How to make a blow dry last longer in Dubai's humidity

To make a blow dry last longer in Dubai, keep moisture away from it: wash and dry properly before it is set, protect it from humidity and sweat, and wrap it at night. Most blow-dries last two to four days here; the habits below move you towards four. A blow-dry at home with Hamd Beauty is a 45-minute visit on hair you have already washed, so the first section is what to do before the stylist rings the bell.

How long does a blow dry last?

Two to four days is the usual range, counted until the next wash. Thick, straight or coarse hair sits at the longer end. Fine hair, an oily scalp, and any hair in high humidity sit at the shorter end, and in a Dubai summer that includes almost everyone the moment they step outside.

Three things end a blow-dry: water, oil and friction. Water is humidity, sweat, steam from a shower and rain. Oil comes from the scalp and from touching the hair. Friction is the pillow, a headscarf rubbing at the crown, and the collar of a coat. Everything below is a way of keeping those three away for another day.

Before the stylist arrives

Wash the day of the visit, not the day before. A blow-dry sets best on freshly washed hair with no product build-up. Use a clarifying or clean-feeling shampoo, and condition from the mid-lengths down, not at the root; conditioner on the scalp flattens the volume a stylist works for.

Towel-dry properly. Squeeze, do not rub, and get the hair to damp rather than dripping. Wet hair wastes the first ten minutes of the visit under a dryer.

Skip oils and serums. Put nothing on the hair after washing. Leave heat protection and hold to the stylist, who applies them where the style needs them as she works; product applied at home in the wrong place is the commonest reason a blow-dry drops by evening.

Set up a chair near a socket, in front of a mirror, in a cool room. Turn the air conditioning on before she arrives. A hot room means a damp scalp, and a damp scalp means a shorter blow-dry.

During the visit

Say what you want the hair to do over the next few days, not just today. A blow-dry that has to last four days is set with a little more root lift and a cooler final blast than one for tonight. Ask for the hair to be fully dry before she stops: the single most common cause of a style dropping the same evening is a section that was still faintly damp at the root.

How to make a blow dry last overnight

Nights are where blow-dries are lost or saved.

• Sleep on silk or satin. A smooth pillowcase means far less friction than cotton, so the cuticle stays flat and the shape stays put.
• Tie it loosely, high on the head. Twist the hair into a loose bun at the crown and hold it with a soft scrunchie, or wrap it around the head and pin it. Never a tight elastic at the nape: it prints a kink you cannot brush out.
• Keep the room cool and dry. Sweat at the hairline is humidity from the inside. Run the air conditioning and keep the bedroom door closed to the bathroom's steam.
• Shower with a cap. A shower cap over a scarf is the belt-and-braces version; steam finds any gap.
• In the morning, shake it out and finish with the cool setting of your dryer for thirty seconds rather than brushing hard.

Day two and day three

Do not touch the hair more than you have to; hands carry oil. If the roots start to look flat, a dry shampoo at the root, sprayed from a distance and left a minute before you rub it in, lifts them. If the ends have gone straight, a large round brush and the cool setting on your dryer, section by section, brings the curve back without water.

Keep the hair covered and up when you are outside in the heat, and let it down once you are back in air conditioning. Pool and beach days end a blow-dry; plan those for the day before a wash.

How long does a blow dry last on curly hair?

Curly and coily hair that has been blown smooth is the quickest to revert, because curl returns as soon as moisture reaches the hair, and in this climate that is a matter of hours if the hair is uncovered. One to two days is realistic. The overnight steps above matter more for curly hair than for any other, and a wrap or a bonnet at night is not optional. The upside is that a blow-dry on curly hair usually falls into soft waves rather than flatness as it goes, so day two can look intentional.

How to get a salon blow dry at home

Book a stylist to come to you, and prepare as above: washed and towel-dried hair, no product, a chair, a socket and a mirror. At Hamd Beauty the blow-dry is a 45-minute visit for smooth, waves or volume. Fine or shoulder-length hair takes less than the full time; very long or thick hair takes all of it, so say which you have when you book.

What you can book

The blow-dry is on the hair menu, alongside an event hairstyle when the blow-dry is the base for an updo or set waves. If you want a blow-dry every month without thinking about it, the memberships that include one are on the memberships page.