Is Blow Drying Better Than Air Drying?
“Is blow drying your hair better than air drying your hair?”
The answer to this question might surprise you… the short answer is YES. Blow drying your hair is generally better for your hair health than letting it air dry. Are you surprised?
A lot of my MONAT customers are shocked to hear this - for so many years we’ve been told how damaging applying heat to our hair can be, so the assumption is air drying is the way to go. While, if done incorrectly, hot tools certainly can be damaging they might actually be the less of two evils. Let me explain further…
I hear it from people all the time: “I always air dry, never use a hair dryer, why is my hair still frizzy and breaking?”
The truth is, air drying your hair can do more damage than good because over time, air drying can cause your scalp to overcompensate, overproducing oil. Air drying can also cause damage to the inner layer of the hair, causing hygral fatigue. Additionally, on top of breakage, air-drying can also increase frizz, build-up, and mildew, especially for textured and curly hair.
A Korean study published on Annals of Dermatology found that using a hair dryer caused *less* damage than drying hair naturally.
Hair is more prone to breakage when wet, it’s in it’s most vulnerable state and snaps easily. Especially if you go to bed with wet hair, which is a major no-no. Please don’t do that!
So you’re probably wondering what the solution is then, am I right?
Here are some important tips for using heat to dry your hair:
➡️ always use a cyclic-silicone free heat protectant. my favorite is the line of heat protectants from MONAT, shoot me a DM for the one that’s right for your hair type!
➡️ use a hair dryer that has adjustable heat settings, and start with lower heat.
➡️ blow dry in sections, I love using the Dyson Air Wrap. another good option is sectioning hair off and using a paddle brush to smooth.
The moral of the story when it comes to your hair health? Sometimes doing less, isn’t always better. ❤️
If you’d like more information on the nontoxic, anti-aging haircare line I swear by, I would love to chat further. Please drop your contact information below, and I’ll be in touch soon.