Confession: In seventh grade, I made my mom use a literal clothing iron to straighten my hair every morning. Quick? Yes. Safe? Probably not. But you’ve got to understand something: I *really* love pin-straight hair.
Years of dedication to achieving perfectly sleek strands eventually led me to the glass hair phenomenon, which made me finally feel seen. And I thought I had it down to a science: Apply Color Wow Dream Coat Supernatural Spray, blow-dry with a round brush, flat iron with my ghd Platinum+ Styler and finish with Moroccanoil Treatment on the ends. But I never really could get those tiny baby hairs around my hairline and ears to be pin straight, and I couldn’t bear to put the flat iron that close to my skin.
Flash forward to my recent visit to Pierre Michel Salon in New York City for a blissful 45-minute head massage (my version of treat yourself). Afterward, my scalp facialist Yoshie began blow-drying my hair and brushing it with something that looked like a straightener. She told me it’s one of Japan’s most beloved tools for its ability to grab the hairs closest to the scalp for a quick, voluminous and impossibly sleek blowout.
You use it kind of like a flat iron, clamping hair between two plates, but instead of hot metal, it has soft bristles. Yoshie warned me not to buy a twin brush made with any metal, because it will heat up the hair too much and cause damage. The gentle tugging motion of the brush helped to tame my baby frizz, smooth out my edges and even add a bit of lift at the crown.
