Why You Should Just Say No to Blowouts

Repeat after me: No, thank you. For the past five years, that's been my response to each hairdresser who's asked me if I'd like to have my hair blown out. My strict no-blowout policy started after a few too many appointments left me looking more like an extra on "Dynasty" than me. After each visit, as soon as I walked out the door, I tried to flatten my hair with my hands just so I could make it home with a semblance of self-respect. Once past the threshold, I ran to wet my hair and undo my hairdresser's work, cursing myself for allowing this to happen again.

Believe me, this is not a matter of going to a series of cheap or inexperienced hairdressers. I'm not one to spare any expense when it comes to hair care (with my hair-related spending history, I could have probably justified Greece's expenditures if they happened to have been spent in a salon), so I haven't exactly been a victim of getting what I pay for. In other words, there is an inherent problem with the so-called salon hair: you don't wear the blowout -- it wears you.

Call me crazy, but there's nothing worse in the haircare realm than looking in the mirror after having paid someone to make you look more attractive and seeing the aged-20-years version of yourself. It seems that everyone ends up leaving the salon looking exactly the same -- with an overly-bouncy blowout that masks their natural hair texture. Even worse, I can only imagine how much damage the yanking of the brush coupled with the heat of the blow dryer inflict on your poor, innocent hair follicles.

I've learned to happily rush out of a hair appointment sans blowout. But I always seem to feel as if my hairdressers feel a bit slighted, as if I think I know better than a trained professional. Or, worse yet, they feel that I'm too cheap to get the full treatment. On the contrary, I'm actually a fan of slightly disheveled hair (think: Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Kim Gordon). I've found a great zen in not fighting but working with my natural hair.

Now I'm not saying that every girl needs to go au naturel. Even I can admit that a little texturizer goes a long way. But I propose that women embrace their hair texture and stop trying to mask it with salon-inflicted helmet head that makes us all look the same. A call to non-action, if you will.