new thread
Aside from, obviously, drying your hair?
I know many of you have said that they are dangerous and can cause permanent damage to hair. I also know that just about every girl I've ever known owns and makes pretty frequent use of a hairdryer. Perhaps they know something we don't? No offense, but the females of the world do have a BIT more experience with long hair care then we do.
So what's the benefit of using a hairdryer as opposed to just drying by air? I've never bothered, mainly in the interests of time. I'm especially interested in comments from people that actually own and regularly use a hair dryer. How does your hair behave/look differently when you use it compared to when you don't?
If it's relevant, my hair is just starting to hit my shoulders (18 months in) and is pretty straight except for some waviness at the ends.
i used a hairdryer for many many years. i quit when i was eighteen (i'm twenty-nine now). even though i used mine on low heat and didn't dry my hair completely, my hair was on the whole much dryer and more brittle. when i quit using the hairdryer, the quality of my hair drastically improved. and because of that, it is now much longer than i could ever grow it in high school.
the first thing i hear when i sit in a hairdressers chair is, 'you don't dry your hair, do you?' i think that says a lot right there.
the so called 'benefit' to a hairdryer is having your hair dried faster. that's it. heat protectant products can only do so much. the repeated use of a hairdryer is going to cause damage no matter what. i would bet the girls you know don't have hair length much past thier shoulders.
I've discovered that using a hair dryer makes my hair more poofy and fly-away looking. I guess you could call it "more body". Many females like the look. So, it has become a standard for them. I, on the other hand, enjoy more control to my hair. I think it looks more masculine (probably because it is not like the female standard) to have it lay down without poof.
As far as "hair health" is concerned (I use quotes because hair is already dead so how can it have health), I think the only problem you could run into with a blow dryer is if you use it too close your hair and actually burn your hair. The dryness that it causes can be reversed.
Banana
I use a blowdryer very rarely, maybe for special occasions and so, it usually makes my hair kinda straight but also more dry and prone to tangling.
So i most often prefer my hair natural:)
I haven't used a hair dryer in about 10 years when I used to glue my quiff in place.
Cheers,
John.B
"Quiff", John? I thought I had at least nodding familiarity with British slang, but I haven't seen that before. Can you define for us?
quiff < coif < coiffure, a way of arranging the hair, from the Latin "cofea" helmet.
Think James Dean/Elvis Presley
Now think of John with that hairstyle. Try not to snicker, please.
From time to time I wouold use a dryer in wintertime because I didn't want to leave the house with a wet head. I live in the upper
midwest so it gets mighty nippy in winter. I used to run my fingers through the hair as I was drying it so I could feel the dampness and not burn it to a crisp. I didn't suffer terribly but the breakage was no doubt a little more than normal due to it being more brittle. I conditioned the hell out of it but like Nic says that only goes so far.
I now feel that having moderately damp hair and going from the house to the car in the cold won't cause any major issues so I don't blowdry anymore ever.
Kevin
On the Long Hair Community forums they call them 'blowfryers' and 90% of the posters there are female. Ultimately, the hot air does damage your hair, even though it can give you the look of more volume right after you use it.
Nic is right in that most girls have shoulder length hair. A blunt one-length cut makes it look longer, and lets you tie it back without really having much length, and if you've never actually had short hair, which most of them haven't, then that's an easy cut to acheive. IMO straightening makes it look longer too, and a lot of girls do that, which also damages it.
The thing is, shoulder length is about the limit of where you can do damaging things to your hair and it will just grow back. Longer hair displays a record of everything you've done to it for years, because that's how long it takes to grow. A lot of people (both male and female) on long hair boards have (or want) longer hair than that, so we can't get away with these things. OTOH, if you want to stop at shoulder length, it does have advantages.
There is no magic about being a woman, we aren't endowed with inborn hair knowledge that men can never fully comprehend. I'd take the combined advice of the regular posters here anyday over a random sample of women who get hair advice from products and magazine articles influenced by the product manufacturers. The average woman messes with her hair so much it is UNhealthy from the wear, tools, and products they overuse. Meanwhile, the people that never have to unlearn the myths out there have the advantage.
