Drying hair faster without damage?

[BlazingHeart]

Okay, I've read enough here to know that I shouldn't be ruffling my hair with my towel. Thing is, I've got super-thick hair, and I'll be at the drippy-wet stage for over half an hour if I don't do that (and if I try to air-dry it without ruffling my hair with the towel, it takes about two days). I know of the things I'm doing this is probably the one creating the most damage.

I tried searching and most of what I'm finding is the oft-repeated instruction to stop doing what I'm doing because it's creating damage.

So I need a method of getting my hair dry faster than leave-it-alone-completely but less damaging than what I'm doing now.

If you use a brand name anything, please tell me what brand it is! I'm wondering if things like the Turbie towel actually speed drying, among other things.

Thanks in advance,
~Blaze

Edited to add: I have neck and back problems, so I can't just leave one of my towels wrapped around my hair - way too much weight! Admittedly, I do use nice big, thick towels.

[celebriangel]

What you need is a light, skinny towel. Preferably a *really* absorbent one - microfibre ones work well (which is why turbie towels are good).

I find that if I wrap my hair up in a towel, turban it, and leave for 10 minutes, my hair is well through the drippy stage and right into damp. It then air dries almost all the way within an hour.

Good towels really, really make a difference here.

Also, what you can do is flip your hair over, take a section and sort of squeeze it *gently* between the towel, more patting it like you're trying to absorb water from a carpet with kitchen towel, then repeat, slowly going down the section of hair. I used to do this taking about quarter-sections of my hair. No ruffling involved. Then I would soft of go in with my towel and do something similar on my scalp - basically, just treating the towel like some kitchen roll.

[2peasinapod]

In the summer time, I like to leave a ceiling fan on. :)

[Dragon]

I also like to leave the ceiling fan on in summer. Also putting a towel over your shoulder may help. I also find sitting out side in the sun for a while helps it dry faster but not to long as don't want to burn.

[RitaCeleste]

I wrap my hair like I'm gonna turban it and just use my hands to squeeze the water out my hair so I don't drip much. Then run my fingers or wide bristled brush threw it and separate the hairs so the air can get to them. It dries pretty quick once my hair isn't clumpy and wet.

[littlestarface]

I like my turbie towel also using a fan works good too. My hair takes hours to dry but using a fan or turbie towel makes it speed up the process.

[EtherealOde]

Microfiber towels are super absorbent and do a great job at wicking the moisture from your hair. If you don't have them, wrap your hair in a series of regular towels to get a similar effect. Don't use fabric softener when washing or drying your towels. It only makes them less absorbent.

[chenille]

My process goes like this: first I put my hair up in a turban long enough to get past the drippy stage, about 15 minutes or so. Then I sit down at my desk, where I have a small desktop fan, about 9 inches in diameter. I take down the turban and turn the fan on "low." I do computer stuff for a while (reading LHC and blogs) and often I'll finger-comb a little in front of the fan, which helps get the air circulating around all the strands. That's about another 15 or 20 minutes. At that point it's usually still a bit damp, but usually I just bun it and go.

[beez1717]

I tend to squeeze my hair with a towel and then just give on my way. That or I use the hair fryer. The horror!!! Lol

[krissykins]

I like to gently squeeze the excess moisture out of my hair before putting it in an old cotton T-shirt. I never put fabric on my hair until I'm past the drippy stage. :)

[Madora]

@ Blazing Heart...

Here's a link to my post re: air drying your hair. Hope it helps:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?p=1649896#post1649896

[YesitsReal]

I use a couple of white cotton t-shirts.

I take the first one and squeeze it down the length to get excess water out, then I take a second one, put it around my head and let it hang down the back (think of a nun's habit--that's kind of what it looks like, sort of). Then I twist it gently and bun it with two hair elastics or scrunchies. I leave it in for however long I have to get ready, and it soaks up a pretty good amount of water before I take it down. Plus my hair seems less frizzy with the jersey cotton, as opposed to terrycloth.

[silverjen]

I press the towel firmly against my head without rubbing or moving it around. I do this both standing straight up, and bending forward. I then grab my length (what little I have) in the towel and squeeze, again without rubbing or moving it. This process gets quite a bit of water out.

Last step is to finger comb and fluff my hair up, so that it's not plastered to my scalp. This allows air to circulate all around, to speed up drying. I also like to scrunch to encourage my waves to form.

