Drying hair faster without damage?

[Madora]

@ Blazing Heart...

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

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...96#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.