If you’re like me, you really don’t look forward to “wash days”. I’ll admit, I probably go a day longer than I should more often that I’d like when it comes to washing my hair. It’s not that it’s all that time consuming, it’s just so much easier to catch a bath or shower without even having to consider washing (and blow drying) your hair.

And yet, my hair really does behave and look so much better when it is consistently washed and conditioned every other day. This brings us to today’s topic, which is how to get your hair dry much faster.

If you can cut down on the dry time, it at least reduces the time factor in the burdensome hair washing cycle – which is to get it dry without frizzing. Related: Kick Frizz with Deeply Hydrating Silk Aminos, Argan Oil and Others with This Formula

Wattage Matters

One of the first things to do is look at your current hair dryer. You don’t have to have anything super expensive to get your hair dry quickly, however you do have to pay attention to how many watts your hair dryer is.

This just means its tiny little motor is higher in energy output and can blow a more powerful stream of warm air to get your hair dry much more quickly and efficiently than one with lower wattage. If you have a low watt hair dryer, your odds of getting a quick dry go down exponentially.

I personally prefer a dryer with at least a 2000 wattage rating. This way, I’m getting the most powerful stream of air possible, and this ensures my dry time will be cut down dramatically. If you don’t like to use a lot of heat, simply choose a high wattage dryer that has a cool air option. Related : Why Does My Hair Look Bad Between Washes?

Start with a Good Towel Dry

To get the best start to a fast and efficient blow-drying session, make sure your hair is wrung of all excess water. The best way I’ve found to achieve this is to first wring the excess water out by hand a couple of times, then to use my towel to wring out the rest. Be sure to only wring downwards with your towel, and don’t rough up the hair too much. 

You don’t want to rough up the cuticle, which is the protective outer fatty layer of each hair strand, so just be sure to use care when wringing with a towel. They have special towels made for hair drying, however I’ve found just using a regular bath towel properly is just fine.

Then Tousle, Tousle, and Tousle Some More!

The next step is to simply direct the blower at all different areas of the hair, continuously mussing and tousling the hair for maximum air circulation and surface contact. This is really just a way to get all of your hair at least a little dry.

Continue to do this until your hair feels like it’s about 75-80% dry. My stylist does this every time. She uses a concentrator though, which is a tool I’ve never really cared for or have been able to use with any good technique myself. So if you know how to use one, and you find it helps to dry the sections more efficiently, then go for it!

This part usually takes about 5 minutes, no matter what your hair length is, if you have a really high wattage dryer. The final part is where some of the time comes in, but again, if you use the right technique then you will find you’re saving yourself precious minutes. 

Not only that, but in the hotter weather, you’re probably saving yourself from frizz. The sweating that comes with the heat and physical exertion of drying your hair can often cause frizz. Not something that you want on your newly washed hair!

Smoothing Out the Sections

This is where you can decide how in depth you want to get, depending on how smooth and polished you need your hair to look that day. I often will only smooth out the sections on the very top layer if I don’t have a lot of time, instead of going deeper into the layers of my hair. Related: Castor Oil for Thicker Brows

Take each section of hair from this point, and use your round vented brush to pull it out from the scalp, just taught enough to get a smooth, frizz free surface. One run over with the hair dryer should be sufficient to smooth each section, just make sure you run over the hair slowly enough to get it dry all the way.

This technique not only saves time, but it also provides more body since you’re pulling (gently) out from the scalp and creating root lift and volume. You can even pull sections from the back crown of the head forward if you want to create a lot of body on the back crown of the head.

All in all, if you can perfect these very simple steps, you may just be able to clock in your entire drying routine in 7 minutes or under. You may go 10 or more if you want to get a more thorough dry or need to really shape and smooth the hair for a special occasion, but on the whole about 7-8 minutes should get you a pretty dry mane!