How long does it take you to dry your hair (and style) and how do you do it?

[Cate36]

In an attempt to keep heat away from my hair, I'm avoiding hot hair, or sun to dry my hair.

I started with air drying.. but honestly.. it takes HOURS.. and my hair is fine! Goodness knows how some of you air dryer's with thick long hair cope! Do you take the day off work?!

It's OK to say do it over night.. but I can't sleep on my hair wet because I wake up with it looking.. like I've slept on it!

So now I am using the cold setting on my hair dryer... I swear, it takes me over an hour.. in fact I do all sorts of things whilst drying it with my hair dryer cold setting..wiggling hips to do a bit of exercise..(yes, I imagine I'm a belly dancer in front of the mirror ;-) ) trying to listen to the radio over the noise of the hair dryer... I get through a litre of water whilst doing it (as I try and drink a gallon of water a day..) sigh.. it takes for ever...

How does everyone else do it?

[AmaryllisRed]

Oh it takes FOREVER.
I wash my hair at night and then stay up as long as I can but I always have to go to bed with it damp, if not just plain wet. On those nights, I usually sleep with it loose, sleeping on my side and trailing it out behind me.
It's usually still damp enough when I get up the next day that I can make it look presentable if I want to wear it down. But I usually braid and/or bun it so it doesn't really matter if sleeping on it made it look weird.
And really the only parts that look weird in the morning are my bangs.

It takes too long to dry for me to wash in the morning unless I'm staying home all day. I don't mind going out with damp or wet hair in warm weather but it's winter here now. Brrr!
I also only wash 2-3 times a week so it's not something I have to worry about every day.

[Ophidian]

I’m lazy. I wash my hair in the evening once a week, plop it in a buff or old tshirt I loosely twist on top of my head, then leave it like that until I ready to go to bed. At that point I let it down, lightly oil the ends, and wrap it in my silk scarf for the night either loose or loosely damp braided. Then I wake up, finger comb it while it’s still a bit damp, then do a low, loose bun for the day held with an acrylic stick (waterproof, my hair takes a while to fully dry). By evening it’s usually pretty much dry, especially if I take the bun down and redo it at some point during the day.

Loose damp braiding/bunning is basically how I tame my hair, that and oiling. If I air dry my hair loose I look like Hagrid, no joke.

That said, I never wear my hair down, so my “styling” is mostly to tame the flyaways and get my hair to sort of compact together so it will make nice updos. I imagine that it I wanted to wear it down my routine might be different.

Neat thread, by the way :). We often talk about bits and pieces of our routines but it’s kinda cool seeing all the parts laid out start to finish.

[Cate36]

I’m lazy. I wash my hair in the evening once a week, plop it in a buff or old tshirt I loosely twist on top of my head, then leave it like that until I ready to go to bed. At that point I let it down, lightly oil the ends, and wrap it in my silk scarf for the night either loose or loosely damp braided. Then I wake up, finger comb it while it’s still a bit damp, then do a low, loose bun for the day held with an acrylic stick (waterproof, my hair takes a while to fully dry). By evening it’s usually pretty much dry, especially if I take the bun down and redo it at some point during the day.

Loose damp braiding/bunning is basically how I tame my hair, that and oiling. If I air dry my hair loose I look like Hagrid, no joke.

That said, I never wear my hair down, so my “styling” is mostly to tame the flyaways and get my hair to sort of compact together so it will make nice updos. I imagine that it I wanted to wear it down my routine might be different.

Neat thread, by the way :). We often talk about bits and pieces of our routines but it’s kinda cool seeing all the parts laid out start to finish.

A few years ago, I used to wear my hair up all the time also.. tied back at the neck mainly.. but I was also a terror for washing it every day (yes yes.. I know!) well I swear, it never dried! I would wake in the morning after washing it the previous morning..and it still felt damp.. Now I wear my hair down all the time..

[akurah]

do you have a small space heater? think something like this: https://www.vornado.com/shop/heaters/vh203-personal-heater

I use my space heater to dry my hair. I usually set it on the floor right behind my chair (pointing at my hair/chair/me), and have it on, and i wait 30-60 minutes. Then I move it to a small/short table, put said table behind my chair, and go another 30-60 minutes.

