Perfectly polished air-dried hair: pipe dream or reality? With summer (almost) in full swing and the threat of hair icicles (finally) a distant memory, we've been fantasizing about damp hair that dries beautifully. And yet, with humidity at a record high, we have been hesitant to rise to the challenge, instead seeking relief under the heat of our hair-dryers. But hair is hair in the end, and if we can go a month with aquamarine tips, then we can certainly go a day with hair that might end up looking like a pile of wet noodles. When left to its own devices, hair can dry in the most pitiful fashion: scraggly and covered in a halo of frizz. But after playing around with countless mousses, serums, and powders, we've arrived at a magical air-drying method that has left our hair almost as good as it does blow-dried (a slightly tousled look is summertime-appropriate anyway). Here's how:

  1. __Tackle frizz-control at night.__If you're a nighttime showerer, gently towel-dry your hair (no towel turban action; this causes breakage at the roots and leads to those baby hairs we're all not so fond of), until it is slightly past the point of damp. Then work in a dime-size amount of smoothing serum. We like Phyto Phytolisse Ultra Glossing Finishing Serum, which seriously moisturizes and smooths the hair without weighing it down. As a general rule, avoid applying serum at the roots, which will only fuel the whole limp hair look.

  2. Whip your hair back and forth. Whatever you do, don't fall asleep with wet hair, as this only leads to a helmet head full of knots and cowlicks. Do the hokey pokey, turn yourself around, or watch an episode of Game of Thrones until your hair is dry, but don't fall asleep with wet hair (also, who likes a soggy pillowcase? definitely not us!).

  3. __Tackle volume-control in the morning.__Makes perfect sense to tend to this part of the air-drying equation in the morning, and what a relief to find a product that actually provides the same amount of volume as a hair-dryer. Apply a few shakes of Bumble and Bumble Prêt-à-Powder to your roots, then toss hair over while working in the powder. Then thumb your way to a decent middle-part and voilà! But not yet entirely voilà.

  4. Use a finishing sheet to smooth out any residual frizz. Applying extra serum to your hair in the morning or throughout the day (hair rises in proportion to the humidity) seems like the obvious move, but it will only make your hair look more limp and unclean. To remedy the frizz and stave off the grease, we wholly recommend Redken Frizz Dismiss Fly-Away Fix Finishing Sheets. As light as a feather, these sheets tame the frizz without adding another unwelcome layer of product gunk.

Although we walked into the air-drying game assuming it would take a village to make our hair look presentable, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it took only three products and some hair flipping to make things work. Trust us when we say less is definitely more.