The fake blowout, or ‘faux-out’ is here to give you all the oomph without the agg

Beautiful, blown-out hair is back and (literally) bigger than ever. There’s just one small problem: you have to know your way around a round brush. But the fake blowout or ‘faux-out’ is quickly gaining momentum on TikTok, offering an easier way to replicate the hairstyle if your skill set isn’t up to the task, or you simply don’t have the time.

So far #fakeblowout has picked up over 10 million views on TikTok with users looking for a shortcut to the XXL oomph that a big, bouncy blowout provides. The idea is that you can swap in your straightening iron or curling wand to create the flicky movement where you need it (around the face, ends and layers) without spending half an hour weight-lifting your blowdryer.

“If my life depended on it, I would not be able to give myself a blowout,” one user called @lani.baker admitted. “The hairdryer in one hand, the roller brush thing in the other? It’s just never going to happen for me,” she added. Yep, we can relate. “But because of that I figured out a really great hair hack, and to me it looks exactly like a salon blowout so I’m going to show you how to do it,” she said. 

Lani’s just one of hundreds of helpful beauty junkies offering up an easier way to achieve the ‘90s blowout look that’s headlining beauty trends right now. “I should forewarn you though, if your hair doesn’t have layers, it might not have quite the same effect,” she added.

Here’s how she creates a blow-out without going near a hairdryer.

“Take a small chunk [of hair] and a hot flat iron, you just flat iron the entire piece of hair like you normally would. The only difference is once you get to the end, you’re going to slowly bend it under…Then I always grab it and [twirl it], then toss it back and repeat. When it comes to the front [face-framing sections], I find it best to split the sections horizontally rather than vertically,” she demonstrates. “Also when I get to the layers closer to the top of my head, I kind of lift up my straightener [bending the hair at the root] just to add some volume,” she says. The most important step? Fluffing. “How this hairstyle really shines is when you give it a shake up,” she says.

But she’s not the only creator offering us a speedy alternative to blow-drying, we’ve seen dozens of different hacks for achieving the look of a blow-out in less time, so you should find one that matches your tools, time-frame and ability-level below…

The face flick hack

Another user @kakimovakamilaa used a similar technique, only when it came to her face-framing sections, she flicked the ends away from her face, rather than under and towards her face.

The curling wand hack

Content creator @cynthisdhimdis used a large curling barrel and rollers to add serious oomph and volume to her hair.

The straightener and rollers hack

User @tessa.ladwig used the method we’ve seen before, using her straighteners to flick her ends under, though she followed up by wrapping them round rollers to set each section for longer. As for her fringe, she flicked the ends back, away from her face.