I also have some really fantastic results using smooth microfiber towels, specifically this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Acteon-Compact-Antibacterial-Microfiber-Purpose/dp/B01JQPIHYA/
there are other similar microfiber towels that will probably give good results, but I have never been happy with the hair-specific ones (ex: turbie twist, aquis, etc)

[cjk]

Towel scrunching to remove most of the moisture. Then I do my thing.

Since I'm a curly I apply a gel cast while still wet, and finger comb. A little heavy-metal head banging, then I flip my hair back. Then I clip my hair up with beak clips, to support the curls while they harden.

I prefer air drying.

But since winter got here, the 8-10 hours it takes to air dry has stretched to almost twice that time. So I've started using my hair dryer on low, the coolest setting. Gets 90% of the moisture out. That leaves it dry in a mere 4 or 5 hours.

Then I scrunch the crunch.

When I want to have a more refined style than wild natural curls, I braid. My preferred style is asymmetrical double Dutch braids, and that takes me a while. A single braid, French or Dutch, goes much quicker. Or sometimes I just pull it back into one or two ponytails. That's quick.

It depends on my mood.

[Jo Ann]

I leave mine wrapped in an absorbent terrycloth towel for about ten minutes, apply my leave-in conditioner and oil, then sit in front of a floor fan for about ten minutes, fingercombing as my hair dries... :shrug:

[TreesOfEternity]

Mine takes about 4 hours to dry on its own. I use the blow dryer on cold setting and make sure the scalp is dry. Then I would dry the length a little bit and when it’s just a little damp I’ll braid it and go on with my day (if I’m staying at home I let it lose).

[Joules]

Oh it takes FOREVER.
I wash my hair at night and then stay up as long as I can but I always have to go to bed with it damp, if not just plain wet. On those nights, I usually sleep with it loose, sleeping on my side and trailing it out behind me.
It's usually still damp enough when I get up the next day that I can make it look presentable if I want to wear it down. But I usually braid and/or bun it so it doesn't really matter if sleeping on it made it look weird.
And really the only parts that look weird in the morning are my bangs.

It takes too long to dry for me to wash in the morning unless I'm staying home all day. I don't mind going out with damp or wet hair in warm weather but it's winter here now. Brrr!
I also only wash 2-3 times a week so it's not something I have to worry about every day.

I'm exactly the same. I just wash my hair in the evening and go to bed with it damp hoping it would be dry by morning. Since I grew out my bangs I don't even have to worry about them. A nice French braid can mask any weirdness afterwards :bluebiggr

[Arciela]

Mine takes a full day >< I use a turbie twist and it helps a bit but in the end I'd say if I wash it when I wake up..by the time I go to bed it's still damp.

[Begemot]

Same thing here OP. I don't understand why my hair takes such long time to dry. My roots are still damp even 6 hours after washing. My sister has crazy thick hair and sleeps with damp hair and her hair looks fine the next morning. Mine looks dirty if I try the same. So I blow dry my roots more or less regularly.

[Dante]

I wash my hair once a week, on a Sunday afternoon/evening. I put it up in an old t-shirt until I go to bed, at which time I take it out (it's usually still damp) and oil it lightly. I sleep on a silk pillowcase with it out, and with the warm climate where I live, it's usually dry when I get up in the morning. I'm pretty lazy so about 95% of the time, it goes either straight into a nautilus bun or dual lace braids into a nautilus bun, and done!

[cestlavie]

It takes 3-4 hours to air dry. When it is 95% dry I'll put my hair in a lazy wrap bun.

[lapushka]

So now I am using the cold setting on my hair dryer... I swear, it takes me over an hour.. in fact I do all sorts of things whilst drying it with my hair dryer cold setting..wiggling hips to do a bit of exercise..(yes, I imagine I'm a belly dancer in front of the mirror ;-) ) trying to listen to the radio over the noise of the hair dryer... I get through a litre of water whilst doing it (as I try and drink a gallon of water a day..) sigh.. it takes for ever...

How does everyone else do it?

I wring out my hair (carefully squeegee it out), then put the towel on which is a massive bathtowel-turbie (made out of a bathtowel folded in half lengthwise and sewn shut at one end).

I leave my towel on for "about" 30-45 min.

Then I put my hair up into clips à la curly girl style (I use claw clips and bigger sections) and let airdry for 2-4H.

Then I diffuse for 5 min., since that's all it still takes to get the roots dry. Ends are dampish, but I'll leave them to dry further.

Without all that it takes 8+H and then my roots still aren't dry.

