, including celebrity stylist Lacy Redway and Stephanie Angelone of RPZL in New York City.

What you need: a heat protectant (spray, serum, or cream), a hair dryer with a concentrator nozzle, a round brush (ceramic or boar bristle), and sectioning clips.

1. Prep the hair

After cleansing and conditioning, gently detangle while damp and apply your heat protectant. Do this before any hot tool touches your hair.

2. Rough dry to about 80 percent

Use the dryer and your hands until hair is about 80 percent dry. Redway says rough drying removes excess moisture, which speeds up the blowout and makes smoothing each section easier. Move the dryer around your head as you lift the hair.

3. Section into about eight pieces

Angelone suggests about eight equal sections: the front middle, the two sides, and five toward the back. For most textured hair types, Redway recommends one- to two-inch sections for better control. Any moisture left behind can make hair frizzy, so sectioning matters.

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4. Start at the back

Begin at the nape of your neck, work up the back, then move to the sides, and finish with the front.

5. Dry each section from the roots down

Roots are the slowest area to dry, so start there. Once the roots are smooth and dry, work the brush and dryer through the mid-lengths and ends.

6. Pick your movement

• Sleek: place the brush at the roots, hold the nozzle above the section, and glide the brush and dryer down the hair together. The dryer follows the brush the whole time, which helps smooth the cuticle and add shine. When drying the front, roll the brush away from your face.
• Voluminous brush curl: wrap each section away from your face with a twisting wrist motion, then unravel the hair from the brush at the ends.

7. Repeat until the section is fully dry

Depending on density and texture, a section can need two to four passes, or up to ten or twelve. Make sure a section is completely dry before you move on.

8. Finish

Angelone’s finish: rake a light serum through with your fingers, then spritz a strong-hold hairspray to lock the shape. Redway adds a few extras: loosely pin or clip each section up while it cools, wait until hair is fully cool before touching it, finish with a lightweight oil mist, and wrap your hair in a silk scarf or bonnet overnight.

The three mistakes to fix first

1. Brushing hair that is still very wet.
2. Sections that are too big to control.
3. Touching hair before it has cooled. Cooling is what sets the shape.

Make it a weekly practice

Pick one night a week to practice only step 2 (rough dry to 80 percent). It fixes the most. Next week, add sectioning. By week three the sequence will feel automatic, and your blowout will take less time, not more.

When to book the salon instead

A home blowout is a skill, not a color service. For color, cuts with shape, and smoothing treatments, see a stylist. If you are in LA, our LA med spa and salon guide lists salons with public review ratings as of Nov 4, 2026, so you can compare before booking.

Product choices vary. We do not endorse a brand here. Use what suits your hair, and patch-test anything new.

Support Nightlife Report on Patreon: patreon.com/aperlas

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