3 Methods to Effectively Towel Dry Hair
On average, women spend an hour and a half blow-drying their hair each week. If you find yourself among this number, you must be asking yourself if there is a better way to dry your hair.
You might have turned to a blow dryer because it seemed like the most efficient way to dry your hair, but it doesn’t have to be a slow, drawn-out process to towel dry your hair.
Read our guide for a few different tips on how to towel dry hair effectively and without causing too much damage.
1. Towel Dry Hair Without a Towel
You read that right. It might be time to ditch your traditional towel. When it comes to towel drying your hair, your terry cloth towel might be doing more harm than good.
Fabrics like terry cloth are rough, and they can cause damage to your hair when you rub them over the strands. Instead of a traditional towel, you could try something like a t-shirt, or even a paper towel. When you blot with these softer fabrics, you do a lot to protect fragile hair.
Microfiber is another good option. It is a synthetic fiber that is really quite thin. This means that towels made out of microfiber have a lot of fibers packed into a small space, making them both dense and absorbent. It soaks up a lot of moisture, making drying your hair that much more efficient!
This density is also what makes this fabric have such a soft texture. Because of that, it is much more gentle on the cuticles of your hair and does wonders for reducing frizz.
If you’re interested, you can shop for microfiber hair towels to see if this will be a good solution for you. You can use them the way you would a traditional towel by squeezing out your wet hair, or your can wrap your hair up and let it dry on its own.
2. Try Out Plopping
Plopping is a great technique for drying your hair that works especially well if you have curly hair. It is a process that can help you dry your hair more effectively while still protecting those beautiful curls.
Plopping is better for your curls than just simply twisting a towel around your head (microfiber or otherwise). When you do that, you stretch out your curls, causing them to have less definition. Plopping keeps them all scrunched up so you don’t lose any of that volume.
The extra weight of water and moisture in your hair can also pull the curl pattern down so that it is looser, and plopping helps make sure that won’t happen. Plus, if you style your hair while it is still wet, plopping helps get rid of some of that excess moisture without inviting too much frizz.
If you want to try out plopping, here is how it works. First, saturate your hair with your favorite leave-in conditioner or the styling cream that you usually use. Then, lay out a cotton t-shirt in front of you with the neck and sleeves facing toward you.
Bend over and “plop” your wet hair down onto the fabric. Hold the bottom of the t-shirt to the nape of your neck and wrap your hair up in the rest of it. Secure the whole thing by tying the sleeves of the t-shirt together in a knot.
Leave your hair all wrapped up for about 20 minutes. The optimal amount of time, though, can depend on your hair type, hair length, the porosity of your hair, and your lifestyle. When you let it down, you can let your hair dry the rest of the way naturally, but it will already be a good portion of the way there!
3. Gentleness is the Key to Towel Drying
The reason it is so important to get towel drying right is that, when it’s done wrong, it can cause a lot of damage to your hair. When your hair is wet, it is in its most vulnerable state and the most fragile. You want to treat it well when drying it.
Whether you opt for an alternative towel or try a new method for drying your hair, the most crucial thing is to always be gentle. That way, you’re always focused on keeping your hair strong and healthy.
When it comes to the movements you use to dry your hair, stick to blotting and squeezing. If you twist your hair or rub at it too vigorously, you risk breaking the strands. Rubbing especially will damage the hair and cause it to split, contributing to frizziness.
Even if you do pick out a drying option that will be gentler on your hair like a microfiber towel or a cotton t-shirt, don’t tie it too tightly. If you wrap your hair up and the turban is too tight, this can pull on your hair and cause damage as well.
Towel Dry Hair Better and Faster
With these tips and tricks, you are armed and ready to find the best ways to towel dry hair. No more standing there for what feels like hours with your arms above your head while you blow hot air on your hair!
By using a t-shirt or a microfiber towel and trying out some new techniques, you can dry your hair in no time while keeping it strong and healthy.
If you found this article helpful, check out more of our Beauty blog posts to find even more insights on how to take care of your hair!
