I love having perfectly styled hair. You know what I don't love? Washing my hair, drying my hair, curling my hair - the time it takes to achieve said look. As someone who has heard "Wow, you have a TON of hair" too many times from different stylists, I'm just not willing to commit that much time to getting ready. Lately I've resorted to the air-dry, no-heat, no-products approach and I have to say that my hair has been super healthy and shiny since. But there are times when I miss having my curls too. Enter Drybar, a salon dedicated strictly to blowouts and styling, and basically the answer to my hair conundrum.
I recently had the opportunity to check out Drybar's newest location, just opened in Louisville a couple weeks ago. From start to finish, the whole experience was what a trip to the salon should be (at least for me), relaxing and fun! Sure, there might have been 10 blow dryers going at once, but you wouldn't know it. The setup was a large open room with a u-shaped bar - get it, Drybar. Oh and the names of their products and services tie back to the bar theme too. A+ for marketing. Anyway, once I was seated I met with my stylist to pick my style from the menu. I opted for the Cosmo-Tai, a mix of the structured curls of the Cosmo and looser curls of the Mai-Tai. She asked me a few questions about my hair type and texture so that she would best know how to work with it, which I thought was great since everybody's hair is so different.
From there we want back to a separate room where she washed and conditioned my hair and wrapped it up in a fancy knot to keep the back of my shirt from getting wet. Seriously, I need to learn that trick! My only critique was that she was very gentle when washing my hair and it almost felt like my hair wasn't washed that well, because thick hair problems. I'm so used to the full-on scalp massage I get at my regular salon that it was a bummer not to have that here. I will say, the chair and sink setup at Drybar is SO much more enjoyable than a normal salon. The sinks are elevated higher than the chair so you are reclined at a comfortable angle that doesn't require lifting your head so they can shampoo and rinse your hair underneath. If you have long, thick hair like me you probably know what I'm talking about.
After getting shampooed, we went back to the bar and she did my blowout and styling. My stylist was so sweet and friendly, we chatted most of the time and even found out that we went to the same high school because obviously Louisville is the biggest small town. Like I've already said three times, I have very long and thick hair so my blowout clocked in around an hour whereas my friend Chelcey was finished in about 40ish minutes. But that's the great thing about it, we were treated the same even though we have two totally different hair types and lengths. I didn't feel like she rushed through my appointment to get me out the door. She took her time to make sure every piece of hair was curled perfectly. That being said, I wasn't too crazy about how my bangs were styled. Bangs are such a personal thing so I know next time to make sure I communicate clearly how I like them to wear them so that it will be perfect! If you have any quirks or preferences when it comes to styling your hair, just be sure to tell your stylist up front when select your style from the menu.
Overall I truly enjoyed my Drybar experience and getting pampered for an hour on a Friday afternoon. I'm contemplating never washing my hair myself again (kidding, maybe). If you have an event to attend, a date night, or just want to treat yourself, you should definitely pop in and get a blowout! If you're not in Louisville, Drybar has locations all across the country with more opening soon. I know how excited I was when I saw that Louisville was added to the "Coming Soon" list, so keep checking for your city and it may be there before you know it!
Drybar offered me this free blowout. As always, I only share things that I truly love on my blog and all opinions are my own.
