Hair Drying Conundrum

[griffinthecat]

I’m new here, and I’m just getting started on my hair journey. I have a question about drying one’s hair. I have to wash my hair every day or it becomes a grease bomb. I’m not interested in stretching my washings at this time. So that puts me in a catch twenty two. The way I see it, I have two options. 1. I shower at night and go to bed with wet hair. It dries with weird kinks and doesn’t look professional. I can braid it, but then I get frizzy even weirder kinks that I don’t like. 2. I shower in the morning and blow dry my hair straight. I prefer this look, but I know daily heat is bad for my hair.

So, am I missing something? Is there something I can change? What option should I go for?

[Nesoi]

Have you tried wrapping your wet hair in a microfibre towel? I find that if I keep it in there while I dress, makeup, eat breakfast, it's honestly almost dry when I take it down. Then I let it air dry on my way to work and put it up when I get there.

[meteor]

Welcome to the LHC! :cheer:

It's hard for me to recommend post-wash styling without knowing your length.
If your hair is long enough to be put up, you can damp-bun hair that way. Or use blow-drying on cool or light-warm setting, that's not damaging. For towels, I prefer cotton T-shirts to towels, because they aren't as rough on hair cuticle and thus help avoid frizz.
You could wash your hair at night and set it in foam rollers or mini-buns (with or without setting product like mousse) for the night, as well.
You could also experiment with dry shampoos and scalp-only washes to avoid long drying times...

[arr]

How about washing your hair early enough in the evening that it can mostly air dry and then just finishing it off with a little blow drying if necessary? Then just go to bed with dry straight hair, which saves time in the morning. That's basically what i always do except then i braid it.

[Nadine <3]

If my wash day falls on a day that I have to work in the morning I wash and then bun it damp. When I get out of work I take it down to finish air drying. You could blow dry your hair on a cool setting as well, nothing wrong with that at all.

[Stangenlocke]

My hair does not approve of blow drying at all since I bought this magical hair dryer with some sort of super-ion functionality. What it does is make my hair so soft and sleek that any and all hair toys will head south within about 5 minutes of putting them in. Leaving my hair loose is also no option - I actually have an aversion against my fly-away hair finding its way to my nose and face and tickling away like a champ. Oh yes - Daily hair washes so far are mandatory for me as well. I might try to start stretching washes when I am on holiday but I do not want to invite any 'interesting' comments from DH or colleagues.
So, long story short, here is my strategy: Get up, and immediately head towards shower. Then use a (microfibre) towel for about 5 or so minutes after I get out, then get dressed and let my top soak up a bit of the moisture. Keep busy while hair is air-drying for about 45 minutes. Get in the car to work - about another 45 minutes, then in the car park at work bun it - it is by then almost completely dry.
Whether you can use this of course greatly depends on your morning routine, but I hope it provides at least a tiny bit of useful information.

[lapushka]

You could wash at night, leave it in a towel for 15 min. (most of the wetness is out then), then blow dry on a cool to warm setting. I wouldn't go to bed with it dripping wet.

[Nique1202]

Blow drying on heat low enough to leave your hand in the air stream comfortably isn't going to damage your hair any more than air drying outside on a summer day, even if it might take a little longer to dry. As most have pointed out above too, leaving your hair gently squeezed/wrapped in a towel (microfiber or otherwise) for a while will get most of the wet out, leaving a lot less to blow dry, meaning even less potential damage.

[griffinthecat]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

A few things first. I do have a microfiber towel. Those are some of the best inventions ever. And I should have mentioned, I have BSL hair right now. I do have time constraints, such as not being able to get to shower until 8:30 at night and having a 9:30 bedtime. I also already get up at 5 am, and don’t have a particularly long driving commute. I do have a 15 minute walking commute and I don’t want wet hair in bad weather. And my buns are puny, which makes me sad :-P

And have a follow question about damp styling at night, like using foam rollers or a t-shirt, I’ve considered it, but have a fear that I’ll turn my head wrong and yank out a bunch of hair, either at the roots or from breakage. Am I being overly paranoid?

I’m thinking the blow dryer is going to be my best option to get the hair I want. I tried last night on just cold air and that wasn’t enough. I’ll have to use warm. And blow dryer brand recommendations?

[lapushka]

I’m thinking the blow dryer is going to be my best option to get the hair I want. I tried last night on just cold air and that wasn’t enough. I’ll have to use warm. And blow dryer brand recommendations?

Warm is fine. I use cool to warm as well. As long as you can hold your hand in the airstream comfortably without it burning, it should be fine.

[Roscata]

Microfiber towels (turbie twist (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aturbie+twist&keywords=turbie+twist&ie=UTF8&qid=1429814318)) have cut my hair drying in half. You can also try wrapping your hair (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=77326) and covering it with a silk scarf or satin sleep cap overnight to wake up with it straightened.

[Nique1202]

I’m thinking the blow dryer is going to be my best option to get the hair I want. I tried last night on just cold air and that wasn’t enough. I’ll have to use warm. And blow dryer brand recommendations?

Anything with separate heat and speed settings should do the trick. Off-Low-High only with a Cool Shot button isn't good because Low is still full-heat. I got a Conair dryer at Walmart for something like $25 with one switch for Off-Low-High air speed, and a separate switch for low-medium-high heat. Even the medium heat setting on it is actually comfortable to my hand at the distance I hold the dryer from my hair. It's not like you can test that in the store but it doesn't have to be expensive to get the job done. Even if you get one and the medium heat is a little too warm for your hand but the low heat isn't good enough to dry your hair in the time you have, it would be less damaging over time than using a full-heat-only dryer.

[cat11]

Omg I can't imagine washing and drying my every day lol!!

It takes so long for it to dry. I also often wash my hair at night though, and this is what I do to speed up my slowly drying hair, which could help you:

1.) in the shower still, GENTLY squeeze (no wringing) exess water out so it isn't dripping and sopping.
2.) gently scrunch (if your familiar with curly girl method this is when you take something, either your hand or a soft t shirt, and gently cup your ends upward with it) more moisture out with a very soft t shirt
3.) put in microfiber turbie twist #1: 15 mins
4.) put in microfiber turbie twist #2: 15 mins
5.) put on a non-hooded sweatshirt (so I don't get cold, and its softer than using a towel cape) and let it air dry for as long as possibe before sleeping

usually it this point, its pretty dry, but still damp. At this point you can gently damp bun. Or whatever... I like to take each half of my hair, twist it very slightly, as little as possible, and use clippies to clip the wists to the top of my head. Also gentle loose twin braids (loose so some air can get in) work well. Stick this in your sleeping cap, or leave open ontop of a silk pillowcase.

Should be 90% dry at least in the morning (my hair hair HATES drying) and then walking around in the morning it should get all the way. At least dry enough to style.