Blow drying long hair good, bad, or ugly?

Does blow drying damage your long hair? Is it good for your hair? Indifferent? What do you say? Short-haired people can blow dry their hair into oblivion because it is completely replaced every few months. We long haired people want to make our hair last for years so the rules may be different.

I have been thinking about this topic recently because I've been mostly letting my hair air dry for the last few months but that may change. Currently I work at home and no one at "the office" cares if I show up with wet hair. I may start working in a conventional office environment which means that I will have to look spiffy when I show up for work. That plus I don't want my hair to freeze in the winter. What do you say? Is blowdrying good, bad, or indifferent for long hair?

Any direct heat is bad for hair, that much is generally accepted as fact by the haircare community. However, sometimes it's necessary to achieve a certain style. But if you are simply drying your hair for the sake of...well, getting it dry, then I would advise doing it as infrequently as possible if at all to keep it in optimal condition.

A few blow-drying tips:

Use low heat

Use low fan speed (to minimize tangling induced by the movement of air)

Move the dryer around a lot (and quickly) to avoid focusing the heat on one spot for more than a moment.

Stop before it's entirely (crispy) dry



Hope these suggestions help.

Blow drying is not good for your hair at all. I haven't owned a hair dryer for over ten years until last month. My son in law gave me one so I will be able to unfreeze my car door locks with it this winter!!!!!