To use a hair dryer or not to use a hair dryer, that is my question

[LongLocks27]

Hey guys,
I have a question.
I have naturally curly hair and am thinking of using a hair dryer. Is that a bad choice? I am kinda new to advanced hair care, so I would like to hear your advice.
Bye for now! <3

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Welcome here! :D As long as you don't have it on hot and hold it close to the hair, and don't concentrate the heat in one spot, it's fine. If the heat is too hot to hold close to your hand then it's too hot for your hair, but warm or cold air is fine. I use mine on warm or cold and hold it, always moving, about 10 inches away from my hair.

[florenonite]

Whether or not it's a bad choice depends on a lot of factors. If you're only planning on growing to around waist length, your hair can take more damage than if you're planning on growing it to your knees, and if your haircare routine is otherwise low damage (no dyeing or other heat styling) then blow drying might not be a problem, especially if you stick to a cooler setting and only really blow dry the roots to keep your scalp from staying wet.

However, given that you mention your hair is naturally curly, I get the impression you want to straighten it? That's more likely to cause damage, especially with all the brushing on damp hair, as you're going to have to fully blow dry all the hair from root to tip. One thing you can do to reduce the damage here, if you have the time for it, is to leave your hair to air dry most of the way, and just use the blow dryer to finish it. This might be an option if you're not planning on growing very long, especially if your hair tends to hold up well to damage.

Generally speaking, though, if you want to keep your hair healthy you're better off embracing your natural texture and learning how to take care of it. Any kind of blow drying, even the most gentle, is likely to cause some degree of damage. There's lots of advice for caring for curls on this forum, so you may find you don't want to blow dry your hair straight once you become more confident caring for your curls.

[Bri-Chan]

To me would be impossible to let it air drying, it takes to much time. I usually do the "popping" for about 30 minutes, then 30 minutes with the blowdryer and then, I let it airdrying and I need 1 extra hour for that... I use medium speed and heat. Honestly I cannot spend half of the day waiting for my hair to dry

[MusicalSpoons]

To me would be impossible to let it air drying, it takes to much time. I usually do the "popping" for about 30 minutes, then 30 minutes with the blowdryer and then, I let it airdrying and I need 1 extra hour for that... I use medium speed and heat. Honestly I cannot spend half of the day waiting for my hair to dry

I don't have the energy to spend half an hour blow-drying, and it's a real pain to have my hair down to air-dry in the day so that's exactly why I air-dry it overnight :D

LongLocks what is it that's making you consider using a hairdryer? I know there are other curlies who blow-dry for various reasons, and many of them use a diffuser to help keep the curls and therefore keep their hair happier than with ordinary blow-drying making it straighter.

[Bri-Chan]

I don't have the energy to spend half an hour blow-drying, and it's a real pain to have my hair down to air-dry in the day so that's exactly why I air-dry it overnight :D

I think I would live with the flu, 365/365 :rolling: I hate drying my hair, since I was a child and I also know that the more it grows, longer it will need to dry
When I was younger I used to just let it airdrying everytime, I catch a cold less often since I started using the hairdryer again
Also, if you let it drying overnight you need to braid or wearing it up in someway, isn't it? Doesn't it need more time?

[MusicalSpoons]

I think I would live with the flu, 365/365 :rolling: I hate drying my hair, since I was a child and I also know that the more it grows, longer it will need to dry
When I was younger I used to just let it airdrying everytime, I catch a cold less often since I started using the hairdryer again
Also, if you let it drying overnight you need to braid or wearing it up in someway, isn't it? Doesn't it need more time?

Nooo it would never dry! :scared: I drape it over my pillow and it hangs off the end of the bed, with a satin scarf underneath to protect it :) I've never had problems with it making me susceptible to colds myself, but it's interesting using the hairdryer has made a positive difference for you!

[lapushka]

I diffuse my hair weekly, on warm, it's fine. I have been doing this for years and: no damage, no problems!

The mantra here is, if you can hold your hand in the airstream without it burning, it should be fine for the hair.

Only hot tools like curling irons or straighteners are the culprits here, not hair dryers used *smartly*!

