Chemical users: does air drying cause color to fade?

[Crazycatlady]

This may sound crazy, but I read in a magazine AND was told by a hair stylist, one I trust :), that allowing your hair to air dry instead of blow drying can cause your color to fade faster. Something to do with the water staying on your hair and the chemicals in the water. Anybody else heard this? I know heat can damage your hair, but if water remaining on too long fades it, what to do??

Thanks everyone~ :confused:

[BrightEyes]

I would say that is definitely not true. I am a hairstylist and have never told any client nor believed such a thing myself. If anything it makes more sense to me that blowdrying would cause color to fade more. But that might be stretching it too.

[TXbarbie]

I have had my hair highlighted since I was in middle school, and I blow dry my hair everytime I shower. It actually makes my hair BRIGHTER when I blow dry. When I air dry, it looks a little dull.

Plus on days when I don't feel as though my hair is shining enough, I blow dry, apply Kerastase Vernis Nutri-Scupt (it's a top coat), then blow dry again.

[FrannyG]

Absolutely not. I've been colouring my hair for 18 years, and there is no difference between when I used to blow dry and now. My colour holds just fine.

[FrannyG]

I have had my hair highlighted since I was in middle school, and I blow dry my hair everytime I shower. It actually makes my hair BRIGHTER when I blow dry. When I air dry, it looks a little dull.

Plus on days when I don't feel as though my hair is shining enough, I blow dry, apply Kerastase Vernis Nutri-Scupt (it's a top coat), then blow dry again.

A couple of drops of jojoba oil really bring out my shine after air drying.

I'm not going to tell you not to blow-dry though. For some people, it's essential.

[shadowclaw]

I would think that if you have gross city water with all those added chemicals and maybe hard water also, maybe your hair color would fade faster than if you had well water or used bottled water. However, I don't think air drying vs. blow drying will make much of a difference.

And I agree, blow drying would be more likely to fade color than air drying, due to the heat. To those of you who say your color looks better with blow drying, this is probably because heat temporarily smooths things and makes hair shiny and bright. My hair always look best after a good blow drying, but eventually it gets dried out. My virgin hair didn't mind blow drying everyday, but my chemically colored hair goes crunchy after a while.

Flat ironing does the same, or so I'm told. I never used one, so I don't know from experience.

[Carolyn]

I have never heard of such a thing. I've been high lighting and coloring to cover my grays for a long time. There is no difference in color in how I dry my hair. I air dry most of the time but now and then I blow dry. It sounds like typical nonsense to me.

[Centelleo]

That advice is really strange! If anything, avoiding heat styling and air-drying your hair would preserve your hair color! If your water's pH levels are extremely alkaline (aka hard), I could see how leaving the water on your could potentially strip your color eventually but that is easily remedied by a weak acidic rinse to seal the cuticle (and color).

[ravenreed]

That does not make much sense from a chemistry standpoint, IMO. Maybe a chemist can correct me. When water evaporates, whether by air drying or blow drying, the chemicals in the water would be left behind, regardless of method. (That is how we distill water AND make the stuff left behind more concentrated...)

Anyway, I chemically colored my hair from '86 on, with a three year break in there. I never, ever noticed that my hair faded faster or slower depending on hair dryer usage.



This may sound crazy, but I read in a magazine AND was told by a hair stylist, one I trust :), that allowing your hair to air dry instead of blow drying can cause your color to fade faster. Something to do with the water staying on your hair and the chemicals in the water. Anybody else heard this? I know heat can damage your hair, but if water remaining on too long fades it, what to do??

Thanks everyone~ :confused:

[ericthegreat]

This may sound crazy, but I read in a magazine AND was told by a hair stylist, one I trust :), that allowing your hair to air dry instead of blow drying can cause your color to fade faster. Something to do with the water staying on your hair and the chemicals in the water. Anybody else heard this? I know heat can damage your hair, but if water remaining on too long fades it, what to do??

Thanks everyone~ :confused:

If I may be frank here, whoever that 'hairstylist' is has it completely ass backwards. I'm training to be a top stylist myself, and I can definitely assure you that heat will cause haircolour to lighten and fade a whole lot more than simple air-drying.

If you want to truly preserve your exact shade of haircolour, you must in fact try as best as you can to avoid exposing your hair to all excess forms of heat and also direct sunlight. Wash your hair only with cool or even cold water if you can stand it, and definitely only air-dry your hair. Plus, you should also use a water filter on your showerhead on the safe side so that you don't end up accidently staining your hair with unwanted shades due to all the minerals in the water. Also, you will need to do your roots and refresh your colour a little bit more often than what would normally be recommended, say maybe every 4 weeks. Because unless you are also following the "No water" haircare routine, any time you wash, CO, or even simply WO your hair, the water will remove some of the colour from your hair, its unavoidable. There are also colour infused shampoos and conditioners out there, but those really only serve to enhance whatever colour you already have in your hair. They do not deposit any actual colour to your hair, but they are helpful if you want to stretch out the time between your colour appointments.

[MandyBeth]

Heat styling can DARKEN the appearence to some degree. Don't know how much a hair dryer will do that, but in some people, it's fairly obvious with a curling iron or straightener.

But air drying doesn't strip color, it just may not smooth the top layer as much - jojoba oil fixes that. I air dried chemical colors for errmm, 8 years or so and it never faded any faster or sooner unless I used a harsh shampoo.

Plus, heat styling WILL damage your hair.

[Syaoransbear]

No, it's the opposite. Blowdrying and heat styling lightens and fades color. One time I straightened my hair with a REAL flat iron(one for ironing clothes) and my hair lightened so much EVERYONE thought I dyed it. It was a big difference.

[Crazycatlady]

Thanks for the great tips everyone! I think I'll give my blowdryer a rest, at least a few days a week and then use it on cool setting when I'm pressed for time. I appreciate you guys!! :)