Do Hair Dryers Damage Your Hair?

Do Hair Dryers Damage Your Hair Tribeca Salons Tampa Blowouts

Do Hair Dryers Damage Your Hair?

Attention fellow blowout lovers: it may seem like an easy task to grab a blow dryer, point, and blast with heat. However, there is mastery behind it. Let’s break down the science to getting a gorgeous at-home blowout and talk about some simple mistakes you may be making that can hurt your hair even more than your look. At Tribeca Salon, we want your hair to look gorgeous, and get healthier over time, and our top Tampa hairstylists are here to help!

 

Pop quiz: What’s the healthiest way to dry your hair? If you said, “air-drying, obviously,” you’d be mistaken.

 

Actually with the right technique, using a blow dryer is better for your mane’s health than letting it air-dry.

How can that be? First, a little hair anatomy: Each strand of your hair is essentially a tube with an inner cortex and a protective outer layer held together by delicate proteins. Too much heat can damage the cuticle by trapping water inside the cortex and causing the water to boil.

While the heat of a dryer can cause more damage than not using one, using a hair-dryer at the right distance and temperature can cause less damage than letting hair air-dry. That’s because when hair comes in contact with water, it swells. The longer the swelling goes on, the more pressure it puts on the delicate proteins keeping hair intact, which can lead to more damage.

So, what are the common mistakes when drying your hair?

 

Mistake 1: You don’t have a great blow dryer.

Let’s start at the very beginning: Investing in a high-quality tool is important. The technology in ionic hair dryers helps break down water molecules faster, which makes the hair dry faster. The less time your hair is under heat and the more control you have over the temperature, the healthier it will be.

 

Mistake 2: Leaving out a quality heat protectant.

Never put heat on your hair without shielding your lovely locks from any potential heat damage. Using the right product pre-blowout is going to save your ends from breakage and make your blowout last longer.

 

Mistake 3: You’re using the wrong towel first.

A cotton-based towel causes friction on the hair, and it’s more prone to damaging the strands to the point where the hair breaks off. If you want to get rid of excess water, do not vigorously towel dry wet hair, as this can cause wet hair to break.

Do use a microfiber towel or an old, clean t-shirt, and only spend about 10 minutes with your wet hair wrapped up.

 

How to Properly Dry Your Hair

Now here’s the just-right formula for drying your hair the healthiest way possible: Let it air dry about 70% and most of the water is out. Bonus: this can even give your hair more body and volume.

Then, with your dryer on the coolest setting, blow your hair dry, keeping the dryer about 6-inches away from your hair. You should also move it around continuously so the heat doesn’t linger on strands for too long.

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Treat Yourself to a Great Blowout

There is an art form to obtaining the quality and consistency you’ll come to appreciate by stepping foot in Tribeca Salon in Ybor City or South Tampa where you can expect a certain level of knowledge and expertise. Our stylists understand how to style your hair with proper care and give you a wonderful blowout. Contact our stylists today!