7 Genius Hair Hacks to Get Salon-Like Blow Dry at Home

​Four years ago, Sazan Hendrix moved from Texas to L.A. with a dream of becoming a TV and movie personality. But she quickly realised that ... everybody else in L.A. had that same dream. So she switched course and amplified her presence as a blogger. Now, she's a bona fide beauty influencer with nearly 650,000 followers onInstagram and over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube.

The thing you'll notice right away about Sazan is that she has gorgeous hair that she can style straight, in big waves, or leave in her natural texture, which is super curly. More often than not, she likes to blow her hair out straight with volume — but it's not easy. "I have really thick hair and drying it takes forever," she told Cosmopolitan.com. "I always want that salon-quality hair, but if I went to the salon every time I needed a blowout, I'd be on the street, broke. I had to learn how to do it on my own."

Sazan gradually picked up tricks from different hairstylists over the years, and she can now fake a blow dry bar-quality blowout at home. "Incorporating those little tips makes a huge difference with making you feel confidence," she said. "I invest time in my blowout because it'll pay off the rest of the week." Here are Sazan's tips for blow-drying your hair like a pro:

1. Build volume by pinning your hair while you dry it. Once you've dried a section of your hair, create a curl with it using your fingers and pin it. You don't need the fancy clamps that they have at the blow dry bar — you can use a bobby pin or a duck bill hair clip. Once you have all your blow-dried sections pinned, run the dryer on cool over the curls. (Now would be a great time to do your makeup or finish getting ready.) Spritz your hair with a light volumising spray. When you release the curls, you'll have big, bouncy hair.

2. Use translucent powder to add texture or absorb second-day oil. Dab your fingers into the powder a few times and rub the powder into your roots, much like you would a dry shampoo. Sazan likes the translucent loose setting powder from Laura Mercier ($62). You can also use the powder to disappear your bangs: Blend the powder into your roots and toss your bangs over to one side.

3. Don't like the shape you got with a brush? Top off with a straightening iron. When you're blow-drying your hair to straighten it, like Sazan is, you might not end up with a shape you're happy with just by using a blow-dryer and a brush. In that case, finish the look with a straightening iron. "Section by section, I'm blow-drying and straightening at the same time," Sazan said. "Especially at the roots where it gets kinky. The straightener allows me to lock in a sleek style."

4. To blow-dry your bangs, move your brush in multiple directions. Sazan got bangs not to long ago and ever since then, her followers have been asking her how she styles them. "Bangs are tough to blow-dry," Sazan said. She learned a few tricks from her stylist on how to do it right — and what to never, ever do.

Some basics to keep in mind: Make sure that your bangs are the last section you dry. Use a round brush, preferably a metal one (get one with a bigger barrel if you have thick hair). Set your blow-dryer to high heat.

When it comes to your bangs, do not go up. It will look too harsh or you'll end up with a Selena Quintanilla bang (it looked cooler in the '90s).

Instead, you want to dry your bangs downward, moving from the center and over from left to right. First, section your bangs, pinning back the sections you're not working on. Next, take your brush under your hair and blow it dry as you move your brush down. Pick your hair up with the brush again, switching from left to right as you apply the heat from your blow-dryer. To finish, use a water-based pomade on your ends. Sazan steals her husband's product — he uses the Soft Water Pomade from Baxter ($32).

5. Make sure you give your brush enough tension. A mistake that people often make when drying their own hair is that they don't pull their hair tight enough when they're blowing it out. "Don't be afraid to pull," Sazan said. For curly-haired girls especially, you have to "get real tight at the root, which is what will allow the curls to relax." Areas that need the most tension are around the crown, the sideburns, and the bangs.

6. Flip your hair over and use a texturiser spray for more volume. Turn your head over, and use your fingers or a brush and run it through your hair. Apply a texturiser, and continue brushing out your hair with your fingers for extra oomph.

7. Maintain your blowout by sleeping with your hair up. If you've given yourself a blowout at night and want it to last the next day, sleep with your hair up. Section it off and put the hair into loose twists. Don't use a hair tie — that will leave an indentation. The higher you clip your hair, the bouncier it will be when you wake up.From Cosmo US