Take you for example, Gregor. You say you don't use a hairdryer and that is already healthier for your hair than someone who does under the delusion that hair needs to be dried for health. I had a conversation once with a woman that told me hair goes moldy (?!) without drying it right away. The funny thing was she had just commented how healthy my hair looked so I mentioned letting it air dry worked for me. People sure can be attached their cherished myths.
Back to the great amount of knowledge found among the men here, they learned it from reading and experience which is available to everyone. Even experience doesn't always amount to much, I had knee length hair before I found hair care sites and that's when I started learning most of what I know. So read a lot here Gregor, trust in the advice of all the participants and know that the knowlege posessed by the posters is not inferior to what women know about hair.
Elizabeth
So true! My wife washes her hair every day with cheapo supermarket shampoo, roughly towel dries it, pulls the knots out with an evil-looking brush with a violence that has to be seen to be believed and then straightens it and styles it with a variety of scorching hot driers/wands. Result? Beautiful, soft, shiny hair with no split ends. Me? I treat my hair with the gentleness of a day-old chick and it looks as rough as a badgers arse. IT'S SO UNFAIR!!!!!
I think I'll have to echo some of the other comments here. Many of the women that I know have shoulder lenght (or shorter hair), and some who have had it longer have had much of it cut off due to massive split ends and damange from repeated dying, heat styling, straightening, and other harsh processes/products. Shoulder length does seem to be, if you'll excuse the pun, the "cut off point" for being able to mess with you hair a LOT. I think the amount of damage many women inflict upon their hair also shows that having a pair of X-chromosomes doesn't predispose one to having more hair knowledge than a man. Some do, some don't.
Take my mother and I. We have similar hair (and similar length at this point). We've both been growing it out. She straightens, dyes, and blow drys her's daily/monthly. Despite the regular trims she gets, people have commented that her hair looks more "processed" than mine. Go figure. I don't do any of those things to my hair. Oh, and she complains about her's being frizzy and problematic. Hmmmm...
As for blow drying specifically, I have a feeling that it's not horrible for your hair if done on a limited basis, but I wouldn't make it a habit if you want Looooong hair. I don't bother with it because of that and the fact that it makes my hair looks like a giant puff-ball. :-)
Mouse, a female with absolutely NO innate hair-care knowledge who's learned a TON from the guys on this board.
A very interesting post and some great replies. Its something I have wondered about and came to the conclusion that its generally the heat that is the problem. What I find really interesting and never thought of before is why lots of girls do have shoulder length hair and no longer. I have never used a hairdryer, but a lady said to me the other day, "gosh your hair is in really good condition" which I thought was neat, easpecially as I have always had an unruley mop and how anyone can even begin to know if its healthy is beyond me, but hey, great!
~ Dave
The hair dries faster...........but, short of that I believe nuttiedave has solved a mystery that I have wondered about for years. Of course! The women that use these only have average shoulder-length hair. Keeping it at that length prevents one from noticing any damage as the hair doesn't reach waist length and is always being cut to maintain the shoulder length average.
ANY women who has ever posted on here to the best of my knowledge whos hair was longer did not use a dryer. And through personal observation as well as conversation with those whos hair was as long as is mine or longer claim that they allow their hair to air dry. I suppose there must be exceptions as with anything else, but I do believe that nuttiedave has cracked this mystery.........at least for myself.
Like Elizabeth said, it's not innate knowledge, like thinking all men are born knowing how to fix cars.
I never really got the hang of using a blowdryer, so I usually go out with a wet head. I found that in winter, "freeze dying" is a lot faster than letting it air dry in the summer. However, it's also MUCH more brittle, so don't try crunching the icicles. Just saying.
My blowdryer gets used twice a year... when I use it to defrost my freezer.
The first 6 months or so I blasted my head with a hot dryer on high. Fortunately I also got a couple of trims during that time. I didn't know what I was doing and didn't even have any goal; all I knew was that it was getting longer and I liked it. Anyway, after around 6 months I found all the FAQs and other information online and started following the advice in them and dropped using the dryer. Now you can tell where the dryer blasted hair is, and where I quit using it. The last 2 inches or so out at the ends are fried, fragmented, and frizzy and tangle constantly. Everything above that, i.e. everything that grew out after I quit using the dryer is smooth and mostly tangle free all day.