Haute Hair-Drying: The Latest Beauty Craze

It's just past the ladies-who-lunch hour at the Pacific Palisades outpost of Drybar—Los Angeles's first high-end blowout-only chain—and manager Melanee Lindahl is surveying the coifferati. Six women have just come in and paid $35 to have a trained professional wet and dry their hair. "That's Tricia," Lindahl says, pointing to an attractive blonde in her mid-30s. "Last month she literally came in every day. Now she's down to about two or three times a week." Then she points to another, also blonde, in her mid-30s, ultra-thin, and attractive in a sort of way. "She's here a couple of times a week as well. Usually right after yoga." According to Lindahl, such devotion isn't unusual: Most of her clients are happy to outsource their blow-drying needs at least a few times per week.

It's a far cry from the old days, when wealthy female Angelenos faced a daunting choice: They could wash, blow-dry, and style their own hair at home—quelle horreur!—or go to a fancy salon like Chris McMillan, where blowouts start at $85. While that may seem like a steep price for a service that basically amounts to having someone blast hot air through your tresses while brushing it, discount operations such as Fantastic Sams didn't quite jibe with the 7-Series crowd. "There was a definite hole in the market here," says Drybar co-founder Alli Webb. "L.A. has a lot of people who are very focused on their appearance, and they care about beauty."