I’m so excited to be back with another “accidentally adaptive” post – I’m planning to turn this into a series! If you didn’t see my first post about this puffer cape, the concept is that I’m sharing things that aren’t technically meant to be “adaptive,” but end up being accessible to me. The first one was a jacket, but this time it’s a place, and one of my favorite places at that – Drybar.

I’ll say upfront that this post is not sponsored. It might sound like I’m being paid because of how much gushing I’m about to do, but it’s just because it’s something that I genuinely love.

I feel like Drybar is pretty ubiquitous now, but in case you haven’t heard of it, it’s a blow dry only hair salon – they don’t cut hair, they just style it. But it’s a whole experience – they have rom coms playing (on mute) on TVs throughout, they serve drinks (it is Dry”bar,” after all), and have a menu of standard hairstyles named after drinks to choose from. So it’s hair styling, but it’s also a whole experience – the perfect way to be pampered, and come out with a great blow out that lasts for days.

But for me, it goes beyond pampering. I can’t do my own hair – I don’t have the arm strength for it. I can mostly dry my own hair, but only if I don’t try to style it at the same time. I just point the blow dryer at my hair and turn it on – I can’t use a round brush (or any brush) while I’m drying. So if I want my hair to be straight, I’m fine. For anything else, though, someone else has to help me. And while my mom and I have mostly figured it out, we’re definitely not professionals and she doesn’t always have the 40 minutes that it can take to curl my hair! So knowing that I can make an appointment at Drybar and know that it’s going to come out looking the way that I want it to? It’s great.

And while it’s doable to wash and curl my hair with some help at home, it gets much trickier when I’m traveling. While I always try to book a hotel room with a roll in shower, it’s not always possible, and even when it is, I still don’t have the same setup that I do at home – my shower chair is definitely not travel friendly. So it can be tricky to make sure my hair is washed well – and that I’m comfortable while it happens – when I’m not at home.

Which brings me to my absolute favorite thing about Drybar – the hair wash. First of all, it’s the full salon experience – who doesn’t love getting their hair washed? But the absolute best part is that I don’t have to get out of my wheelchair for all of this to happen! Their hair washing “stations” all have a removable chair so that I can pull my wheelchair right up to the sink, tilt my wheelchair back, and relax. Getting out of my chair is a huge hassle – the chairs at salons never have enough support for me, it’s so hard to get stable and situated, and then I have to repeat the process to get back in my own chair. Honestly… when I’m traveling, after I book a hotel, I check Google Maps for the nearest Drybar. Knowing that there’s one nearby just take away so much stress.

It sounds silly, I know, but there’s a lot of confidence in a great blowout. And since I can’t get that on my own, knowing that Drybar can give it to me, all from the comfort (and really… the support) of my own wheelchair? That’s priceless.