Pasta Strainer as a Hair Diffuser: Does It Work?

The era of bizarre beauty hacks using household items has begun. You’ve probably tried the spoon trick for depuffing tired eyes. But have you ever looked at a pasta strainer and thought it would make a nifty hair diffuser? If you believe this is a fu-silly idea, hundreds of TikTok videos of people diffusing their curls with a sieve will tell you otherwise. 

Beauty entrepreneur Gilan Sharafani first introduced the pasta strainer trend in 2017. Six years later, it returned to the internet, blowing minds everywhere. Should you ditch your hair diffuser for the humble pasta strainer? Let’s investigate the pros and cons!

A pasta strainer is a budget-friendly alternative to a hair diffuser attachment. It’s much cheaper than the highly rated P26,000 hair diffuser (you know the one), and it does the job well. The strainer helps shape and holds ringlets of hair while you’re blow-drying it – much like the plopping technique. The result? Volumized curls that stay until the next wash day. No more worrying about flat ringlets!

However, the strainer curls have downsides like all hair care tricks gracing your screen. The obvious drawback is its impracticality. You’re controlling a hairdryer in one hand while the other is holding a sieve. A hair diffuser is easier and faster because it distributes hot air around the curls, not through little holes in a pasta strainer.

Another risk of strainer-drying your hair is heat damage. Most pasta strainers are made from metals that conduct heat. Your hair directly touches the metal surface, which can weaken the hair cuticle – a recipe for dry and frizzy hair. The longer drying time can also prompt you to increase the temperature setting, leading to more heat-induced problems.

Whether you are doing it for content or to create big curls on a budget, learning the proper methods for this hair diffuser hack is essential. Remember the three cons: long drying time, frizzy hair, and heat damage? There are a few extra steps to counter these issues.

First, wash your hair with a deep-cleansing shampoo like Sunsilk Anti-Dandruff Healthy Strong Shampoo. Use conditioner right after to add extra moisture to your hair.

Next, give your curls some much-needed TLC with a hair mask that makes hair less frizzy from heat styling and humidity. TRESemmé Keratin Smooth KERA10 Smoothing Mask is a favorite among curly girls because it contains keratin and sunflower seed oil that deeply penetrate the five layers of hair. Do this once or twice a week to maintain softness and shine.

After drying your hair with a towel, use TRESemmé Keratin Smooth Shine Serum as a heat protectant. Apply it from the mid-shaft to the ends of your hair for frizz-free and bouncy curls.

On to the main event: get your hair dryer and pasta strainer ready. Divide your hair into several sections. Cup one section at a time in the strainer and blow dry it using your hair dryer. Use low-setting heat to avoid burning your hair or hand. Repeat this step until you have dried all sections of hair. As a final touch, scrunch your curls to round up the ringlets.

Any clean sieve or strainer should do the trick. Most people recommend using the mesh strainer to shorten the drying time and give more bounce to the curls. But if you want more gloss on your hair, a colander with fewer holes in it works best. Make sure to use metal ones, as plastic strainers would melt from the heat of your hair dryer. And most importantly, make your inner Gordon Ramsay happy by using a different strainer for cooking.

Those with permed or color-treated hair should think twice before jumping on this strainer-diffuser hack. The chemicals in your hair make it more prone to brittleness and breakage. Also, short-haired gals might find keeping their hair strands inside the strainer difficult. If you’re in one of these categories, staying loyal to your good ole hair diffuser is the better option.

Yes, the pasta strainer is a worthy addition to the I-can’t-believe-this-hack-works list. But the fact is, a hair diffuser is still the most effective tool to dry and shape hair curls. But it never hurts to have an alternative.