Why You Should Ditch Your Hair Dryer

For most of my life, my hair has been hard to manage.  Since I'm a ginger, I have a thicker texture compared to other hair colors.  It was often frizzy and puffy, especially when I was a teenager.  

At the age of 14, my cousin taught me how to straighten my hair, for which I'm eternally grateful.  But back then, I became obsessed and would never leave the house without straightening it.  My mom insisted I wash my hair every single day to prevent oil build up, and my destructive routine began.  

Every day I would wash my hair, coat it in chemical-laden hair products, blow dry it, and finally, straighten it.  I have a lot of hair so this was extremely time consuming.  As a result of doing this for years, my hair became damaged, but as long as it was straight, I didn't care.

Finally, I couldn't keep up with it anymore.  I started doing my hair every other day, which did lighten the burden a little.  Once, for whatever reason, I had to wash my hair at night.  I let it air dry and straightened it the next morning.  To my surprise, there was a huge improvement in the texture.  It was smoother and much less frizzy.  

That was about five years ago, and since ditching the hair dryer, I haven't used one since.  My hair texture gradually improved and there is much less damage.  I still use a flat iron, but only about once a week.  Thankfully, the oil on my scalp has balanced.  I only need to wash my hair twice a week because the natural oils aren't being stripped away every day.

Changing my diet has also been a huge component of improving the health of my hair and reducing oil, therefore allowing me to wash it less often.  You can read about the specifics of how I did this in How Beauty Detox Changed My Life.  I also ditched the hair products and do a coconut oil hair mask once a week to help keep my hair soft and healthy.

Everyone has different hair types and those with thinner hair may have to wash it more often.  But I would encourage you to try letting it air dry over night.  You will be saving your hair from intense heat damage and that will add up.  Your hair texture will improve, you will save precious time, and even save a little electricity.  

I'm always striving to find new ways to simplify my life and this has been an extremely helpful, easy, and healthy way for me to do just that.