Ellie asks:
I usually don’t have the patience to blow dry my hair completely. But my hair dresser told me it is better to dry the hair roots completely than half blow drying the hair and then let it dry by itself. Is it true?
The Right Brain responds:
We think this idea is kind of silly but we’ll avoid the temptation to just tell you to get a new hair dresser and instead we’ll try to present both sides of the story.
Technically Speaking…
It’s more damaging to blow dry or towel dry your hair than it is to let it air dry. It’s as simple as that. That’s because heat from blow dryers can mess with the natural lipid distribution in your hair AND degrade the intercellular cement that holds the hair’s protective cuticle in place. And the physical abrasion from towel drying not only loosens healthy cuticles but can actually wear them away! So if you dry your hair a lot you’ll end up with less shine and more split ends.
Stylistically Speaking…
We assume a hair dresser would argue that blow drying keeps your hair sleek and smooth and that air drying makes it frizzy. But we don’t want to make the wrong assumption. Are there any hairdressers out there reading this? Post a comment with your opinion on this notion of partially drying hair.
So, Ellie, it looks like the answer to your drying dilemma could come down to what’s more important to you: avoiding damage or fighting frizz? Only you can decide that. (But, hey, if you’re THAT worried about frizz you can always use a good smoothing product after you dry your hair. You can buy an entire CASE (!) of this effective frizz fighter for only 20 bucks!