The Miracle Product That Styles Your Hair in the Shower
Let’s be real. If we wanted to spend precious time blow drying and frying our hair into submission on a daily basis, we’d buy our own ticket to crazy town. The fact of the matter? Most Southern women feel obligated to conjure bouncy curls with curling wands and summon sleek locks with straightening irons just to walk out the door. With my thick, moderately wavy hair, I couldn’t find solace in either path. I tried it all, styling products and tools, to enhance my natural texture; but none lent themselves to my preferred morning beauty routine that allows for frequent and repeated use of the snooze button.
Wave sprays, texturizing mousses, and frizz-fighting oils were necessary acquaintances of mine, not best friends, for air drying purposes. Mixing and matching styling products, as well as switching around the order in which they're used—it was a constant trial-and-error, triage approach. For those that can seamlessly nail the air dry look every time, I salute you. (For most of us, air-dried hair turns out acceptably mediocre about 65% of the time, questionably presentable 20%, dishearteningly tragic 12%, and impressively photogenic only 3%.) Then, I found my soulmate. If my other styling products were the varsity team, this guy was the number one draft pick. The Living Proof Perfect Hair Day In-Shower Styler swept me off my feet, and I’ve been living footloose and fancy-free ever since. In fact, I’ve barely spared a glance at my blow dryer in two months. (He’s taking it quite hard.)
Warning:
When you start using this, you will get addicted. Any styling product that lets you go from gym to office, bed to brunch, or pool to party looking like you spent buckets of time on your shiny, wavy hair changes a person forever.
How it works:
Living Proof doesn’t operate in smoke and mirrors, but rather with science-backed technology. This styling product features their patented Thickening Molecule and lightweight, conditioning resins that deliver enhanced natural texture, body, softness, and shine. You apply about a quarter-sized amount to your hair, after shampooing and conditioning, from roots to tips. Then, you lightly rinse before getting out of the shower, making sure you can still feel some product on your hair. Lastly, air dry! Living Proof provides genius tips to really get the most out of the styler by air-drying your hair in different ways. Think: buns and braids and twists, oh my! (Find those tricks here by scrolling down to "Styles & Tips.")
How I use it:
I follow the application process, as stated above, then wrap my hair for a few minutes in my Aquis microfiber towel that keeps frizz and breakage at bay. If I’m going from my morning workout to the office (AKA I’m extremely rushed), I just scrunch and go. But my absolute favorite, game-changing, will-wear-to-my-grave way of air drying with this product? After showering, I head to bed with my hair in two French braids that are NOT secured with hair ties. The wet hair holds the braids together just enough to coax loose waves for the next seven hours, and I wake up with—no lie—Victoria’s Secret model-worthy waves. Which is why my blow dryer, curling wand, and straightening iron are currently accruing dust bunnies under my bed. I don’t use any extra products or tools at all anymore, and my hair almost never gets frizzy or acts out of turn.
Extra tips:
It works best on straight to wavy hair, but that doesn't mean you should skip it altogether if your strands don't fit into one of these categories. And you'll definitely want to try out a few different methods of air drying when you’re not in a scrunch-and-go rush, such as braiding or twisting two to three sections and letting them set for a while. After a long day at work, I’ll spritz some texturizing spray or dry shampoo on the roots for a pre-dinner pick-me-up.
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Ladies, we don’t have time to waste. Minutes spent blow drying or heat styling will never be worth half as much as that extra cup of coffee or pre-dinner glass of wine.