Better Hair Care: Blow Drying or Air Drying?

I've got medium-long hair, and I have both blow-dried and air-dried it. I had read many years ago that blow drying, especially done on a regular basis, is not good for your hair. It dries out the moisture and makes the hair easily breakable. I have noticed that sometimes even after occasional blow drying my hair loses its shine and seems weaker. Keeping that in mind, I try to blow dry only when it is absolutely necessary. For example, when I have just washed my hair and my husband comes in and says that we need to go somewhere; there is no way I am going out with my hair wet and undone, looking like a scarecrow, so I blow dry to (relatively) quickly style my hair.

One important factor to consider is whether your hair colored or permed. Both procedures do some damage to the hair, so permed and/or colored hair will be affected by blow drying even more. Hair texture matters as well: thick hair can take more abuse while thinner hair will scream for mercy much sooner. So if you have thick hair, neither colored nor permed, you can afford to blow dry it more frequently than a fine-haired colored blond (or brunette - I'm not trying to pick on blonds here).

Of course, a lot depends on your hair length. Short hair does not take very long to dry on its own, so why even bother blow drying; but those of us who prefer longer hairstyles sometimes do not have a choice.

There are thermal shampoos and conditioners that claim to reduce damage from blow drying; those may be a good choice to use when you blow dry, but I wouldn't rely on them to completely solve the problem. If you are forced to resort to blow drying more often than you believe you should, I would advice helping your hair to restore its moisture and shine. There are all kinds of hair masks and other products that treat and restore damaged hair. One particular product I would recommend is L'Oreal Ineral Hair Fixer Kit; it has been around for quite a while and earned good reputation for healing dry ends and restoring healthy hair structure.

Air-drying, while time consuming and inconvenient, is a much healthier choice. You are not subjecting your hair to the abuse of heat that destroys its natural moisture / oil balance.