How2Day: Professional Hair Tools

Stylists need professional shears to achieve a polished haircut. Michael Hitoshi/Digital Vision/Getty Images
Professional tools are necessary to pull off salon-perfect haircuts and styles. Cuts like the asymmetrical bob and shag need to be attacked with the right pair of shears. Even styling that seem effortless, such as the blown out and tousled looks, require the use of professional dryers, irons and brushes. Typically, stylists keep abreast of new technology and invest in an arsenal of professional hair tools---from high-powered hair dryers to top-of-the-line boar bristle brushes.

To achieve a salon quality blowout, a professional hair dryer is necessary. The most desired dryers on the market use ionic, ceramic or tourmaline technologies alone or in combination. Ceramic technology is sought after because it helps to distribute heat evenly. However, it needs to be combined with ionic technology to help keep hair smooth. Ionic hair dryers emit negative ions to combat the positive ions that leave hair dry and frizzy---thus producing smoother, shinier dry hair. If a stylist prefers lightning speed when drying hair, he can opt for a tourmaline-infused dryer. This cutting-edge dryer uses tourmaline, a semi-precious stone, to produce infrared heating technology that dries hair quicker.

Curling and flat irons are important to set, curl or straighten hair. These professional tools are available in both ionic and ceramic technology to ensure that the irons heat evenly and help smooth the hair while styling. Professional curling irons are used to produce glamorous looks, from 40s inspired waves to structured spiral curls. Electronic curling devices can be as small as 3/4 of an inch, for tighter curls, to a whopping 2 inches, which helps to create big, bountiful waves. In contrast, a professional flat iron is used to make bobs and shag haircuts more sleek and chic, making the frizziest of hair pin-straight. Flat irons also come in a variety of sizes: 1/2-inch irons are better for shorter hair styles, while 2-inch ones works best on longer, thicker hair.

Using the right combs and brushes can make all the difference with perfecting styling techniques. Combs are a rudimentary but vital tool for untangling and parting the hair. The two most commonly used combs are rat tail and wide-tooth combs made out of horn or other natural materials. The rat tail comb has tightly packed teeth and a long pointy end that is used for sectioning the hair. For thicker, curlier hair, a stylist might use a wide-tooth comb to help untangle the hair before sectioning.

Many types of brushes are available, but the ones predominantly used by hairdressers are round, sculpting brushes and paddle brushes made of boar bristles. The blowout hair drying and styling technique uses a round brush to add volume and body to the hair. When a hairdresser wants to add even more volume to dried tresses, she can use a sculpting brush to back-comb or tease the hair at its root. The paddle brush is used as a finishing touch, as it helps to smooth out the hair.

A good set of shears creates professional cuts, as dull or inferior scissors can result in botched lines or split ends. Hairstylists and barbers tend to have more than one pair of scissors in their repertoire, but the most common are cutting and thinning shears. Cutting shears use a convex (sharp) blade to make initial sharp lines in a haircut. Once the foundation of the cut is set, a hairdresser can use the thinning shears, which have a beveled (serrated) blade, to add layers or remove volume from the hairstyle. Scissor blades also come in short and long: the shorter 5 1/2-inch blade is used to trim and shape the hair up, while longer 7 1/2-inch blades are used for comb-over techniques when cutting longer, thicker hair.

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