My hair dries just as fast this way as when I used to rub.

[BlazingHeart]

I think I'm going to go with ordering some of the Turbies, since a lot of people seem to like microfiber. I do rub most of the water out of my hair first by compressing it gently with my hands, like Madora mentioned as one of her steps, and then I can pat my hair dry with one of my thick towels (pat nicely, Blaze, don't ruffle/rub), and then put it into a Turbie. It's a bunch of steps, but if it keeps me from getting soaked while I wait for my hair to dry and dries it in a reasonable amount of time, it sounds like a plan.

Madora, your fanning technique sounds like it's very effective, but with my disability, there's no way I could do it. The repetitive motions would put far too much stress on my shoulders and elbow-tendons.

I guess I'll report back once I've tried the Turbies!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I had a feeling the Turbies were probably effective, but one never knows with these 'as seen on TV' things.

~Blaze

[IanB]

Yep, just as mentioned, I gently squeeze my hair to get the excess water out, then pat with a towel, then air dry. Mind you, it still takes a good couple of hours!

[Sweet Beat]

I sometimes use a hairdryer what's blowing cold air :)

[Panth]

Combing with a wide-toothed comb, or if your hair doesn't like that then separating it out with your hands/fingers. It increases the surface area of the hair by breaking down big clumps, resulting in faster evaporation.

[Hiriel]

I have thick hair myself, and all I have to do is wrap it in a microfibre towel for ten minutes. It'll still be damp, but not dripping at all, and will air dry in an hour or two.

[Madora]

@ Blazing Heart...

So sorry to read about your issues with tendons and repetitive motion stuff.

By all means, do whatever is best for you.

Perhaps all microfiber towels are not created equal..but I'd be wary of using them. My microfiber towel (used to catch spills on my drainboard) catches on my skin and is rough. Ditto, one I bought for a face cloth. Went back to using a regular washrag.

Good luck!

[Anje]

Well, I turban my hair for just a few minutes, then rotate the towel to get a dry part and re-turban for a few minutes more. I don't know whether your back can handle it at all, but I find that maybe 10 minutes of total turban time cuts down on how long my hair takes to dry and how drippy it is pretty substantially.

The other thing that helps mine dry faster is to leave it loose, but fluff it with my fingers (especially near the roots) whenever I think to do it. Getting a little air into the hair really speeds the process without having to deal with hair blowing in the wind or fan or whatever.

[agoddess2die4]

I don't have thick hair, but like others said, I flip head over and squeeze it out some, then turban while I dry body, brush teeth, put on lotion...pretty much while I do morning routine, then it's damp.

[Kdc0180]

If you apply argan oil right after combing through wet hair it increases dry time drastically.

[seaj]

I like to use a fan. The electric household kind. After squeezing out extra water and gently towel drying, I shake my head upside down to break up my clumpy wet hair then I bend over in all sorts of ways to get the air current to pass through my hair. I hold the ends in position to avoid unnecessary friction and tangles. I've been doing this for almost a year and I have no damage at all. It's 3 or 4 times faster than air drying for me.

[BlazingHeart]

Well, this is what I've settled on for drying my hair, at this point:

When I get out of the shower, I turban my hair with a towel because if I don't keep my hair up I can't get my body dry. It stays up for idk 5-10 minutes while I dry my body. Once my body is dry, I bend forward at the waist and let my hair out of the towel, and use the parts of the towel that are still dry to pat my hair as dry as possible. Then I put it in a turbie twist. I let it stay in the turbie twist for 15-20 minutes or until the turbie is quite wet, then I take it down and put it in a second turbie twist. I let it stay in for again 15-20 minutes, take it down, and put it in a third turbie twist. I let it stay for 20-30 minutes, or until the turbie is all wet. Then I put a dry handtowel over my pillow and fan my hair out to finish drying. Doing all of that, my hair is now consistently dry when I wake up in the morning, which is a big improvement. It seems like it cuts my drying time in half, give or take. (and that's half from when I was touseling my hair with a towel firmly, which I learned pretty quickly not to do from LHC advice! So many fewer tangles this way!)

My turbies aren't microfiber, they're terrycloth. I'm not having any trouble with them snagging my hair or causing tangles or anything like that.

~Blaze