[Bri-Chan]

Nooo it would never dry! :scared: I drape it over my pillow and it hangs off the end of the bed, with a satin scarf underneath to protect it :) I've never had problems with it making me susceptible to colds myself, but it's interesting using the hairdryer has made a positive difference for you!

Oh I understand...
Also, I have several friends who let it drying naturally and they're fine with that. But their hair dry very quickly.

[cm006j]

I recently read an article that said the longer your hair is wet the more damaged it gets and they said using a dryer would be better than air drying! I’ve also heard that heat protectant s really work and for curly hair use a diffuser. That said I never use heat on my own hair and have no experience with blow dryers. I use a microfiber towel to get my hair dry as quickly as possible.

[Nightshade]

I recently read an article that said the longer your hair is wet the more damaged it gets and they said using a dryer would be better than air drying! I’ve also heard that heat protectant s really work and for curly hair use a diffuser. That said I never use heat on my own hair and have no experience with blow dryers. I use a microfiber towel to get my hair dry as quickly as possible.

What was that article trying to sell, hair dryers or protectant? :lol: Because broadly speaking, none of that's true.

[MusicalSpoons]

I recently read an article that said the longer your hair is wet the more damaged it gets and they said using a dryer would be better than air drying! I’ve also heard that heat protectant s really work and for curly hair use a diffuser. That said I never use heat on my own hair and have no experience with blow dryers. I use a microfiber towel to get my hair dry as quickly as possible.

This idea of blow-drying being better than air-drying keeps coming up now and again. meteor wrote an excellent summary of how significant the real-world implications of that study are (spoiler alert: not very!)


I think the best approach is to read the actual study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3229938/ - it's in open access and very short and clear. ;)

The researchers were surprised by the result (bulging/damage to the internal cell-membrane-complex with air-drying, see TEM pictures of CMC here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3229938/figure/F5/) and suspected that it might have something to do with keeping hair water-logged for too long, but air-drying was not the objective of the study, the objective was damage from repeated washing and hair-drying at different temperature/time/distance, so it wasn't detailed enough to make any conclusions on what exactly was going on with air drying. So the researchers mentioned that more studies are needed to understand what was happening with CMC there (if anybody finds any other studies with relevance to air-drying, please do share with us :flower: ).
Also, the study showed damage to cuticle (surface damage) with all blow-drying: the higher the heat, the longer the exposure and the shorter the distance, the more damage was observed, of course (see here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3229938/figure/F2/).
Some cuticle damage was observed even when drying with a hair dryer for 60 seconds at a distance of 15 cm, even at temperature as low as only 47℃. ("In the 47℃-treated group, multiple longitudinal cracks were observed in the cuticle".)


Please note that the hair in the study was washed and dried every 24 hours for 30 days with sodium lauryl sulfate (pH 6.0) diluted 1-in-10 and the hair was not attached to scalp, it was just some tresses, so the result is probably more reflective of what you'd get from washing and drying wigs/extensions made from natural hair every day, rather than hair that still gets a chance to get dirty and oily from scalp. Not to mention that many people don't wash/dry hair every day anyway, so their hair gets a chance to "rest" from exposure to water and cleansers and gets more sebum to coat it. Also, they didn't use any oils or conditioners or treatments at all, which is different from how many people treat their hair.

[snip]


One thing I'd never realised before is that the hair wasn't towel-dried before being dried, beyond this:

Each hair sample was tapped gently with a towel to remove water

So if anything, the 'air-drying' sample is analogous to literally leaving it to dry from dripping, or from a cursory touch with a towel at the very most - not being wrapped in a towel or other absorbent fabric like the vast majority of us do.



What was that article trying to sell, hair dryers or protectant? :lol: Because broadly speaking, none of that's true.

I seem to recall the hairdryer study was indeed funded by ghd or some similar company, but I can't find any confirmation of that right now.

[Nightshade]

I seem to recall the hairdryer study was indeed funded by ghd or some similar company, but I can't find any confirmation of that right now.

I was (mostly) just being sassy, but Native Advertising is a thing (advertisements posing as articles), so I tend to approach a lot of that with a helping of skepticism.

