Once I find my part, I apply volumizing mousse to the roots—generously.
I rub that through my roots and then blow-dry. In these photos, I was using this blow dryer, but I recently switched to this one. It’s amazingly quiet and quick, and it really does a great job at giving me smooth hair that requires less heat to tame.
I blow dry my hair upside down to volumize the roots for 1–2 minutes. I focus on the roots and stop when my hair is 50% dry.
I then stand back up straight and use my fingers to comb through my hair as I dry it the rest of the way. I don’t use a round brush because I want my hair to dry straight, not curled under. (You can watch me blow-dry it here.)
I switch back and forth between blowing my hair exactly where I want it to end up and then the opposite way. Blow it forward and down to train it to lay where you want it to, and then blow it the opposite way to try and keep a little volume.
Next I add dry shampoo. If this were day two or three, dry shampoo would be my first step. Be generous on this first day because it will help dirty up your hair, making it easier to work with. Go for the roots, but on the first day spray it everywhere because all of your hair is too squeaky clean.
Bed Head Spoil Me is a really great product to help you get multiple days out of your styling. It re-hydrates your hair after using dry shampoo. Sometimes dry shampoo can make it hard for your hair to hold a curl, so this stuff counteracts that problem. Just spray it on your ends.
Continue to tease sections through the long side going forward and then a little bit on each side. The more you tease, the better; just be sure to tease close to the root to get the most lift. You can watch me tease it here.
After teasing, I’ll comb through my hair with my fingers to put it back into place.
Next I’ll use my flat iron. Sometimes I’ll straighten my hair before I tease it; they’re interchangeable. On the short side of my hair, I use my flat iron to smooth it away from my face. If you notice, all of my movements to style my hair are in the direction I want my hair to end up in. Each element is to train my hair to go where I want it to.
My front pieces tend to curl under if I don’t bend them away from my face a bit. Flat iron each side and the back. Depending on the texture of your hair, you might have to section off your hair to do each side.
Redken Wax Blast is my favorite product to get my ends to stay put. I spray it on all of my ends, still swooping them the direction I want them to lay.
I then use my hairspray to finish things off. I use this volumizing hairspray on the roots and apply it generously, holding up my roots until it dries. Sometimes, especially on day one, I’ll have to go back and tease sections a little more or add more spray to get the volume and the hold I want.
And that’s it! Like I said at first, it’s all about the part. If my part goes back, it’s hard to recover from that until I wash it again. But this is how I style my long pixie for everyday wear. It usually takes me about 5–15 minutes. Please leave me any questions below or email me. If you like this tutorial, I have starting doing quick video tutorials on Instagram that I think are even more helpful to really see how I style my hair. You can also find all of my other hair tutorials here.
