The Biggest Myth About Hair Drying

When it comes to human hair, myths abound.

If you’ve constantly tried to alter the way you wash, rinse, cut, dry or style your hair to suit every myth, you’d soon be wishing you could wear a scarf all day, every day.

Tackling one myth at a time, and probably the biggest myth, is the only way to remain hair-sane and follicle-healthy.

So … drum roll, please, for the biggest hair myth of all … air-drying hair is healthier and less damaging than using a blow dryer.

It’s Not Necessarily So — Debunking the Hair Drying Myth

Everything pertaining to drying hair starts off with a wet head. What do you do with all that wet hair? Sit in the sun and let the heat from a distant star slowly caress your wet locks until they dry naturally? Aim a blow dryer, set at its highest settings, at your damp hair, jump in your car and head to work? Problems arise with the process of either air-drying or blow-drying wet hair.

Both methods, air-drying or blow-drying, have their pros and cons. But blow drying hair is not damaging or harmful in and of itself. Hair drying isn’t complicated, just commonsensical.

Problems Associated with Air-Drying Hair

Air-drying hair seems like the most natural thing in the world. It was for eons, before the invention of artificial hair drying methods. However, there would have been no need for ancient Egyptians to wear wigs.

Air-drying, when done correctly, isn’t necessarily bad for your hair. But it isn’t particularly good for it either, nor is it the preferred method.

Research has shown that drying a wet head of hair vigorously with a towel causes hair to become brittle and fragile. Especially sandwiching long hair between folded sections of the towel and rubbing, pulling or twisting the strands. Split-ends result, as well as stripping it of beneficial nutrients.

If your hair is really wet, it takes longer to air dry. Hair is much susceptible to injury from breaking and brittleness from the loss of proteins and protective oils.

Blow-Drying Hair Isn’t Bad

Yes, if you crank up the dryer to its hottest setting and attack moisture on very wet hair, then using a blow dryer is bad.

But when used in conjunction with a towel to lightly absorb some of the water from wet hair, a blow dryer on its lowest temperature setting is ideal. Held approximately six inches from your hair, it is actually the best and safest hair drying technique. Remember to blot, not rub and then allow hair to partially air dry.

So, fear not the blow dryer and debunk the biggest hair drying myth of all.