Harry Josh knows a thing or two about hair. The celebrity hairstylist has touched the locks of everyone, ranging from Olivia Wilde and Deepika Padukone to Miranda Kerr and Gisele Bündchen.
But we all don’t have the ability to take a seat in Josh’s chair, and he knows this. So, he did the next best thing: launched a brand of tools with his DNA in them. While you might not be able to see Josh, you can grab his mint-green hairdryer.
“I felt like, at the time, there were so many so-called experts that were creating wet goods — wet goods meaning shampoos, gels, mousse, hairsprays, that kind of thing — and really what I thought was an important part of creating any great hairstyle is you know, the tools are half of the battle,” he says. “It was a blank space in the consumer market where an expert needed to step into the role of creating electrical tools that would help anyone, whether it be a professional or a regular woman at home styling [her] hair.”
And whereas before we used to lust over a salt spray or a shampoo, Josh changed the conversation — making his tools a beauty must-have, just like a Chanel jacket is to fashion.
But it was not just about building a high-end tool, he wanted to build trust with his consumers. “Everything I have created has been from the utmost in craftsmanship, from our dryers being handmade in France, to our electrical tools being engineered in Korea. Unlike most brands, which manufacture in giant places in Asia that can mass-produce anything, we are going after the smaller businesses that have really high quality and craftsmanship to give us a better product and better longevity [for] the product,” he adds. And because of this, Josh says his products last longer.
Josh’s line of hair tools (available at Dermstore) has everything you need to achieve a great look — you just have to know where to start. So, Josh gives us his tips on creating the perfect blowout (and how to maintain it).
Q: What is the best brush to use for your blowout?
There are different brushes for different things. If you are trying to blow dry your hair and you want more of a flat blow dry, meaning you don’t want a bouncy, round-brush blow dry, but … really just want it to be stick straight kind of à la Gwyneth, then the Premium Oval brush is the brush for you. It can pull the hair straight, make it smooth, detangle it, and give you a smooth, straight finish. Now, if you are looking for something like a sexy, bouncy blow dry more kind of à la Victoria’s Secret/Bardot, then the smallest round brush that we have in our collection is the best brush for you.
Q: Why is that?
The smaller the round brush, the better you’re going to have for movement in your hair. So, if [you use] … a giant round brush, you’ll never get movement, you’re just going to have stick-straight hair. If you use a tiny round brush, it will actually hold the shape of the round brush and give your hair a little flick and waves when you pull the brush out of your section.
Q: OK, now that you have the blowout, what are your tips for maintaining it?
The key is to apply the product in the right spots. An alcohol volumizer will keep the roots nice and dry, so they don’t get oily on you. And a nice serum will keep the ends hydrated so it doesn’t get dry on you as the days go on. When you have a good blowout, and you want it to last the next day, a little dry shampoo just blasted at the roots will give you another full day of longevity. [Josh says the correct way to apply dry shampoo is to run a hairdryer over your hair once it is applied]. And on that third day, when it’s starting to get a little greasy, it’s a great day to scrape it up into a high pony or a bun and cover the hairline with a headband for a nice, cute look.
Q: What is a common mistake we make when drying our hair?
We’re not taking sections and organizing them — the organization is the key. People just want to rush through the blow dry. So they just grab huge chunks of hair, and they try to do it as quickly as possible because they want to get out of the bathroom, and then it never looks that great. But when it comes to a blow dry that really lasts the test of time — meaning two days, three days — if it’s taken with the organization and clean sections, and really aiming the heat on the section of hair that you’re pulling, it’s really going to make a huge difference with the outcome of how long that look can actually last.
Q: What tools are a must-have?
It’s hard to say because if you’re a wavy-hair girl, and you want to define your waves, you have got to have a curling wand. And if you’re someone who wants to have a really polished, sleek, super-straight bob like Irina Shayk at the Oscars, you need to have a flat iron. But the quintessential basis of all of the looks is a dryer and a brush. You can’t start either one of those tools without using the dryer and the brush first.
Q: It also doesn’t hurt to have healthy hair. What is the key to maintaining hair health?
Haircare in the shower. A lot of people are skipping that and not using great shampoos and conditioners thinking, ‘I’m just going to use the products afterwards’ — defrizzing serums, blowout serums, all that kind of stuff. But how you wash and condition your hair is an integral part of the end result of the long haul of your hair as it grows around your head. So definitely, good shampoos and conditioners, maintenance with trims, and of course, maintenance with hair masks once a week [Josh prefers some of the Aveda hair masks].
