Drybar Founder Alli Webb reveals the common mistake you’re probably making with your blowout

As the founder of Drybar, it’s safe to assume that Alli Webb knows a thing or two (or, ya know, two million) about how to give the perfect blowout. Not only is she basically the fairy godmother of the blow dry world, but she somehow always manages to make her own hair, which is naturally curly, look seamlessly smooth and straight.

As a proud curly girl, I have always been dying-with-a-capital-D to know: How the heck does she do it? Or, okay, how the heck can I do it for myself? “You definitely want to section your hair,” she tells me at T.J. Maxx’s Game of Maxximizing NYC launch on Thursday morning, where I had to guess the value of a collection of items she curated from the store for the chance to win $$$ (ICYWW: I was way over). “I think that’s the biggest mistake that women make is that they rush through their blowout so that they don’t get every section. And then when you’re flat ironing it, you don’t get every single section because you’re working in too big of sections so you don’t get all the hair.”

When it comes to creating these style-saving sections, Webb suggests starting with the pieces closest to your face. “I always tell people to start in the front because it’s the first thing that people see, but also don’t forget the back,” she says. “Get a mirror and look at the back of your hair so you can get the back and make sure it looks good.” She also notes that you should protect strands with Drybar Prep Rally ($23) before blow drying, then finish off the look with Drybar Chaser ($27) for a little extra shine.

While it may seem time consuming to give every single section the attention it deserves, it may actually save you time in the long run—because a good blow out is meant to last. In fact, Webb says that she usually makes her own last three to four days. “With dry shampoo, I think that you just can kind go from one blowout to the next,” she says. “You start with a [straight style] and then you can curl it, and then just kind of go from curls to a [wavy] ‘Mai Thai’, but really it’s dry shampoo,” she says. And one insider secret she swears by? “I tell people to do dry shampoo before they go to bed at night instead of just in the morning when they wake up, because you sweat when you sleep.”

And blow-drying her hair isn’t the only part of Webb’s self-care routine that she likes to luxuriate in, despite the jam-packed schedule that comes with the territory of running a blow-dry empire. “Usually [I take] a bath at night before I go to bed, trying to decompress during the day. I love good bath salts, and I love taking bubble baths,” she says, noting that she loves to shop for affordable bath and beauty products at T.J. Maxx. “I think because I’m a pisces, water relaxes me.”

A bath and a strategically sectioned blowout? Sounds like the perfect self-care cocktail.

Pssst…. You’re probably using dry shampoo wrong. And if you’re thinking of going for a big chop this spring, here’s some of our favorite short hairstyles to help inspire you.