Is It Bad to Air-Dry Your Hair Instead of Using Heat?

Heat-styling your hair means heat damage, right? That's taken as fact these days, and rightly so — since submitting your hair to super-high temps when you blow-dry it can strip it of moisture and harm the cuticle. In turn, this makes hair frizzy and prone to breakage. Compared to that, air-drying hair seems like it would be the safer option. But that's not exactly the case.

It all started on TikTok (naturally) when Scarlett Rocourt, CEO of the haircare brand Wonder Curl, went viral on the app for claiming that air-drying your hair causes more damage and dryness than using heat to dry the hair.

Rocourt's claim comes from a Korean study, which found that using a hairdryer at a distance of about six inches with continuous motion "causes less damage than drying hair naturally."

Meet the expert

Hair experts agreed that there can indeed be potential repercussions to air-drying your hair, especially if you aren't doing it the right way. Ahead, keep reading to learn about the consequences of air-drying along with alternative methods to try.

How Air-Drying Hair Causes Damage

According to hair practitioner Gaby Longsworth, hair strands are divided into three regions — the cuticle, cortex, and medulla. In between the cuticle and cortex, there is a layer called the cell membrane complex. This layer binds the cell membranes between the cuticle cells and cortical cells.

"The cons of air-drying hair are what happens to the cell membrane complex of the hair strands," explained Dr. Longsworth. 

While it's true that excessive heat can cause damage to the surface of the hair strands, air-drying can cause trauma to that inner layer, per the study. As Dr. Longsworth explained, when the cell membrane complex layer swells, it can weaken the hair over time.

"If you wash or wet your hair daily, the constant and excessive swelling and de-swelling of the hair can affect the lipid layer, causing strands to become weak, dry, and less elastic, leading to breakage," Dr. Longsworth said.

Hairstylist Adriana Papaleo added that when we touch or rake our fingers through hair while it's wet, it exacerbates breakage because hair is fragile when wet. Additionally, the weight of wet hair can be stressful and heavy on individual hair strands. This can cause the hair to stretch, noted Justine Marjan.

Air-drying can also increase frizz, build-up, and mildew.

"Hair that stays wet or damp for a long period can attract bacteria and fungus, especially if you have very dense hair," explained Jennie Roberts.

Roberts added that "Afro-textured hair, if left to dry naturally, can take days — which can lead to scalp problems."

This is one of the main reasons why stylists say never to sleep on wet hair: It's the perfect environment for scalp mold, bacteria, and fungus to grow.

Lastly, ever heard of hard water? Hard water is H2O that contains dissolved compounds of calcium, magnesium, per the Water Quality Association, and other metallic elements that cause stiffness, dullness, or hair breakage.

How to Determine Which Drying Method Is Right for You

Our experts agreed that you should consider a few factors when choosing a method of drying your hair, including hair type, any damage, hair porosity (aka how absorbent it is), hair color, and lifestyle.

Despite the risks, there are benefits of air-drying your hair. For starters, you avoid heat damage. 

"If you utilize a hair dryer too close to the scalp, you can cause excessive heat damage, creating inflammation at the scalp level," said trichologist William Gaunitz.

"Another benefit of air-drying is preserving the cuticle's lipid layer," said Dr. Longsworth before adding that when you use heat for long periods, you break down the outer lipid layer on the cuticle. 

This, according to Dr. Longsworth, "changes the hair from hydrophobic [water-repelling] to more hydrophilic [water-loving], which makes the hairs want to try to separate from each other, creating frizz."

Because of those factors, Dr. Longsworth said those with damaged, color-treated, or high porosity hair would benefit from air-drying. Air-drying is also better for color-treated hair, as heat can strip the vibrancy if you aren't using color-safe hair care.

If you choose to air-dry your hair, use protective hair care to keep your hair safe. 

"Embracing your natural air-dried texture can be a joy," said Papaleo. "Having the right products and styling techniques to support, though, is key."

She recommended using a protective leave-in product, like Davines Oi Milk, and being cautious not to stretch or brush the hair while it's soaked. You'll also want to gently squeeze water out of the hair with a microfiber towel and detangle it with a brush intended for wet hair. Start at the ends and work upwards.

For those with curly and afro-textured hair, you can try the plopping technique to air-dry your hair, which absorbs most of the moisture as well.

Yes, You Can Still Use Heat

We can all rest assured that using a blow dryer doesn't cause as much damage as we once thought — when used correctly, of course.

When drying curly hair, Roberts loves using a diffuser. The Good Hair Day Professional Hair Dryer Diffuser — which attaches to the Good Hair Day Helios Professional Hair Dryer — is a good pick. 

"Diffusing is safe and great for texture as the airflow comes out of a bigger area from the hairdryer, so heat and speed are much gentler to hair," said Roberts.

Roberts kindly shared instructions for properly diffusing your hair with a blow dryer.

"The secret is to keep the diffuser moving at all times and not concentrating on one patch so the hair will dry evenly," said Roberts.

Oh, and don't forget to use hair products that hydrate and protect the hair before styling. Roberts recommended the Curlsmith Curl Conditioning Oil-In-Cream.

If you have straight or wavy hair, you can still blow dry your hair, keeping the same tips in mind. Dr. Longsworth urged you to remember: "If you must use high heat, always protect the hair with a heat protection spray."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qrrSrbClnV6YvK57x5qgq2eYlrazec%2Brpp2tk6nAbsDOqKOsZ5moeqK10Wabq7GZo7RutMCiqWaakZk%3D