Black Girl In A Blow Bar World

As many of you guys know, I am team natural (no Chemicals, Relaxers or bleach in my hair) and have been so for over the last two years. While the benefits of being au natural are too many to list, I often cringe at the thought of wearing my hair in its natural state. Many of my naturals love the idea of wearing their hair in the kinky coils and curls God gave them and at times I feel bad for not wanting to go all mother “wash ‘n go” with the rest of the team.

Because I do love a good blowout and press, I know all that heat on your hair can lead to heat damage and even worse breakage. In my search for healthy alternatives to the normal process of blow-drying your hair then following the blowout with a flat iron, I stumbled upon blow bars. Now I know what many black women are thinking… “Aren’t Blow Bars for white women”?  To answer that question… Absolutely not! Blow bars are for ALL women, In fact, I was so impressed with the care and treatment of my hair that I decided to share my experience with all of you lovely ladies.

When making my choice in what blow bars to try out I called a few to ask 3 questions. First question being “Do you guys have anyone there that is familiar with African America hair types”? This question is important for obvious reasons. While researching different blow bars I did find salons that in fact did not have a person that could do black hair. After me informing them on how they were behind the times, usually the reception and I would share a laugh and they would promise to get someone in that could cater to a black clientele as well…Fair enough. Once I found someone who was well versed in my type of hair. The second question was all about the price. I wanted to make sure that going to a blow bar was comparable to my wash and style I would typically do. The price of $35 and an extra $15 if you have extensions, was right up my alley. I would typically pay $65 for my usual. This was great! My last question was always about the products being used and if I could bring in my own. Because I was in San Diego going to a Blow bar, needles to say I didn’t have a list of recommendations from friends. Honestly, I know some probably thought I was crazy but they were classy enough to not let me know how insane they thought I was. HAHA. I was very satisfied with the products they used so I booked for that day.

Once inside “BlowPop Dry Bar” located inside the Horton Plaza and the Westfield UTC Mall I immediately felt comfortable. The decor was vey cutesy. I loved it. Shorty After my stylist Frankie greeted me with a glass of wine and escorted me to his station in the back. Once Frankie got down to business, I could feel he was very confident. I really appreciated him talking me through all of his steps. I also noticed he used a great heat protectant on my hair and was sure to not use the highest temperature for blowing my hair. Using a big 1 1/2 inch round brush, Frankie blowed each section giving my hair a healthy bounce. At the end of the style he also used a flat iron just to go over a few fly away hairs from the blow out.

Just leaving the salon. I love the shine and the fact that I still have texture. It wasn't bone straight and I loved that.

The whole process start to finish was a little over an hour. In the end I was super impressed. I recommend that women of color try a blow bar every now and again. I most certainly will not be going every week because of the repeated use of heat, but I will be going on occasion. Thanks Frankie!!!

At Nobu with one of my dolls.