Towel-drying your hair is important to help remove water, so hair can dry faster. Yet, the wrong technique can result in extra frizz, tangles, and poufiness. The right ways to air dry hair include gentle drying techniques. It's best to use your towel to squeeze water out from your hair.
Air drying is the minimalist's match made in heaven—it can save you major time and effort with the right tricks. It's also a great way to avoid or recover from heat damage. The key to healthy air drying? Don't let your hair stay wet for too long.
Air-drying is not bad for your skin! There's no reason you would need to towel off after getting wet, other than the water may get on your clothes or make you a little colder. And as we've covered, air-drying can actually have benefits, so the answer is really quite the opposite!
Instead of drying your hair with a towel post-shower, swap it for a cotton T-shirt. “When hair is wet, it becomes weaker and softer,” explains hairstylist Isabella Vázquez. “If we use a regular towel to dry it, the grooves of the towel become aggressors to the cuticle of the hair.
All you need is a soft microfiber hair towel. Remember, regular towels are rough and course and tend to tangle hair badly. Once you finish washing your hair, gently squeeze out excess water, starting from the scalp and moving towards the ends. Your hair will still be damp, but it shouldn't be dripping wet.
The frizziness of my hair is an on-going battle I have but switching to t-shirt drying has really helped. Now I find that my hair only starts to get frizzy the third day after washing whereas previously it would look frizzy the next day. Lastly, my curls look better and are more defined.
Never use a cloth dish towel to dry a food preparation surface; this could result in cross-contamination. The potential for contamination should also be considered when hand washing dishes with a sponge or dish cloth.
Air drying minimizes heat damage and allows your hair to rejuvenate at its own pace. A downside to this technique is that it takes a while for the drying to complete. It may not be suitable if you must go to sleep early or attend another event immediately after the shower.
You're using a towel.
Wrapping your hair in a towel the moment you step out of the shower is almost instinctual, but if you're planning to properly air-dry, you may want to rethink it. “Aggressively drying your hair with a towel results in frizz and tangled hair,” Branch tells Allure.
So while direct, excessive heat can cause damage to the surface part of the hair strands, air-drying can cause trauma to that inner layer. When the cell membrane complex layer swells, it can weaken the hair over time, explains Dr. Longsworth. It can also cause something called hygral fatigue.
Forget heat, the biggest problem our hair has to deal with is water. Air Drying Hair Is More Damaging Than Blow Drying! This changes everything. A study carried out and documented here suggests that letting hair air dry actually causes damage to the hair.
"Simply put, hair is at its most vulnerable when wet. Sleeping with wet hair can lead to a host of problems for the scalp: unwanted bacteria, fungal infections, skin irritation, itchiness, dryness, redness, and dandruff," says hairstylist Miko Branch, co-founder of hair care brand Miss Jessie's.
Twist the towel, starting as close to your forehead as possible. Keep twisting in one direction until you reach the end, and then straighten, flipping the end of the twist on top of your head. Leave your hair in the wrap for 20-30 minutes.
The best way to dry your hair is to let it air dry under the fan as much as possible. However, some experts believe combining air and blow-drying is healthier than just air drying. It is good to let your hair air-dry seventy percent of the way and then blow-dry till they become dry ultimately.
When used timely and moderately, blow drying is better for scalp and hair. Air drying (like over washing) over an extended period can cause scalp to compensate, over produce oil leaving hair more oily, and causing you to fight the imbalance with more and more shampoo for oily scalp and hair.
Generally, if your hair isn't greasy or dry, you should cleanse it every two to three days, King recommends. But if you wash hair too often for your hair type, "it could be very drying to the hair, depending on the ingredients in the shampoo," King says.
Throw a dry bath towel in with the garments you need dried quickly. The towel will absorb some of the moisture, making your items dry faster.
For sanitary reasons, you should always wash bath towels separately from clothing items. Putting towels in their own load also makes it easier to adjust the setting based on color. It's also easier to dry towels in the same load since damp towels dry slower than most clothes.
When hair is wet it's at its most fragile so grabbing a towel and roughly drying is a big no-no. The friction causes snapping and ruffles the cuticle, leaving hair frizzy. Swap your bathroom towel for a microfiber hair towel. Microfiber towels are great at wicking moisture, helping the hair dry faster.
If you struggle with frizzy hair after blow drying, it's a sign that you're blow drying your hair wrong. Hair can get frizzy from blow drying sopping-wet hair, not fully drying your hair, holding the hair dryer too close, blow drying in the wrong direction, or using the wrong dryer, brush or products.
Keep hair moisturized after shower
Moisture in your hair makes it easier to combat frizz and detangle any knots after a shower. Many hairstylists recommend hydrating with a conditioner before applying your oil of choice. If you have tight curls, use heavier emulsifiers like shea butter to loosen the knots.
"If your hair takes a long time to dry, it typically means it's highly porous," she explains. "For example, if it takes a day to dry or it takes a longer time than average to blow dry your hair, then you know you have high porosity hair."