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Drying Dilemma: What’s The Best Way To Dry Your Hair?
  • anonymousblondeanonymousblonde
    From the main site 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?


    Well from what I've heard there are a couple issues when drying your hair.

    Not completely drying your hair (air dry or blow dry) and beginning to comb or style with wet hair causes breakage. Milady's Standard Cosmetology says, " Wet hair with normal elasticity will stretch up to 50 percent of its original length and return to that same length without breaking." To follow this, Zoe Diana Draelos's Dermatologic Handbook states, "It has been shown that wet straight hair possesses higher combing friction than dry straight hair. This is an interesting observation leading to the idea that hair should not be combed when wet to avoid stretching to the hair shafts brittle breaking point." In layman's terms- combing your hair while wet is like stretching a rubber band too far- the results? *SNAP*

    Additionally, If you try to flat iron or otherwise heat style with wet hair you will end up with dry brittle hair. It zaps the moisture right out and damages the core.

    The other issue is that partially blow-drying you hair and letting the rest air dry may cause frizz. It supposedly has something to do with the cuticle (see image below). I think the idea is you're heating up your hair and you've got your hair cuticles opened up and instead of completely drying it and giving a blast of cool air to seal it you just leave it laying open. This can also allegedly cause discoloration or stripping sporadically in hair color because only what has been blow dried pis over dried, damaged, and keratin deteriorated. I don't have the scientific backing on this one so I'm not completely sure this is valid (or that I've reiterated it correctly), but I've heard it several times.

    The main point would be to completely dry your hair before styling it. Regardless of how you dry it.

    Use a wide tooth comb and leave in conditioner to gently detangle wet hair and don't use a brush until it is completely dry.

    Here is the break down of the hair follicle and shaft:

    image

    Here's a shot of healthy vs damaged hair- you can see the cuticles looking like shingles in the unhealthy picture

    image

    image
  • KarenKaren
    I think I may have actually winced when I read *SNAP*! :shocked:

    Great information, anonymousblonde. Thanks!
  • taiwanesegurltaiwanesegurl
    I read this on a blog and found it to be useful. I wrap my hair around in a cotton t-shirt for 5-10 minutes, then either let it air dry or blow dry.
  • TailFeatherTailFeather
    "The other issue is that partially blow-drying you hair and letting the rest air dry may cause frizz."

    Absolutely! But if it's winter and almost too cold to shower, I'll blow dry the roots so at least my head isn't freezing.

    Otherwise it's air drying and not brushing until it's completely dry for me.

    The cotton shirt idea is a good one too. I've thought of sewing a few microfiber cloths together(the ones you cand find at Target in the car department for 10 bucks a dozen-these are awesome for housework also) for a hair drying towel. But I think as long as I don't twist it real tight a regular towel works well. I don't keep it up that long, just long enough to soak up most of the water so it isn't running down my neck.
  • KarenKaren
    Microfiber towels are a "must" if you have curly hair like me. It makes a huge difference if you don't want your curls to turn to frizz as your hair dries. I think the idea of a cotton t-shirt would work great, too. Thanks, Gloria!
  • TailFeatherTailFeather
    Cool. I know a girl who has dense curly hair that's making her crazy. She'll be thrilled to know this :)
  • Right BrainRight Brain
    Great comments in the thread! I hope our post wasnt' misleading - we recognize that styling your hair when it's wet can cause problems (as noted above.) But too much heat drying isn't good either. What's the right balance for your hair? Only you can answer that - we're just trying to educate you about the issues.

    Keep up the great threads everyone!
  • JudyJudy
    Like Karen I too have recently started using a microfiber towel (I had bought years ago and had forgotten about) but its absorbency really does the trick of getting most of the moisture out of my frizzy hair before I use the dryer.
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