The thing about the hair dryer is, if it's warm but not burning (so not burning on the skin), it is a good temperature to use and won't damage your hair. You DO NOT have to use the cold setting.

In the summer I tend to use cooler, but in the winter, I put it on the second setting, which is warm.

[amiraaah]

Mine used to take more than a full day to dry.but now i just leave it in a towel for an hour and then air dry it without brushing it or applying a leave in.it usually takes 5 hours to be completely dry.

[Cate36]

I wring out my hair (carefully squeegee it out), then put the towel on which is a massive bathtowel-turbie (made out of a bathtowel folded in half lengthwise and sewn shut at one end).

I leave my towel on for "about" 30-45 min.

Then I put my hair up into clips à la curly girl style (I use claw clips and bigger sections) and let airdry for 2-4H.

Then I diffuse for 5 min., since that's all it still takes to get the roots dry. Ends are dampish, but I'll leave them to dry further.

Without all that it takes 8+H and then my roots still aren't dry.

The thing about the hair dryer is, if it's warm but not burning (so not burning on the skin), it is a good temperature to use and won't damage your hair. You DO NOT have to use the cold setting.

In the summer I tend to use cooler, but in the winter, I put it on the second setting, which is warm.

That's really really helpful! So I can use it on just the warm setting.. and not cold? I had wondered because the warm setting is not *hot* at all... I was worried it would damage..

[Lady Stardust]

In an attempt to keep heat away from my hair, I'm avoiding hot hair, or sun to dry my hair.

I started with air drying.. but honestly.. it takes HOURS.. and my hair is fine! Goodness knows how some of you air dryer's with thick long hair cope! Do you take the day off work?!

It's OK to say do it over night.. but I can't sleep on my hair wet because I wake up with it looking.. like I've slept on it!

So now I am using the cold setting on my hair dryer... I swear, it takes me over an hour.. in fact I do all sorts of things whilst drying it with my hair dryer cold setting..wiggling hips to do a bit of exercise..(yes, I imagine I'm a belly dancer in front of the mirror ;-) ) trying to listen to the radio over the noise of the hair dryer... I get through a litre of water whilst doing it (as I try and drink a gallon of water a day..) sigh.. it takes for ever...

How does everyone else do it?

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but you drink a gallon of water a day? That’s way too much, be careful! The recommendation where I live (UK) is 2 litres but that includes the water you get in food.

[EmeraldSkies]

Interesting thread! That's a question i wondering about too. :hmm: How do i get my hair to dry completely before sleeping when washing hair at night? Currently, my hair is at APL and i have no problem doing that. I'm just not sure what to do when it gets longer.

For now, this is what i do:
I squeeze out the excess water and press a towel at different parts of my hair to remove more water. I then blow dry my hair with a fan. I would sit back facing the fan until my hair partially dry. Then, i sit front facing the fan and flip my hair forward to dry the bottom layers of my hair. I would gently separate the strands and shake sections of my hair to get it to dry faster. The whole process takes 1.5 to 2 hours. If i dry my hair without any manipulation (no fan, no touching,...), it is going to take half a day. Strangely, my 2 sister's hair can air dry within an hour.

[Alibran]

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but you drink a gallon of water a day? That’s way too much, be careful! The recommendation where I live (UK) is 2 litres but that includes the water you get in food.

Be careful with generic advice like this. While 2 litres is enough for someone in the UK who isn't doing much in the way of exercise, it's far too little for hotter climates, and the OP doesn't say where she is. I need to drink 4 litres a day in summer (southern Spain) just to avoid dehydration. When I exercise, I drink an extra 500 ml an hour. (By the way, OP, 500 ml is the maximum the body can absorb in an hour, so the rest of your litre is passed straight out.) If you do need to drink a lot because you're sweating it out, you might want to consider adding electrolyte powder to your water to replace the electrolytes lost through sweat.

As for the question, I fully diffuse in winter, which takes a minimum of one hour on my dryer's warm setting. In summer, I part diffuse to the point where my hair isn't dripping conditioner down my back (maybe 20 minutes - I've never timed it), then air dry the rest of the way, which takes 4 to 6 hours. I follow curly girl, so I don't twist, wring, put my hair in a turban, or in any other way 'pull' water out of it. I squeeze in 2 or 3 good handfuls of conditioner while it's dripping wet, and one handful of aloe gel.

