How long does it take you to dry your hair (and style) and how do you do it?

[Cate36]

In an attempt to keep heat away from my hair, I'm avoiding hot hair, or sun to dry my hair.

I started with air drying.. but honestly.. it takes HOURS.. and my hair is fine! Goodness knows how some of you air dryer's with thick long hair cope! Do you take the day off work?!

It's OK to say do it over night.. but I can't sleep on my hair wet because I wake up with it looking.. like I've slept on it!

So now I am using the cold setting on my hair dryer... I swear, it takes me over an hour.. in fact I do all sorts of things whilst drying it with my hair dryer cold setting..wiggling hips to do a bit of exercise..(yes, I imagine I'm a belly dancer in front of the mirror ;-) ) trying to listen to the radio over the noise of the hair dryer... I get through a litre of water whilst doing it (as I try and drink a gallon of water a day..) sigh.. it takes for ever...

How does everyone else do it?

[AmaryllisRed]

Oh it takes FOREVER.
I wash my hair at night and then stay up as long as I can but I always have to go to bed with it damp, if not just plain wet. On those nights, I usually sleep with it loose, sleeping on my side and trailing it out behind me.
It's usually still damp enough when I get up the next day that I can make it look presentable if I want to wear it down. But I usually braid and/or bun it so it doesn't really matter if sleeping on it made it look weird.
And really the only parts that look weird in the morning are my bangs.

It takes too long to dry for me to wash in the morning unless I'm staying home all day. I don't mind going out with damp or wet hair in warm weather but it's winter here now. Brrr!
I also only wash 2-3 times a week so it's not something I have to worry about every day.

[Ophidian]

I’m lazy. I wash my hair in the evening once a week, plop it in a buff or old tshirt I loosely twist on top of my head, then leave it like that until I ready to go to bed. At that point I let it down, lightly oil the ends, and wrap it in my silk scarf for the night either loose or loosely damp braided. Then I wake up, finger comb it while it’s still a bit damp, then do a low, loose bun for the day held with an acrylic stick (waterproof, my hair takes a while to fully dry). By evening it’s usually pretty much dry, especially if I take the bun down and redo it at some point during the day.

Loose damp braiding/bunning is basically how I tame my hair, that and oiling. If I air dry my hair loose I look like Hagrid, no joke.

That said, I never wear my hair down, so my “styling” is mostly to tame the flyaways and get my hair to sort of compact together so it will make nice updos. I imagine that it I wanted to wear it down my routine might be different.

Neat thread, by the way . We often talk about bits and pieces of our routines but it’s kinda cool seeing all the parts laid out start to finish.

[Cate36]

I’m lazy. I wash my hair in the evening once a week, plop it in a buff or old tshirt I loosely twist on top of my head, then leave it like that until I ready to go to bed. At that point I let it down, lightly oil the ends, and wrap it in my silk scarf for the night either loose or loosely damp braided. Then I wake up, finger comb it while it’s still a bit damp, then do a low, loose bun for the day held with an acrylic stick (waterproof, my hair takes a while to fully dry). By evening it’s usually pretty much dry, especially if I take the bun down and redo it at some point during the day.

Loose damp braiding/bunning is basically how I tame my hair, that and oiling. If I air dry my hair loose I look like Hagrid, no joke.

That said, I never wear my hair down, so my “styling” is mostly to tame the flyaways and get my hair to sort of compact together so it will make nice updos. I imagine that it I wanted to wear it down my routine might be different.

Neat thread, by the way . We often talk about bits and pieces of our routines but it’s kinda cool seeing all the parts laid out start to finish.

A few years ago, I used to wear my hair up all the time also.. tied back at the neck mainly.. but I was also a terror for washing it every day (yes yes.. I know!) well I swear, it never dried! I would wake in the morning after washing it the previous morning..and it still felt damp.. Now I wear my hair down all the time..

[akurah]

do you have a small space heater? think something like this: https://www.vornado.com/shop/heaters...ersonal-heater

I use my space heater to dry my hair. I usually set it on the floor right behind my chair (pointing at my hair/chair/me), and have it on, and i wait 30-60 minutes. Then I move it to a small/short table, put said table behind my chair, and go another 30-60 minutes.

I also have some really fantastic results using smooth microfiber towels, specifically this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Acteon-Comp...dp/B01JQPIHYA/
there are other similar microfiber towels that will probably give good results, but I have never been happy with the hair-specific ones (ex: turbie twist, aquis, etc)

[cjk]

Towel scrunching to remove most of the moisture. Then I do my thing.

Since I'm a curly I apply a gel cast while still wet, and finger comb. A little heavy-metal head banging, then I flip my hair back. Then I clip my hair up with beak clips, to support the curls while they harden.

I prefer air drying.

But since winter got here, the 8-10 hours it takes to air dry has stretched to almost twice that time. So I've started using my hair dryer on low, the coolest setting. Gets 90% of the moisture out. That leaves it dry in a mere 4 or 5 hours.

Then I scrunch the crunch.

When I want to have a more refined style than wild natural curls, I braid. My preferred style is asymmetrical double Dutch braids, and that takes me a while. A single braid, French or Dutch, goes much quicker. Or sometimes I just pull it back into one or two ponytails. That's quick.

It depends on my mood.

[Jo Ann]

I leave mine wrapped in an absorbent terrycloth towel for about ten minutes, apply my leave-in conditioner and oil, then sit in front of a floor fan for about ten minutes, fingercombing as my hair dries...

[TreesOfEternity]

Mine takes about 4 hours to dry on its own. I use the blow dryer on cold setting and make sure the scalp is dry. Then I would dry the length a little bit and when it’s just a little damp I’ll braid it and go on with my day (if I’m staying at home I let it lose).

[Joules]

Oh it takes FOREVER.
I wash my hair at night and then stay up as long as I can but I always have to go to bed with it damp, if not just plain wet. On those nights, I usually sleep with it loose, sleeping on my side and trailing it out behind me.
It's usually still damp enough when I get up the next day that I can make it look presentable if I want to wear it down. But I usually braid and/or bun it so it doesn't really matter if sleeping on it made it look weird.
And really the only parts that look weird in the morning are my bangs.

It takes too long to dry for me to wash in the morning unless I'm staying home all day. I don't mind going out with damp or wet hair in warm weather but it's winter here now. Brrr!
I also only wash 2-3 times a week so it's not something I have to worry about every day.

I'm exactly the same. I just wash my hair in the evening and go to bed with it damp hoping it would be dry by morning. Since I grew out my bangs I don't even have to worry about them. A nice French braid can mask any weirdness afterwards

[Arciela]

Mine takes a full day >< I use a turbie twist and it helps a bit but in the end I'd say if I wash it when I wake up..by the time I go to bed it's still damp.