Leave-ins and towel-drying

[YepLilly]

When do you towel-dry? (before applying a leave-in / after / before and after / never)?

Does this depend on what kind of leave-in you're applying (oil, cream, gel, serum, conditioner)?

I'm mainly trying to minimize frizz and puffiness and was curious about what you all do :)

[furnival]

If you're trying to minimise frizz, you might have better results by not towel-drying at all, just leaving your hair to dry naturally. Frizz-wise, the less you mess with it as it's drying, the better. I never towel-dry mine, I just give it a very gentle squeeze with the towel and leave it alone. I don't reckon scrubbing away with a towel is very good for your hair- I always picture the coarse towel roughening up the cuticle and tangling up the hairs. :undecided Others may disagree!

[vanillabones]

I use a microfiber towel to dry my hair when I am not being lazy. Sometimes I will dry it right away with that once my hair is wet and out of the shower, I will lay it over my head and press down on all the hair. It sucks up about half of the water in my hair. From there I use a leave-in detangler and coconut oil for the ends, I switch up the order but try to do the coconut oil first, then I comb with my body shop wooden comb and let it air dry from there. I do switch up the orders a lot, sometimes I will put in the leave-in and then use the towel to squeeze out moisture then apply coconut oil then detangle. I really see no difference in the orders but that is just me :( I have never experimented with the results so I guess this wasn't really that much help.

[Siiri]

I use a commercial leave-in conditioner and apply it after I have towel dried. I don't scrub with the towel, just press my hair with it so it doesn't cause damage.

[alwayssmiling]

Firstly I highly recommend using an old tshirt instead of a towel. For me it depends on when I put my leave in - in. Sometimes my leave in is just ordinary conditioner that I scrunch into my ends whilst I am in the shower and my hair is dripping wet. I then place the tshirt into a turbon on my head - this absorbs any excess product and stops in looking too lank. But if I am using some swanky, super duper special product I leave the tshirt on my hair until its just slightly damp and then use the product. (Same goes if I am using coconut oil).

[Tabitha]

I wrap my hair in 2 towels, one after the other, then apply the leave-in to just-damp hair.

Makes no sense to apply the leave-in then towel-dry, as you'd get product all over the towel (wasteful and messy).

[celebriangel]

I don't "towel-dry" in the conventional sense either. I gently squeeze the water out of my hair, then put it up in a microfibre towel until most of the moisture is gone. If I'm in a hurry, I do it again with a t-shirt. I then detangle with a comb or my fingers, wait for a bit until my hair is damp rather than wet, and apply my leave-in.

I use nightblooming's panacea salve - summer, for preference, which is a cream-like mixture with various oils, butters and herbs. I would apply most oils at the same stage. Sometimes, if I intend to wear my hair down, I will wait a bit longer until my hair is almost dry, and apply Nightblooming's Triple Moon oil, a very light oil mix based on sunflower oil.

I've never tried aloe vera gel as a leave-in - I prefer my hair soft and am afraid it would give me the crunchies. If I were going to use conditioner as a leave-in (I have tried this and my hair does not like it), I would apply when my hair was soaking wet.

I always oil my hair damp - If I wish to oil between washes I damp my hair - so that the oil can seal in the moisture. My ends go weird if I oil dry, but if I oil wet I tend to apply too much by mistake.

To minimize puffiness/frizz, damp bunning is the best thing I have found, though applying oils to damp hair helps too. Anything you can do to slow down the drying process will help.

[rowie]

I agree with many users that towel drying is very bad for wavy and curly hair peeps. I personally would shake my hair (grab it into a pony tail and gently shake of any excess water, if your hair is not long then grab sections into ponytails and repeat process), and then let it air dry. Once my hair is completely dry, I would then apply extra virgin olive oil to the ends of my hair, being careful as much as possible not to disturb any wave patterns in my head.

But then again I am in the water only regime (WO), and I like to stretch my washes until I have a day off because of the drying times of my hair. Plus stretching your washes I feel is better for wavy and curly hair peeps. Good luck!!!

[rowie]

I agree with many users that towel drying is very bad for wavy and curly hair peeps. I personally would shake my hair (grab it into a pony tail and gently shake of any excess water, if your hair is not long then grab sections into ponytails and repeat process), and then let it air dry. Once my hair is completely dry, I would then apply extra virgin olive oil to the ends of my hair, being careful as much as possible not to disturb any wave patterns in my head.

But then again I am in the water only regime (WO), and I like to stretch my washes until I have a day off because of the drying times of my hair. Plus stretching your washes I feel is better for wavy and curly hair peeps. Good luck!!!
oops I meant extra virgin coconut oil. Olive oil is not recommended in WO.

[dRummie]

I use leave-in conditioner, and sometimes gel (commercial or aloe). Both go in when my hair is dripping wet right after rinsing. After that I scrunch as much water as I can out with my hands, and put it up in a microfiber towel/t-shirt until it's about half dry. I find that the longer I keep it in a t-shirt, the less frizz I have (vs just leaving it down after scrunching).

[spidermom]

I consider towels too rough for my hair. Instead, I use flannel pillowcases to drop my hair into and blot the extra water with. If I want to use a leave-in, I apply it after I remove the pillowcase.

[YepLilly]

There's a lot of useful information here! Thank you all for the replies :blossom:

[swearnsue]

These posts just reminded me that 50 years ago after my bath my dad would give me a "scalp treatment" which was he would take the towel and rub it on my hair really rough. It kinda hurt be never said so because I wanted the attention! I have never thought about towels being too rough but it makes so much sense. I have learned so much on this site! Thank you ladies for sharing. Using a t-shirt, OMG when I think of the ones I've thrown out over the years! Ok, from now on I will blot dry gently. BTW, that is how we wash and dry long haired dogs, like Yorkies.:cool:

[SusanSt]

I wrap my head in a towel about washing and leave it wrapped for about 30 minutes. Then I lightly apply coconut oil as a leave-in.

[CaityBear]

I always towel dry then add leave in conditioner spray and sometimes squish more water out of my hair afterwards and then I put my hair cream in.

[TrudieCat]

I've done both but these days I comb my leave-in in while my hair is soaking wet and then put it up in a t-shirt or turbie modified plop. Even though is seems silly to towel dry after applying leave-in, I seem to get better results this way. I use a lot of leave-in, btw - regular conditioner and gel, and sometimes I'll add a couple drops of argan oil to that.