Occasionally (when I'm preparing my hair for colouring, and I don't want it clumped and full of conditioner), I just leave in a little conditioner, and blow dry on warm, finger combing to keep it free of tangles. Then it's dry in about 20 minutes.

[gustavonut]

Right now it takes me 10 minutes to completely dry my hair, straighten my bangs, and use a bit of hairspray.

[ravenskey]

I currently wash only at the weekend because my hair can take up to 11 hours to fully dry! Generally it takes an hour or two less because I will wring it out and wrap it in a towel for a bit but when I was hair typing and didn't touch it - yeah, 11 hours - sooo not looking forward to how long it'll take when it's long shudder:

[Lady Stardust]

Alibran you’re right, my bad. I worded it badly, I shouldn’t have said it was too much. I gave my location as a frame of reference but I should have said to check what is advised for where you live.

Cate36 you have mentioned elsewhere that you tend to take advice to excess so please do check up on what is recommended.

[paulownia]

Mine dries pretty fast, maybe because it’s still short... Maximum 2 hours and I always let it air dry.
I use a cotton cloth to remove excess water, then I apply some leave in on my lengths, comb my hair and just scrunch in some mousse. Then I let my waves do their thing;)

[Sora Rose]

I haven't thought about this very much before, interesting thread idea.

Personally, when I'm done washing my hair I squeeze them out and leave them alone. So it usually takes about six or seven hours. Hard to say for sure. I do bun them after the first two hours so I can do things outside, and I don't stand in front of a fan or anything, which does make it take longer. I'd guess it takes five hours if I don't bun it, less if I sat in front of a fan. They're usually 95% dry (if not all the way dry) by the time I go to bed.

[kph12]

Mine was the same. But I started using a microfiber towel and it has made a WORLD of difference.

[MusicalSpoons]

I currently wrap my hair in jersey material (PJ trousers) to get out of the shower, dry myself and dress. Then I'll take my hair out, see how wet it is and either put it back in the PJs for a while to absorb more of the water, or just leave it loose. I usually go to bed an hour or two after that, so my hair is still pretty damp. I drape it over and off the end of my bed onto a silk scarf. Depending on how long I'm in bed and the temperature, it may still be damp in the morning - I'll put off bunning it for as long as possible in that case to give it a bit more chance to dry, or if it's already dry when I wake up I put it straight into a bun as usual. It does dry looking pretty weird to be fair, but it lives in a bun after that so I really don't care :grin:

[CopperButterfly]

So when I wash all of my hair, it takes 4 to 5 hours to dry. When I don't have time for that I'll either wash it the night before and maybe use a spray bottle to tame any problem areas in the morning (just a little dampness that doesn't take long to dry, but does make the hair lay better.)

Or I'll do a scalp wash, where I do a plain English braid and cover it with a plastic bag and tie it on with a pony tail holder at the base of the braid. Then I wash the scalp hair only. That dries much faster, in only an hour if just towel dried and quicker if I use the blow dryer on warm on my roots.

Good luck figuring it all out. If you can stretch washes that will help too, but I know my scalp is too greasy for that.

[Cg]

To air dry would take mine many hours so I use several blasts of too-warm-for-this-forum blowdrying alternating with being claw clipped. Perhaps 2-4 hours depending on season.

To style takes < 15 seconds. Huge benefit of long hair.

[Alibran]

Oh, I forgot to mention styling. My hair is 'styled' as soon as it's dry.

Overnight, I put it up loosely in a band on top of my head, and try not to sleep on any of it. In the morning, I take the band off, shake my head a bit, and I'm done.

[Tinyponies]

I wash 2 ish hours before bed, gently squeeze my wet hair out using a small sports microfibre towel, then wrap my head in it plop style until bed time, then unwrap, shake it out and re-wrap in a big soft T-shirt and wear that to bed. I run hot at night time so probably a lot of water evaporates but it’s mostly dry by morning. Have fun figuring out a routine :)

[growbabybrow]

My hair has different dry times depending on what I've washed with. I always air dry. When I use a coney conditioner, it takes about 2-3 hours. When I use just a sulfate free shampoo, it take about 30-45 minutes. When I use an egg/oil combo, it take 15-20 minutes. Water only washes have dry times that generally correspond to what it was washed with the day before, or days before.

Styles are either bun up, double braids or two low buns if I'm cycling.

[lapushka]

That's really really helpful! So I can use it on just the warm setting.. and not cold? I had wondered because the warm setting is not *hot* at all... I was worried it would damage..