[squirrrel]

i find this kind of debate interesting. Mostly because I have air dried since long before I discovered LHC. I hate the noise of the hairdryer (and vacuum cleaners, washing machines, radios... you name it!). I am able to choose not to use the hairdryer though, so I don’t. :)

[lapushka]

What was that article trying to sell, hair dryers or protectant? :lol: Because broadly speaking, none of that's true.

The part about drying being better than air drying has its base in a scientific article, Nightshade, about how leaving the hair wet for too long is worse than drying it softly with a dryer. I don't recall where the article's at or that thread for that matter; but it's out there.

[Bri-Chan]

I knew that also. Isn't it the hydral fatigue?
Anyway my hair is bleached but it always needes a lot of time to get dry... Now it is only worse

[Ylva]

MusicalSpoons quoted information about the study a few messages away.

[Joules]

I blowdry my hair whenever I don't have enough time to let it airdry. My hair doesn't dry overnight for some reason, so if I go to bed with wet hair it will still be wet in the morning, so I have to go to bed with slightly damp hair at most.

I would turn my blowdrier on a lukewarm setting (cold doesn't work on me, it takes forever to dry my hair), I don't hold it too close to my hair and I concentrate on drying the scalp, the rest of the hair would dry anyway. I hold the blowdryer higher than my head is and direct the air downwards (I hope this description makes sense), directing it upwards would create unnecessary tangles and damage (this "technique" also means that the hair wouldn't get any extra volume, but for me it's not a problem). I also don't dry my hair completely, I always leave it a little damp, just to be sure it's not overly stripped of moisture. So far so good.

[Sora Rose]

I started using a hair dryer two months ago because it would take literal hours to dry. If the humidity levels are really high, I can wash my hair at 1:30 in the afternoon, and still have damp hair by morning. So I dry it part way and let it air dry the rest of the way.

However, I always use the dryer on cool, and rarely on warm. I haven't noticed any damage.

[jane_marie]

As many here have said using a blow dryer at a reasonable distance and at a temperature that is not too hot for your hand should cause very little damage. Personally, when I need to used one I just use the cool air setting. :shrug:

[lapushka]

MusicalSpoons quoted information about the study a few messages away.

Must have missed that! Sorry. :) Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Ylva!

[lapushka]

As many here have said using a blow dryer at a reasonable distance and at a temperature that is not too hot for your hand should cause very little damage. Personally, when I need to used one I just use the cool air setting. :shrug:

I use a tad warmer in fall/winter, and cooler (not totally cool because that takes forever) in spring/summer. I make sure it never is burning my skin though, because that is too warm/hot!

[jane_marie]

I use a tad warmer in fall/winter, and cooler (not totally cool because that takes forever) in spring/summer. I make sure it never is burning my skin though, because that is too warm/hot!

The cool setting works well for me but I think my hair might not be very porous. Given my thickness it doesn't take very long at all for my hair to dry. Also, I would venture to bet that you have a lot more hairs than I do which would probably trap in more moisture? I'm pretty sure my hair is mostly just think because of strand width.

The heat setting is a no go for me. I tend to overheat at the drop of a hat I don't even wear a winter coat. :shrug:

[lapushka]

The cool setting works well for me but I think my hair might not be very porous. Given my thickness it doesn't take very long at all for my hair to dry. Also, I would venture to bet that you have a lot more hairs than I do which would probably trap in more moisture? I'm pretty sure my hair is mostly just think because of strand width.

The heat setting is a no go for me. I tend to overheat at the drop of a hat I don't even wear a winter coat. :shrug:

That is exactly why I don't blowdry off the bat. I let it towel-dry for about 30 minutes, then let it airdry for 2-4 hours and only then I can get away with diffusing for only 5 minutes. The air drying is key!

[florenonite]

The cool setting works well for me but I think my hair might not be very porous. Given my thickness it doesn't take very long at all for my hair to dry. Also, I would venture to bet that you have a lot more hairs than I do which would probably trap in more moisture? I'm pretty sure my hair is mostly just think because of strand width.

The heat setting is a no go for me. I tend to overheat at the drop of a hat I don't even wear a winter coat. :shrug:

I think it might be the opposite, actually. My hair's porosity is VERY low, and I honestly don't even bother trying to blow dry because it's a Sisyphean task.

