Layers and Layers

Do you remember the way in which your stylist straightened and styled your hair and the products that he or she used?  It sounds like you need to remember that in order to recreate the same look with your hair.

I would suggest the following.  If your hair "puffs up", you could try using Paul Mitchell's "Skinny" range of shampoo and conditioner, which is designed specifically to prevent puffing.  (John Frieda's Frizz Ease works in a similar way and Garnier's Sleek and Shine is a cheaper version along the same lines).

Ensure that you have washed out all of the product from your hair by doing an extra rinse at the end in cool water.

Pat the excess water very gently from your soaking wet hair with a soft towel, then apply a serum like John Frieda's Frizz-Ease.

Allow your hair to air-dry until it's 90-95% dry, then use a hairdryer to do the very last bit.  Ensure that your hair is absolutely BONE DRY before straightening.

Apply a heat-protective product (like GHD, TreSemme or the L'Oréal one as advertised by Beyoncé) to your dry hair, then straighten it.  Make sure you use the irons on small sections of hair to get the best effect.  You could also try cleaning the plates of your straighteners (rub over them with a damp sponge - when they are stone cold and not plugged into the mains - be careful!) as dirty plates will not give such a good effect.

Finally finish up with a product like the John Frieda finishing hairspray that contains a tiny bit of serum.  Apply it VERY lightly (such products can make hair look greasy when over-applied), misting it over the hair below your ears (i.e. not to the scalp).  This will provide a light protective barrier over your hair to keep out the moisture that causes frizzing and puffiness.

Lastly, try to stay away from overly air-conditioned or centrally heated places as these will also cause your hair to puff up.  If you go somewhere really sweaty like a nightclub, it's probably best to do your hair "up" in a chignon etc. type style.

Also when you're out, if you notice your hair puffing, you can smooth it down with a tiny bit of HAND CREAM.  Seriously.  Any kind of hand cream will do.  Just rub a tiny bit between your fingertips or across your palms and smooth it across the surface of the hair.  It has some magic ingredient that calms frizz and puffing.

Good luck, hope it works out well.

p.s. Your stylist may well have used the irons to put "shape" into your layers, e.g. flicking them out slightly at the ends or pulling them out into an upside down tulip shape to emphasise them, you could experiment with doing this sometime too and see how you like it.