Hair on my mind

For my entire post-adolescent life, I have had a love/hate relationship with my hair. In the early 90s, it was never straight enough to necessitate a perm, but never curly enough for me to not want one anyway. In the late 90s, it wasn't big enough to be "Carrie Bradshaw big" and it was too prone to frizzing (especially in the humid climate of Pittsburgh) for it to behave when I straightened it with blow dryers and round brushes (remember, this was an era before the ubiquity of the flat iron). At the turn of the millennium, I began experimenting with short, blunt styles, boxed hair dyes, and many-a-self-inflicted-bang-trims-gone-bad. Within the last few years I decided to grow it long again (in elementary school one of my idols was Crystal Gail and I kept the longest hair I could grow in little kid homage to her).

While my 20s were about experimentation and forging a sense of independence, my early 30s have been mostly about acceptance. I accept that my nose has a large bump that I don't have to hide behind in hipster glasses (although there are plenty of days when I do so anyway). I accept that my thighs have always touched (the source of my dreaded summer chub rub... thank goodness for cotton bike shorts). I accept that my skin still breaks out, just as lines around my eyes and mouth begin to deepen. And I accept that my hair will never be like Lauren Conrad's or Kelly Kapowski's or Jennifer Aniston's. It has always been too thick and unruly for me to emulate Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and the legions of women she inspired.

So now I just go with it. I use curl-friendly shampoos, try to wash only a few times a week, and condition excessively. I keep a diffuser attachment on hand and hot rollers for those days when the mane must be appropriately tamed. Though it never looks as great as it does after a day at the beach, accepting its moderate chaos has been liberating.

When a representative from Misikko.com contacted me, asking if I would review their top hair dryer, I was flattered and eager. They sent me a product from their HANA line (the HANA Air Hair Dryer) and it arrived swiftly. I used it the first day I was back from Maine. The package came with all sorts of goodies!

My hair typically takes forever to blow-dry. Because I am lazy I often leave it to air dry (especially in the heat of summer). But air drying is never ideal for my heavy thick hair. If I air dry, the roots dry last and I'm left without height or body (but plenty of flyaways). When I do use a hair dryer, to save myself from the boredom, I usually towel dry, then hit the roots with a medium heat for five minutes, and let the natural air do the rest.

The HANA is the most powerful and efficient hair dryer I've ever used. I was thrilled with how quickly it worked. Even on a very hot day, I could handle being underneath it on the medium heat setting. And afterwards I was pleased with how voluminous and shiny my hair looked. Because I had also used a new shampoo that day, I decided to give it a few more times, so that I could pinpoint the source of this really good hair. And indeed it was the hair dryer. Some general thoughts: The extra long cord is so great. It really allowed me to maneuver the dryer more easily since it is far longer than my previous dryer's cord. It is a little heavier than your average hair dryer but not so heavy that it starts to wear on you during use. There is a convenient button that offers a cool burst of air if you are using a higher heat setting and need a break. It looks super sleek and comes with an attachment shown below.

Thank you, Brian at Missiko for sending one my way. If any readers are in the market for a hair dryer or flat iron, the coupon code HANA10 will take $10 off any Hana purchase from Misikko.