Should I air-dry or blow-dry my hair?

You might think that it’s better to avoid blow-drying because heat is damaging to the hair. That’s true, but wet is more fragile than dry hair and is prone to breakage. So, there should be a balance between the two.

Water can make the hair swell up. The inner cuticles swell up when the hair is wet, but the outer cuticles remain rigid and do not swell up. This leads to the cuticle (damage to the cuticle) lifting off. This happens when a strain (like brushing, touching, moving) is applied to wet hair. All types of hair are vulnerable to breakage when wet.

The problem with heat styling is that the cuticle cracks due to the heat, but this happens only from around 50-60 °C.

So, what’s the solution?

Towel dry your hair. As wet hair is more vulnerable to breakage, gently scrunch it to remove excess water, and no aggressive rubbing.

Blow-dry time:

You hold the hairdryer about 15 centimeters from your hair head and start on the low airspeed and temperature. Removing the water from wet hair by blow-drying may also cause deformation of the cuticle cells.

As soon as the hair starts to dry, you can increase the speed and temperature. The hair should not reach a temperature of 50° o more. The temperature of your hair is about 20° less than the temperature of the blow-dryer.

Note: Do not forget to apply a thermal protector before blow-drying.