As long as the airstream doesn't *burn* your skin, then you are fine. Good for skin, good for hair. Even if you hold it in there a long time, as some dryers can heat up after a while. You need to gauge the settings a bit. But it doesn't need to be cold, no!

A hair dryer is not a heat tool. At all, those are some "boiling" temperatures.

Now dryers can be abused, but if you use it smartly it is a great tool!

I use my diffuser weekly for 5 min. after airdrying for a bit, because otherwise I would have to diffuse for 30 min. and I have no intention of doing that at all. I'm disabled, I can't stand for that long. 5 min. is do-able with some help from my mother. Holding a crutch and a diffuser and then your hair - you're one hand short. LOL! Sometimes I sit and can manage pretty well on my own, but with hair that long, it's nice to stand.

[Growitagain28]

I only air dry in summer. I personally hate having wet or damp hair when it’s cool out at all. I use my blow dryer on the medium setting with lots of heat protectant and leave in conditioner. It takes me exactly 10 minutes to dry my somewhat thick bsl hair and I’m done :)

[Ylva]

My hair airdries overnight and it's still damp when I wake up, but it doesn't take too long to fully dry after that.

I've never quite figured out what styling is, but I spend around 15 minutes messing with my hair applying leave-ins and the such once I'm out of the shower.

[kitcatsmeow]

After it’s washed I do my version of LOC and damp bun to let everything sink in. Then I let it down to airdry about 30-40%. At that point I wrap it and cover it in a home made silk cap and sleep like that. In the am I take it down and spray a little water on any kinks and wrap it the other way for about 3 hours. When I take it down I have perfectly smooth and straight hair, better than any straightening iron could ever do.

[GrowlingCupcake]

My hair seems to dry pretty quickly compared to everyone else. I'm at ~3 inch circumference so while not thick, it isn't thin either.

How fast it dries depends on how I wash it:
If I wash it the usual way - shampoo, conditioner, ROO, conditioner - I then gently squeeze out the water after my final cold rinse. I try not to squeeze too much, so my hair is still pretty wet, and goes into a (regular) towel for a bit. No twisting or anything, just a way to contain it while I dry the rest of me. Then I let it loose, while keeping the towel on my shoulders/back, and after about 15 to 30 minutes, I style it. Styling it involves gently combing it out with NB's Selkie Herbal Detangler, applying Biosilk Silk Therapy, a few drops of oil per side, and NB's hair salve. This whole process gets it pretty dry, especially the combing it out. After that, I just let it air dry, and it's mostly dry in about two and a half hours, though my roots are still frequently damp. Once it's mostly dry, I just bun it or whatever, and let my roots take their own sweet time.
Total drying time = 2 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours 15 minutes, not including roots

If I use squish to condish, my hair dries a lot quicker! Still shampoo, conditioner, ROO, conditioner, but I'm squishing the last conditioner, and then gets it much drier. I also skip the Detangler, and apply Biosilk Silk Therapy right in the shower, also squishing it in, and some times apply oil very selectively to my ends. I thought this would take longer since I am not combing out my hair, but it's actually quite a bit quicker. I usually contain it in the towel briefly (though it doesn't really need it), and once I have dried off/dressed, let it back down with the towel over my shoulders. It's about 2 hours to dry, but my roots are still damp. Since I leave my hair down if I do this method, that doesn't bother me at all.
Total drying time = ~2 hours depending on humidity, not including roots

[lithostoic]

I've never been a fan of blowdrying because it takes too damn long! I remember my grandmother once making the mistake of trying to blowdry my hair before school. LMAO long story short I was late that day.

Mine takes like 3-4 hours to dry from dripping wet. Therefore I don't do that haha. I squeeze my hair out before I step out of the shower, and gently dry the roots about halfway with a microfiber towel. Then apply some detangler and detangle (for the 2nd time) with a Wet Brush. My hair dries faster/more evenly when I brush it. I find the more product I use the longer it takes to dry, so if I want it dry FAST I don't apply anything else.

I then scrunch my hair (or fingercurl with product if I'm not in a hurry) and put it in a mocrofiber towel for up to 30 minutes. I find after 30 minutes the towel acts more like a humidifier than a drying mechanism. If I'm not going for defined waves then I'll flip my hair from one side to the other occasionally as it is drying.

This way it dries in about 2 hours :) This makes me feel lucky not to have thicker hair.