[spidermom]

Well, there is a school of thought out there that leaving your hair wet for hours is more damaging than using a blow dryer. Just don't pull and stretch the hair while blow drying like stylists do, and don't use the hottest setting.

[Dark40]

Hey guys,
I have a question.
I have naturally curly hair and am thinking of using a hair dryer. Is that a bad choice? I am kinda new to advanced hair care, so I would like to hear your advice.
Bye for now! <3

I use a blow dryer but on low heat for only 5 minutes after 4 or 5 hours of air drying.

[demonamay]

You can just use low setting and don’t do it too much!

[hennalonghair]

If I wash my hair at night, it’s still wet in the morning. If I braid my hair wet, it doesn’t dry completely so I don’t ever do that. I used to blow dry my hair every time I washed it but haven’t done that in years. Normally it takes about 4 or 5 hours for my hair to dry in the house but on a warm windy day it can dry in about 1 and a 1/2 hours. I think it’s used my hair dryer a few times in about 15 years. I don’t have much damage at all but I also use all natural shampoo and conditioner. My hair hates silicones and all that other fake stuff so I don’t use it.

[BleachedBerry]

Hey guys,
I have a question.
I have naturally curly hair and am thinking of using a hair dryer. Is that a bad choice? I am kinda new to advanced hair care, so I would like to hear your advice.
Bye for now! <3

I can't stand the thought of wet hair in the winter. I use to find air drying to be more damaging in these months. Possibly due to cold dry temperatures, the wind and artificial heat indoors or just the fact that wet hair is most susceptible to damage, so I figure the longer it stays wet and cold the more damage I'm causing.
If a heat protectant is used and like others said not too hot and hold in one place too long. It should be okay. The most damage is coming from the pulling and manipulating of the hair while it is too wet.
I would dry mostly at the roots on med. to high heat was fine with a heat protector, pointing the airflow down and not too close to the head until it was 80 to 90 percent dry then turning to low/cool and using my brush to style and finish drying or I would use a diffuser with my head upside down when I wanted to enhance my curl.
Since bleaching I find I cannot tolerate any heat or manipulation of the hair so I do not wash frequently in winter. I wrap in a towel at night and hope its dry. Or will dry on low/cool with out touching the hair.

In the summer months I have no issues whatsoever, air drys beautifully outside, in the car with the window down. I can even sleep with it wet.

[lapushka]

I can't stand the thought of wet hair in the winter. I use to find air drying to be more damaging in these months. Possibly due to cold dry temperatures, the wind and artificial heat indoors or just the fact that wet hair is most susceptible to damage, so I figure the longer it stays wet and cold the more damage I'm causing.
If a heat protectant is used and like others said not too hot and hold in one place too long. It should be okay. The most damage is coming from the pulling and manipulating of the hair while it is too wet.
I would dry mostly at the roots on med. to high heat was fine with a heat protector, pointing the airflow down and not too close to the head until it was 80 to 90 percent dry then turning to low/cool and using my brush to style and finish drying or I would use a diffuser with my head upside down when I wanted to enhance my curl.
Since bleaching I find I cannot tolerate any heat or manipulation of the hair so I do not wash frequently in winter. I wrap in a towel at night and hope its dry. Or will dry on low/cool with out touching the hair.

In the summer months I have no issues whatsoever, air drys beautifully outside, in the car with the window down. I can even sleep with it wet.

For blow dryers not to be blow fryers the general rule on here is if you can hold your hand (or neck) in the airstream for a long time without it burning the skin, it is fine for the hair as well. Easy to gauge, and set your blow dryer on the correct setting by so you won't have to think about it every time.

I think I might even have mentioned it upthread. :flower:

[BleachedBerry]

For blow dryers not to be blow fryers the general rule on here is if you can hold your hand (or neck) in the airstream for a long time without it burning the skin, it is fine for the hair as well. Easy to gauge, and set your blow dryer on the correct setting by so you won't have to think about it every time.

I think I might even have mentioned it upthread. :flower:


Absolutely if you can't hold in front of the hand from a reasonable distance. It is way too hot.