Sectioning Clips for a Blowout: A Map You Can Follow

Before you turn on the dryer, the real work happens with clips. Learning how to section hair for a blowout gives you a map to follow, so each pass of the brush lands on dry, untouched hair instead of hair you have already styled. A handful of clips placed along the right lines, plus a clear order for taking them out again, turns a full head of hair into a series of small, manageable pieces you work through one at a time.

Why a Clip Map Makes a Blowout Easier

Working on a loose, undivided head of hair means the brush keeps catching strands you already dried, and hair you meant to save for later keeps falling forward into your hands. Dividing the hair first and pinning each piece out of the way solves both problems at once. You always know which section comes next, and the hair still waiting its turn stays untouched and tangle-free until you reach it.

How to Section Hair for a Blowout: The Basic Four-Part Map

A simple four-part map is enough for most hair lengths and thicknesses. Comb the hair smooth first, then part it in this order:

1. Part from ear to ear, running over the highest point of the crown, to separate the top section from the back.
2. Part the back section straight down the center, from the crown line to the nape, splitting it into a left half and a right half.
3. On the remaining top section, part from the crown point down to each ear, giving you a left-front piece and a right-front piece.
4. Clip each of the four resulting sections on its own, gathering it close to the scalp so the pinned hair lies flat instead of pulling at the roots.

For hair that is thick or very long, split each back half again with a horizontal part at ear level, giving six sections instead of four. The extra division keeps any one clipped section from being too heavy to sit flat.

Where to Place Each Clip So It Holds Without Pulling

Flat clips work best directly on the part line: open the clip, lay it against the scalp with the teeth following the part, and close it so the hair sits flat rather than bunched. For the two larger back sections, a wider jaw clip can gather the hair loosely at the crown; twist the section gently before clipping so it holds its shape without cinching tight at the root. Keep clips a finger-width back from the hairline so they are easy to release cleanly later without tugging on the front pieces.

The Release Order: Working From the Nape Up

Once the sections are clipped, release them in a deliberate order rather than reaching for whichever clip is closest. Start with the lowest section at the nape, since it is the smallest and easiest to finish cleanly, and finishing it first means the rest of the hair is still pinned safely out of the way. Move on to the two side sections next, working one at a time and re-clipping the far side while you dry the near one. Save the top, front section for last, since it sits over everything else and benefits from being styled once the layers underneath already hold their shape.

Within each section, unclip only the piece you are about to work on. Everything else should stay pinned until its turn, even the hair you already finished, if you need to keep it from falling back across a section still in progress.

Keeping the Map Intact While You Work

Clips can slip as you move around the head, so check them every few sections and re-seat any that have loosened. A rat-tail or pin-tail comb makes it easy to keep the part lines crisp if a stray strand drifts across a boundary. If a few flyaways escape a clipped section, tuck them back under the clip rather than leaving them loose, since a stray strand from a "finished" section is what most often ends up re-tangled in the brush later. Working through the map in the same order every time also makes the whole routine faster, since you stop having to decide what comes next.

Once the sectioning map feels automatic, it pairs naturally with the brush technique in our guide to the round-brush blowout, worked section by section with the Lucine InfraSonic Hairdryer.

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