[TatsuOni]

It takes around six hours for my hair to dry and I have to separate the strands every once in a while. I always air dry. If I sleep with it wet or damp, it doesn't dry at all.

I wash my hair every other week to once a month, so it's easy for me to just do it quite early on a day when I don't work.

[Jo Ann]

Now I'm curious! I realize that some of us use box dye, bleach, henna, indigo and some of us have virgin hair.

Do you find it makes a difference to your drying time? Does coloring your hair make it take longer to dry? Or is there no difference?

[Milkchocolate]

Question about drying hair:
does temperature of the room matter? I washed my hair and slept with my fan pointing at it all night (like I always do) and it never fully dried. (It’s been doing that the past few weeks) My home is very cold (it’s an old house. 65 degees inside) could this be affecting it?

[Reyn127]

My hair, like a lot of others, takes a good half day at least to air dry. Where I currently live, it takes 5-7 hours, and it can’t be an especially wet day either. The average humidity where I live is literally always around 90%, so the weather can greatly affect my hair. If it’s a sunny day with a slight breeze, I can dry my hair in about 3 hours by sitting in the sun and airing it out.

Because it takes so long, I DO use a blow drier now. I tried for a little over a year to avoid it because of “heat”, but Lapushka is right that the warm ( not hot, but above cold) setting shouldn’t give you any damage. What I do is squeeze all the water out with a towel, usually twice, and then blow dry for about an hour, focusing mostly on my roots. After about an hour, my scalp is about 80% dry, my mid lengths about 60% dry, and my ends tend to be a little wetter still, but I don’t get issues from leaving the ends damp for a bit. At that point I’ll either air dry casually for a couple hours, or if I have things to do, my hair will go up and I finish drying in the evening.

As for styling, I haven’t been doing many complicated updos or anything, but to just prepare my hair for a regular day.... from a bed head mess to ready to go usually takes me about 30 minutes per day. Coming out tangles is an average of 20-30 minutes, and it takes 2-3 minutes maximum to get my hair up into a bun.

Caring for hair in a conscious way is definitely time consuming. I spend as little time on my hair as possible while still treating it very nicely, and it does take up a lot of my time.

[Cg]

Question about drying hair:
does temperature of the room matter? I washed my hair and slept with my fan pointing at it all night (like I always do) and it never fully dried. (It’s been doing that the past few weeks) My home is very cold (it’s an old house. 65 degees inside) could this be affecting it?

Room temp makes a big difference in drying time for me, takes much longer in winter. My indoor winter temp is 18C/65F which I don't consider cold; in summer it's quite warmer.

[MusicalSpoons]

Question about drying hair:
does temperature of the room matter? I washed my hair and slept with my fan pointing at it all night (like I always do) and it never fully dried. (It’s been doing that the past few weeks) My home is very cold (it’s an old house. 65 degees inside) could this be affecting it?


Room temp makes a big difference in drying time for me, takes much longer in winter. My indoor winter temp is 18C/65F which I don't consider cold; in summer it's quite warmer.

I also find temperature wildly affects drying time, though our indoor winter temperature is ~10-14℃ so it *is* cold overnight (my electric heater on the lowest setting overnight kicks in once the temp drops below a certain level; I don't know what that level is though). In winter I will usually wake up with still-damp hair, unless I sleep through to the afternoon (chronic illness so that frequently happens) and it's not a freezing day. Summer is fine as long as I wash early enough the previous night.

On average, my hair needs 8-10 hrs to dry overnight; if I washed in the daytime I could maybe get that down to 6 hrs with fluffing and shaking it out to get the air circulating. Darned inconvenient, though!

[wo]

My hair takes 2 hours to air dry. Or it takes about 20 minutes to diffuse part way on a cool, low setting, then 20 more of air drying . Lately I've been diffusing every time because not only does it save time, but it gives me curlier hair. I'm not worried about damage at all since I'm using cool air and not blowing my hair around. It just sits in that thing with spikes. I HATE the feeling of wet hair, and being wet in general, so I'm very happy that I discovered how to diffuse curly hair. From a youtube video. 😄

[lemonlollies]

I wash mine in the evening often, and its usually dry by bedtime about 3 hours later. I wear a microfibre hair towel for the first hour then I let it air dry loose, with a towel over my shoulders. If it’s still not dry enough before bed, I’ll give it a quick blast of cold air on a hairdryer. I used to wash in the day and put my hair up into a bun, but it took so long to dry it was uncomfortable, especially as it’s winter now.

