Hola amiga,

You hair only needs to be long enough to wrap around a roller at least 2 times. So, if your hair is very long, a small roller will wrap around several times, making it difficult for your hair to dry. If your hair is medium or shorter, you need a smaller roller, that allows you to get two full wrap-arounds.

I don’t do a Dominican blowout on my hair more than every other week (sometimes less) and my hair IS healthy. However, that is not to say that you cannot and should not do a Dominican blowout. In fact, I had a good friend from college who grew her damaged, brittle dry hair out, simply by letting me do rolos on her hair. I didn’t blow her hair out every week (she ran cross-country and blowing it out seemed to be a waste).

What also made the difference was the quality of products she was using. She and I used to argue and I do mean ARGUE over the fact that I insisted that my $20 and $30 jars of humecto, and UNA, and Sebastians was of a higher quality than her $.99 Suave. I learned to buy less expensive clothes, rather than sacrifice the quality of my health or my hair (yeah, yeah…I know it sounds vain, but I am not lying).

So, now that I’ve written you a thesis…I have to ask the nature of your damage and ask you what products you are using, or what routine you follow to prevent further damage?

The bottom line is, yes, you can do a blowout, but you really need to keep in mind that you may experience shedding, breakage and thinning due to current damage, not to blowing out your hair. Make sense?

Let me know what’s going on with your hair.

LaNegra

Anyway, there are few different ways to do a doobie, including the Cuban, which is when you section off a square of hair at the crown and roll the hair on a roller. This gives the hair a lot of lift; this doobie is good for those of you who are looking to give thinner hair a little volume.

If you have a lot of hair, like I do, then a regular doobie is in order.

Just like doing a roller set, it’s about practice. So, let’s get started.

1. You need to part your hair from crown down to the nape of the neck. You can part from crown to front, but I’m not always sure which direction I want my part to go, so I usually start in the back.

2. Since my part is from crown to back, I comb the left half of my hair forward, smoothing as I go.

3. I place the first bobby-pin in the back, at the nape, then place one at the crown.

4. Comb, or brush the hair clock-wise as you work, adding a bobby-pin along the way about 2 or 3 inches from previous pin.

Notice that it just keeps on moving around the head. You put pins around the hairline and in the crown. If you have enough length, you can have larger gaps between pins. If you have a shorter cut, then you may need to use more pins, to ensure that your hair is not slipping down before you get the entire head wrapped.

When you get all the way around to your first pin, if you still have hair that needs to be wrapped, just pull the pins out, brush/comb the hair around a little and replace the pin. Do this as necessary, until all of your hair is completely up and secure.

Ya! That’s it! We’re done.

• Magnetic rollers – like the ones they use in a dominican salon. They come in different sizes. It’s important to use the appropriate size for your hair length. If your rollers are too big, your hair will come out limp and lifeless. If you use small rollers, the effects can be pretty cool, but your drying time increases.
• A hair dryer. My personal favorite is the Pibbs Kwik Dry 514. This dryer should come with a warning because it gets HOT! But you can adjust the temperature, so turning down the heat, without decreasing the airflow is an awesome option.
• A round brush. There are a couple of types that I use. I use a boar’s hair brush when I’m just blwong out my roots and if I am short on time and my hair isn’t completely dry at the ends I use a round brush with a metal barrel, because it acts like a hot curler and distributes heat as I blow my hair.
• Lots of butterfly clamps – I like to section my hair and use the clamps to pull the hair out of the way as I work.
• A blow dryer with a nozzle at the end. The concentration nozzle helps to direct the heat as you work to get the curls and kinks out. The quality of your blow dryer makes the difference between a blowout and a “dominican” blowout.

Ok, let’s get started.

1. We are going to start with freshly washed hair that has been roller set and dried.Your hair needs to be dry from roots to ends. The slightest bit of dampness can cause you to frizz and prevents you from getting that sleek look you want. So, before you rush to pull out all of your rollers, test your hair by taking out a roller from the longest part of your hair.If your hair doesn’t bounce back or snap into a curl, it’s probably still damp. If you pull the roller out and the hair is cold, your hair is still damp.
2. I part my hair in half from ear to ear. Then I split the front section into three: left-side, top-mohawk, and right-side.
3. I start at the back of my head, like they do at the salon. I’ve tried it from top to bottom and it’s just easier for me to work that way. With the sections all ready to go, I start with a section at the nape of my neck with a very small, thin section.
4. Using my boar’s hair brush, I hold the hair closest to my scalp and pass the blow dryer over that section of hair. I use the brush to HOLD the hair, not PULL the hair. You really don’t need any tension where the brush is, even if you are due for a touch up. It’s all a matter of learning how to hold the brush and how to use the blower.
5. After the first section is done, I make another thin section and do the same thing. I hold the hair with the brush and use the blower to straighten the hair. It’s important to pass the blower down the shaft of the hair. You should not pass the blower from the ends up towards your scalp.
6. When you are done with the back section. Take the butterfly clip out on either the left or right side of your front and work in the same manner, bottom to top. You start with a small section close to your ear, clipping the rest of your hair and work your way up to the crown of your head. When you are done with that side, repeat steps for the last side. Remember, the airflow from the blow dryer should be going down the shaft.
7. I don’t need a mirror to do my blowouts, because I’ve been doing them for so long, but you can see what my hair looks like before (right side) and after (left side) it’s been blown out. The blown out side is not only straight, but it shines baby, shines!
8. When you’re done you should have a lot of swiiiiiing!
   Your hair should be bouncy shiny and full of volume. At this point you can add a little sheen or a very light finishing oil. I am not a fan of grease. In fact the only grease, grease-like substance I ever use is when I’m basing my scalp and even that grease is designed for basing. Grease weighs down the hair and it is notorious for attracting dirt.
9. Now, you can decide if you want it straight, or if you want a little curl. If you want it straight without flips or anything, then you can do a doobie.
10. This is what it looks like when you take your doobie down the next day. Nice, sleek and straaaaaaight.

So, when I started doing my own wet sets, putting in my own rollers, when I went away to school , all of the girls would ask the same question, “Why don’t you just blow dry your hair? It would be a heck of a lot faster!”

I thought about this. Let it marinate for a while. Then I tried it. I started blow drying my hair.

WHY DID I LISTEN TO A BUNCH OF CHICKS WITH STIR FRIED HAIR?!

I could see a difference in my hair in a matter of a few weeks. My hair was dry, brittle and breaking at the ends. My hair turned into a box of Kellog’s cereal, “Snap, Crackle & Pop!”

Al fin, at last, I ended up chopping off 4 inches of hair to get damaged ends off and to make my life easier. At this point, I had not done my own roller sets, but I knew that I couldn’t continue blowing my hair directly. That was just asking for trouble.