My Hair Tools

My Go To Hair Tools

Sorry for the lack of a real post Tuesday, belles & beaus! It was a crazy day at work and I had plans to sit and write on my other project for the night but I also had to share the Benefit Cosmetics news with you yesterday. This weekend I will try to get a ton of posts done so that I can have them queued up for y’all. I hate doing that, but it’s about the only way I can really give y’all tons of content during the week.

Today, however, I continue with my hair posts. We’re going to take a trek through my hair tools basket. I apologize in advance for the length of this post because I tried to cover everything. Now, just like my make up posts, I’m not saying you absolutely need these tools. These are just the ones I prefer because they work best for my hair. You can use this list as a suggested list and go shopping! Try finding the things that work for you. If mine all work for you, then that’s great.

Boar Bristle Round Brush

This is my go to when I’m blow drying my hair after I’ve washed it – of course after combing my hair out. I section my hair off in layers as I go, blow drying each section because this helps my hair dry faster. This also smooths out my hair without having to take a flat iron to it. I love my flat iron, but I also like not frying my hair. So this gives the best of both worlds with a little curl in at the bottom of my hair.

I got mine at Sally’s Beauty Supply because the one I had originally bought from Ulta started shedding when I would use it and it was Boar Bristle. Don’t ask my why this type of bristle on a brush works, but it does. I have a flat brush I use on occasion to help brush the oils in my hair down because dry shampoo doesn’t always do the job we want it to. Boar bristle works with your hair’s natural oils to take care and smooth your hair.

Boar Bristle Tease/Backcomb Brush

This was another Sally’s Beauty purchase. The Ulta I frequent just doesn’t seem to carry boar bristle brushes of any kind. I got this for when I want to do a little teasing or backcombing at my crown. This gives my hair a little lift at the root and also gives me that little bump in my hair to add some volume to my hairstyles. I don’t do this a lot as my hair doesn’t care for it, but on occasion it’s not a bad thing. These brushes usually come pointed on their handle so they’re great for parting off hair when you’re working on styling. Plus the boar bristle is – again – gentle on your hair and helps with the oil in your hair.

Fine Tooth Comb

Okay, I actually got these at Wal*Mart in the hair aisle because sometimes I need a fine tooth comb to work through some of the smaller knots my hair can get. These also help when I’m curling my hair because I need the small inch section I’m curling to be smooth and easy to manage. This helps get those hairs that might be curled in on itself within the section to lay out flat so the curl isn’t kinked in weird places.These are also fantastic for parting off hair as well as combing your hair when you put in a conditioner product. I do this typically in the shower to give the conditioner the highest potential to get to every strand of hair on my head. This also eliminates the need to comb my hair like crazy after my shower. However, I do not use this with my deep conditioner protein packets.

Please remember this piece of advice though when combing your hair with any comb: start from the bottom when combing your hair otherwise you will create massive knots that take longer to get out and can possibly cause major breakage to your hair. No, I am not a hairstylist or whatever you want to call it, but I can tell you this is something my mother has always told me and I have physically seen the difference between when I start at the bottom and when I start at the top. Starting at the bottom = a whole lot less hair breakage!

Wide Tooth Comb

Wide tooth combs make the combing go faster. I have one that I love, and I believe I picked it from Ulta this time. I could however be wrong. It is really hard to find one like my mother’s old yellow Goody brand one that is actually both wide and fine on two separate ends. I prefer to use it when I’m home visiting her and it’s also the one she uses when she’s braiding my hair for me – I can French braid everyone else’s hair but my own and it sucks. But mine is just like my fine tooth with a handle on one end though it doesn’t end with a point. It’s more of a rounded handle. This is also great for helping part my hair when I’m a little too lazy to go and get my fine tooth comb.

Round Hair Brush

I find that these types of brushes work better with my hair, especially when it is mostly dry and I’m finishing the top layer up. I mostly just use mine for the morning and evening brushing. This is also the brush I use to style my hair up into ponytails, perfect messy buns, and ballerina buns. Now if only they would create a brush that molded to your head so that you didn’t lose hair as you styling it up.

I’ve had both the round and paddle brushes. I just find that the round brushes work a little better and I don’t have issues with them as much as I have paddle brushes. You can guess it, I got mine from Sally’s because the one I purchased from Ulta started falling apart.

Hair Clips

And I don’t mean the little cute butterfly ones we all use to wear when we were kids. I mean the big ones that you use to hold your hair up. I used to have two but mom accidentally broke one of mine. But I usually have at least a couple on hand. One is designated for holding my hair while I’m drying it or when it’s already dry and I just need it up out of my face. The other I typically use to hold my hair up when I’ve put in my deep conditioning stuff because I haven’t invested in some good alligator clips yet. It’s on my list, I promise!

But these things are awesome for when you’ve just put your deep conditioner in and need to have your hair up while it soaks into your hair and roots. The reason you need two is because sometimes the grips get coconut behind them and it’s hard to get that out unless you do it while you’re showering. Me, I always forget so it’s not an option. So it’s nice to have two of them! Plus these big clips come in handy for everything.

I use mine during the summer when I don’t want to pull my hair up in a ponytail but it’s causing my poor neck to swelter in the heat. Downside of long hair in the summer. Basically these are the versatile things of the hair world. Is my hair dirty, burning me up, or am I just pulling it up for professionalism? The world will – hopefully – never know.

Ponytail Holders

Yep, these guys. I don’t mean the rounded ones. And I most definitely don’t mean scrunchies – those should have stayed in the 90s with the rest of the crappy ideas we had about hair. I mean the cute ribbon looking ones that don’t cause your hair to get a bump in them. I was introduced to these via a women’s fraternity sister in college and I have never looked back. She had really thick hair and these worked for her. I like them because they don’t cause my hair to get a weird bump in it from where I’ve had it pulled up.

I keep these little guys everywhere. Around my gear shift in my Ford Edge, Gillian. In every room of the house at mom’s. It just works that way because I never know when I’m going to need one. So better to have them at easy access than to have to go searching for them in a drawer where I can never find them.

Babyliss Pro Nano Titanium Dryer

This is my blow dryer of choice and has been since my senior year in high school. I got it in 2010 so this blow dryer is old and *knocks on wood* it has held up absolutely amazing! This dryer comes with three heat settings and a cool trigger. It also comes with a nozzle that helps when I blow dry my hair in sections. It helps to create the perfect blowout as well. It’s my favorite attachment for this blow dryer. But I absolutely love this thing because it does so well with my hair.

My stylist prior to my current one always used one on my hair and it was what I wanted. It cut my drying time in half. It used to take me 30 minutes with a Wal*Mart hair dryer and now this thing still has me at 15 minutes if I just do my whole head. In sections it still takes me about 20-30 minutes and I’m okay with that! But this dryer is my favorite and I still have plans to get my mom one because she always “borrows” it when I go home to visit.

I would talk about my curling irons but they’re just the $10 conair ones that you can get at Wal*mart. I don’t use my wand or straightener by Babyliss as much anymore, mainly just because I find it hard to have time to style my hair at the moment. However, I will talk about them at a later date.