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Blow Drying Hair – Soaking Wet

Recently I have received several questions about blow drying soaking wet hair and whether it’s OK to crank up the blow dryer while hair is still soaking wet.

One of the biggest mistakes hair consumers make is trying to blow dry hair which is too wet or still dripping with water.

Note: Check out these additional info resources:
Celebrity Hairdresser’s Tips: Blow Drying Your Hair
Blow Dryers:  The Facts
Blow Dryers: Best Features
Blow Dry Your Hair Section
Blow Dry Your Hair: What Brush To Use

Reasons Why Blow Drying Soaking Wet Hair Is Not Advisable

There are couple of reasons why blow drying soaking wet hair is not advised.

These reasons include:

1.  When hair is soaking wet the benefits of applying leave-in conditioners and/or styling products will be neutralized.
2.  If tresses are still dripping when blow drying begins, any products which are applied may be unnecessarily diluted and may literally drip off the strands.
3.  Hair is much harder to manage when it’s dripping wet than when it’s towel blotted first.
4.  The key to a perfectly balanced blow out requires hair that is equally moist from side to side which is less possible when hair is soaking wet.   Hair should be towel blotted for at least 5-10 minutes to allow excess drip-page to be removed and allow hair to be balanced with regard to existing moisture.

Bethenny Frankel Getting Blow Out

Note: Some people worry if they towel blot hair there won’t be enough moisture remaining for a good blow out.  In reality if any section of hair dries out too quickly it can easily be re-moistened with a spritzer bottle.

5.  When hair is still dripping wet it will require a much longer blow drying time then when it is first towel dried.  It is best for hair to be blow dried only as long as absolutely necessary to minimize potential heat damage.
6.  Using a brush to blow dry hair stick straight or with texture would be more difficult with soaking wet tresses.
7.  Since hair is most fragile when wet, the more moisture remaining in the hair the more fragile the strands.

Curly Hair Dries Faster That Other Types Of Hair

Some types of hair will dry faster than other.  Curly hair dries the faster due to the structure of the hair, which is always partially open.  Wavy hair dries quickly, although not as quickly as curly hair.  Straight hair, especially when medium to thick, will dry the slowest.

Ultimately a blow dryer should be used on hair which has first been towel blotted, wrapped in a towel for 5-8 minutes and then air dryed for another 5-8 minutes.

Except in emergencies, it’s never a  good idea to use more than one blow dryer on ultra wet hair at the same time.  The potential for heat damage would be high. Over drying tresses may cause them to dry out and be more prone to ripping and breakage.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Hair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.