[lapushka]

Because it takes so long, I DO use a blow drier now. I tried for a little over a year to avoid it because of “heat”, but Lapushka is right that the warm ( not hot, but above cold) setting shouldn’t give you any damage. What I do is squeeze all the water out with a towel, usually twice, and then blow dry for about an hour, focusing mostly on my roots. After about an hour, my scalp is about 80% dry, my mid lengths about 60% dry, and my ends tend to be a little wetter still, but I don’t get issues from leaving the ends damp for a bit. At that point I’ll either air dry casually for a couple hours, or if I have things to do, my hair will go up and I finish drying in the evening.


That's the setting I use as well, and it's not too hot that it "burns", so it's fine, has been fine. I have been doing this weekly for many years (diffusing so going straight up to my scalp with the "warmth") and zero damage. At least I don't have any white dots or breakage points in my hair and still no split ends that I can see/discover.

I think it's far more of an issue going around with wet hair for too many hours. At least my scalp can't handle it (SD). It needs to be dry within a certain amount of time.

[Suortuva]

My hair takes max. 30 mins. And I'm talking about air drying. And I don't style.
Or, I have just started to style a bit because I have bangs now, but that takes about 30 seconds with a hot air brush.

[Cate36]

That's the setting I use as well, and it's not too hot that it "burns", so it's fine, has been fine. I have been doing this weekly for many years (diffusing so going straight up to my scalp with the "warmth") and zero damage. At least I don't have any white dots or breakage points in my hair and still no split ends that I can see/discover.

I think it's far more of an issue going around with wet hair for too many hours. At least my scalp can't handle it (SD). It needs to be dry within a certain amount of time.

That's really useful... I use a diffuser.. and I get better blowdrying results on a warm setting rather than cold.. it seems to "fluff" out more giving a fuller voluminous appearance..

[lapushka]

That's really useful... I use a diffuser.. and I get better blowdrying results on a warm setting rather than cold.. it seems to "fluff" out more giving a fuller voluminous appearance..

Yeah, I can't do cold but in summertime. Brrrrr. Coooold. LOL!

[ravenheather]

My hair is up in a backwards turbine twist for five or ten min. Then I comb and apply leave in, oil and curling custard or flax seed gel, scrunched in. It's mostly dry in an hour and all the way in an hour and a half. Yay for thinner, fine hair.

[spidermom]

I like blow drying on warm. At my current length, it only takes about half an hour, maybe a little less.

I also will wash in the evening and push my hair over the top of my pillow. However, I move around a lot and I have to push my hair back over the top of the pillow multiple times through the night. I like the results most of the time; all curly and wurly. Sometimes I get weird bends and kinks, though. Boo! Time to braid.

[cjk]

Threw mine into a single french braid tonight. Took about 15 minutes, thanks to 2 false starts. I hate it when I drop a stitch, always lose my place.

Once you get a rhythm it doesn't take that long.

[Knightly]

It takes about a whole day to dry and like 5 minutes to brush. I hate blowdrying, it makes my hair look like a French Poodle's :( Thankfully my hair is thin and straight so I don't really get a lot of knotts.
My go-to hairstyle is just a simple cinnamon bun with a stick so thats about 30 seconds. If i wanna go fancy with my hairstyle I'd take like 30 minutes.

[zashin66]

If I wash it and let it dry then about 6-8 hours. Blow dryer 2-3 hours. Not worth it. If I go to bed with head wet then it is still very damp in the am

[AutobotsAttack]

Few hours. I use a T-Shirt, let it soak up the majority of the water, and leave my hair alone to air dry after that.

[TatsuOni]

Now I'm curious! I realize that some of us use box dye, bleach, henna, indigo and some of us have virgin hair.

Do you find it makes a difference to your drying time? Does coloring your hair make it take longer to dry? Or is there no difference?

I dye with henna and indigo and it makes no difference for me.


Question about drying hair:
does temperature of the room matter? I washed my hair and slept with my fan pointing at it all night (like I always do) and it never fully dried. (It’s been doing that the past few weeks) My home is very cold (it’s an old house. 65 degees inside) could this be affecting it?

My hair dries faster in the summer when it's really warm and slower in the winter. Although we don't have a cold apartment. We keep the temperature around 22 C.