Monday, September 7, 2009

New favorite thing: Emi hair dryer by Remington

Anyone with curly hair knows that it is a bit of a challenge. I think that's probably why most of us wind up spending years straightening with blow dryers and hot irons -- smoother hair is a bit more predictable, at least, and the time we spend fussing, while not a lot of fun, tends to produce more consistent results.

When I stopped straightening my hair and embraced its curl, I still had some work cut out for me. Product is critical, and I'm lucky my stylist pointed me in the right direction there. A good cut is also really important -- my hair's fine, but there's lots of it, so I need some layers to avoid looking like the triangle-haired woman in "Dilbert" and also let the curl lose a little weight and be a bit springier.

Last, and for me most important, was the dryer. My curly hair, like I'm guessing most people's, isn't uniformly curly all over my head. Some places are almost kinky; others, mostly straight; and then there are patches with some wave but that, without coaxing, just lie there. A diffuser helps coax out some curl, but doesn't do the whole job.

I read about the Remington Emi blow dryer on a message board, and I really had some doubts. It basically sucks sections of hair into a tube-like attachment on the nozzle, spinning it and drying it into a corkscrew shape. Behold a German YouTube video that shows the basic routine:



Longer hair is left with something like dreadlocks, which can then be broken up into waves. For shorter, layered hair, like mine, the spinning action sort of activates my hair's natural curl, giving me more uniformity all over.

I love this thing. The weird nozzle can come off, too, so you can use it like a normal dryer.

The ceramic version (whatever that is) is $29.99 on amazon.com and drugstore.com, but my non-ceramic one came from Target and was like $23. It takes some practice (my first couple of times using it, I couldn't really leave the house...), but if your hair's curly or even wavy, it may be a good tool to add to your hair arsenal.

1 comment:

Christina said...

hmmm... is it wrong to contemplate adding this to my arsenal of torture devices I could use on my daughter? =) (the other torture devices include items like hair brushes and digital cameras, used in entirely normal ways)