I've read several sources that mention that blowdrying your hair can be damaging. Just wondering if you all have found that to be true, or if that only applies if one uses high heat really close to the hair.

My hair tends to get *very* frizzy and flyaway if I don't blowdry - any of you with similar hair types - how do you handle this?

TIA,

Rachel

Blowdrying always leaves my hear feeling "stretched," and I always have lots of breakage afterwards. --Cheryl

Have you tried using a leave-in to help with the frizzies? Or would that weigh your hair down?

Generally, blow drying (frying) is said to be incredibly damaging to hair. You need to look at how you're blowdrying, though. Many of the people here who blowdry like to use a cool setting on a medium to low air flow. It's the heat and the angle of the air flow that will really getcha (always angle the air flow down the strand, away from your scalp).

Personally, I only blowdry when I'm in a hurry and want to curl my hair - which isn't very often. My hair absolutely hates my dryer. LOL I get super powered flyaways (especially around my hairline) that can only be tamed with some oil or Kiehl's Creme with Silk Groom (my fav ;) ).

HTHS!

I blowdry about 5 times a week on "warm" and it doesn't seem to be hurting my hair. I still have about 6" of perm on my ends yet to grow out (or cut off!) and unless I blowdry, it looks really raggedy. I'm trying to find alternative ways of drying my hair, but for the time being, it seems to be fine, plus I really like the way it looks after blowing it. I'm sure I'm one of the few here who blowdries though! :shock: If you're not using the hot setting, aren't keeping it focused on one area for a long time and if it's not tangling your hair, it's probably not going to harm your hair. But that's just my humble 2 cents worth... :) Also, my hair is only 26", so I might be changing my tune as it gets longer and the perm is removed...

Hope that helps a little.

but you might be right. When my hair was about BS and a bit longer, I used to blow-dry and it was fine. I would get regular trims and the damage did not really show since it was being cut off.

However, once the hair started getting longer, it became very finicky. It was ALWAYS dry, dry, dry and I think growing it out while blow-drying had a lot to do with it. My scalp is extremely oily, but my hair was dry (go figure!).

Today, I take care of my ends and don't let the blow-fryer near my hair. I used to roller-set and that was wonderful...it made my hair look better than when I blow-fryed, but I have gotten lazy as the hair got longer and now, I just wash, comb & oil, and after a half hour or so, put it up in a bun. It takes a couple of times of doing this for the hair to dry completely, but I like the results.

I think only you can assess the damage the blow dryer might be doing to your hair. For some people the dryer is just too damaging under any circumstances. I rarely blow dry my whole head. I often blow dry the scalp area on cool. These cold winters days! It gives it a little lift that I like. I air dry as much as possible and then finish up the scalp area with the blow dryer. Sometimes I use my hot air round brush to smooth things out and turn the ends under. I know this is bad but I love the look. I use a pea sized drop of Phyto 9 before any kind of blow drying. That seems to help. I think the cooler the better and for as little time as possible and make up for damage with oiling and or a good leave in. We all have to decide what's good for our own hair. I try to take the best care I can of my hair but there are days when I want that straight smooth shined up hair and I'll use the dryer and the round brush to get it. For me, why have long hair if it can't be fun and look the way you want it to? :D At least once in a while :D

Thanks for the input, Dweamie. I think you are probably right for longer hair and I am looking at alternative ways of drying as my hair gets longer. It's just the remnants of my perm keeping me from swearing the dryer off. As it is, it just looks so much better now when I blowdry. So, I should retract my above comment and state that drying shorter hair is probably okay, but once it gets below BS, maybe not... Any other opinions out there??? :)

And by the way, Dweamie, looking at your hair makes me think you must know what you're talking about! :D

Avi

Ok, thanks for the feedback, everyone! Currently, I've just been giving a short blowdry to my roots.. helps set my hair so I don't look like I have bedhead. I haven't been using low heat, though, so... I probably have been damaging my hair a bit.

If I switch off the "blow-fryer", then do you have any suggestions as to how I can get my hair to look half decent? I do airdry once in a while, but find that airdrying creates a whole lot of more frizzes and tangly hair than does blowdrying.

Don't have a leave in conditioner, right now - don't use any conditioner, currently, although I'm going to be getting one soon. Do you think that using a conditioner will allow me to airdry without getting that fuzzball look?

Thanks for helping me!

Rachel

Oh, and I forgot to add - my hair is below bs.

Conditioner will help to weigh down your hair, which might help prevent the frizz from happening, especially if it's frizzing because it's dry.

If just conditioning doesn't help, then you should be able to use the same conditioner, either straight up or diluted a bit, as a leave-in.

Thank you, Kao, I'll try that next time I wash my hair.

Rachel

I blowdry everyday. I don't have time to let it air-dry. I keep it up in a towel for about 45 minutes, then blow it the rest of the way dry.

I agree that cooler and lower settings are better. I think everyone's hair reacts differently.