23 Jul A Better Blow Dry at the Speed of Light!
As a person with long and, I’m told, “dense” hair, I typically wash my hair at night. My hair takes forever to dry, even with a blow dryer – that is, until I discovered something called a blow dry accelerator. Imagine being able to shower in the morning (even on hair washing days) without having to wake up an hour or so earlier than usual. Enter: Speed of Light from Aveda. This hair prepping product changed my wash nights into wash days, which has made my day-one hair even fresher than I would have ever thought possible.
Blow dry accelerators, as the name implies, speed up the time it takes to dry your hair. This may be obvious to stylists and cosmetology students, but for anyone else who may be wondering: blow dry accelerators only work if you are blow drying your hair. They will not help your hair dry faster by towel or air drying alone. Speed of Light works by sealing the hair cuticles, which allows the hair fibers to separate more smoothly, making it easier for air flow from your blow dryer to reach the fibers of your hair. Think about it this way: if you have a bushel of wet laundry, it will dry faster if you separate each article to hang on a line than if you leave it all balled up together in a pile.
That explains how it works, but how well does it work? With a regular, non-blow-dry-accelerator prep product, it usually takes me around 40 minutes – give or take – to dry my hair. That’s a long time, so I usually wouldn’t bother with blow drying, and instead, I’d opt for shampooing at night to let it air dry. With Speed of Light, on the other hand, it usually takes me around 20 minutes – give or take – to dry my hair. Because Speed of Light cut my blow dry time in half, it gave me time to actually make blow drying drying worth my while; 20 minutes is a lot more manageable than 40 minutes, and waking up at 5:30AM is a lot less daunting than waking up 5:00AM. (I’m rounding here, but you get the idea.)
The key to Speed of Light is its low pH formula – this is what helps to smooth and seal the hair cuticles to allow for more thorough, efficient blow drying. In addition to reducing drying time, this multi-benefit hair prep product helps to detangle, moisturize and protect against thermal damage and breakage from blow drying. It’s designed to leave your hair smooth and static-free, primed for styling. Speed of Light is 90% naturally derived (from plants, non-petroleum minerals or water) and features a zesty herbal aroma from certified organic mandarin, star anise, ylang ylang and grapefruit.
For a blow dry that’s as fast as the speed of light, start by towel drying freshly washed hair. Next, section into quadrants and mist Speed of Light until hair is saturated. Then, comb through hair and blow dry. Voila! Your hair should be dry in no time and ready for you to style.
Truth be told, I still sometimes wash my hair at night. But unlike before, I now use Speed of Light to blow dry it before going to bed – something I wouldn’t have considered with a 40-minute time commitment – this helps prevent damage caused from sleeping with damp hair, and it leaves my pillow smelling marvelous. Morning or night, Speed of Light smooths my hair and gives me more time in the day to do whatever else – probably sleep.
Pick up a bottle after your next service, and if hair is really your thing, contact our admissions team to schedule a virtual tour to learn more about our cosmetology program.
