Is air drying damaging your hair?

We all know that too much heat is a bad thing, but can air drying be damaging to your hair too?

Technically the answer is yes!

Too much water in your hair and over-moisturising your hair can cause what's known as hygral fatigue.

Hygral fatigue and your hair

The simple act of wetting your hair causes it to swell up.

The hair shaft expands and contracts every time it is wet and dries. This cycle of swelling takes its toll on the hair and can cause damage.

Think of your hair like an elastic band. The more you stretch it, the harder it is to go back to its original shape. It becomes warped or breaks.

The longer your hair is wet, the higher the chance of damage occurring. So if your hair takes ages to dry, this could be causing a similar amount of damage as the heat of blowdrying your hair.

Sleeping with wet hair and doing long moisturising treatments can end up having the opposite effect on your hair. This is known as hygral fatigue. Your hair is tired of being wet!

The same goes for overwashing your hair. Each time your hair is wet, it swells up and disrupts the protein balance in your hair. So technically, washing and air drying your hair causes damage.

Can air drying really be worse than heat styling?

To be honest, I don't think it can.

Leaving your hair wet for hours isn't helping your hair, but constant heat styling and brushing also creates friction which creates a different type of damage.

You need to find a happy medium for your hair and that includes air drying some days and blowdrying others.

That's why everyone needs regular hair cuts

So even if you are gentle with your hair and never heat style your hair, you'll still find damage that needs a regular trim.

The act of wetting your hair and letting it dry is the cause of the breakage that builds up over time.

So tell me, how often do you wash your hair? And how long does it take to dry? Do you ever leave your hair wet overnight?

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