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Apr 19, 2023

Experts Discuss TikTok's Latest Hack: Using a Strainer to Diffuse Hair

TikTok's latest trend will give you some food for thought. In recent days,

TikTok's latest trend will give you some food for thought.

In recent days, beauty devotees have been blow-drying their hair with fine-mesh strainers to achieve voluminous results. The viral hack is meant to mimic diffusers, a styling tool that attaches to a blow-dryer's nozzle that's designed to maintain your hair's natural wave pattern and control frizz.

And while the strainer method isn't technically new, as bloggers tried their hand at it in 2017, it picked up steam after TikToker @foxcraftcustom showcased her transformation in a Jan. 17 video that has amassed more than 17 million views.

But before you follow the trend, we called in the experts to ask whether or not they're hair for it.

"My advice would be to let a pasta strainer be a pasta strainer," Rizos Curls founder Julissa Prado exclusively told E! News. "While it's incredibly creative to repurpose items in our home for other uses, something designed to strain pasta may not give all hair textures the most ideal outcome."

Noting that it's more difficult to dry your roots with a stainer covering them, Julissa added, "If the heat is too high, you're at risk of burning your hair or your hand, which is why hair diffusers aren't made of metal."

In addition to potentially hurting yourself, hairstylist Sophie Rose explained that strainers can also damage your hair.

"Most are using metal strainers that are designed to take on heat from boiling hot water but not heat from a blow dryer," she said. "If your hair is fine and fragile, it's almost worse than using a flat iron because the type of metal isn't designed to be used on hair."

The All About Curls ambassador emphasized that some fads aren't worth the hype.

"Just because someone creates a TikTok doesn't mean it's healthy or good for your hair," she said. "A lot of people do things with the intention of trending or going viral, and neither of those things equal amazing hair."

As she put it, "Think for yourself and do your research."

What it, uh, boils down to is that diffusers are the most effective tool if you want voluminous curls, with Julissa pointing, they're "designed to protect the health and integrity of the hair by using the right material to spread the air out needed for textured hair."

If you're looking for options, yes, of course, we asked: Julissa recommends the Rizos Curls Collapsible Diffuser, while Sophie is a fan of T3's AireLuxe Professional Dryer, SoftTouch3 Diffuser and FIT Diffuser.

Though, to be clear, none of these tools will pasta the test in the kitchen.