What Does Towel-Dried Hair Mean? How Dry is That Supposed to Be?

Let’s say you wanted to improve your hair’s look and health and you find this awesome product that could help with your hair issues. As per instructions, you read that it needs to be placed on towel-dried hair.

But what does towel-dried hair mean? Well, simply put, towel-dried hair means drying your hair after washing it with a towel or an absorbent material. 

So does it mean your hair would be completely dry? How much rubbing are we talking? How do you properly towel dry your hair, and is towel drying hair any good for your hair?

You’re in luck because today we are going to tell you all about what you need to know about towel-dried hair and how to do it properly. 

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What Does Towel-Dried Hair Mean?

Before we start teaching you how to towel dry your hair, let us first define what towel-dried hair really means. 

Towel-dried hair is the result you get after using a towel or any cloth that would absorb water from your hair after you wash it. After washing your hair, it may still be dripping wet. You can easily squeeze off the excess water with your hands but your hair will still be wet. 

At this time, you can use a towel to further remove the excess water from your hair. Your towel becomes wet but your hair still isn’t completely dry. 

In fact, your hair will probably still feel damp.

So technically towel-dried hair could still feel wet even after the towel has absorbed water from it. However, your hair won’t be dripping wet after using a towel.

So technically towel-dried hair could still feel wet even after the towel has absorbed water from it. However, your hair won’t be dripping wet after using a towel.

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Is Towel Drying Hair Good Or Bad?

Some people don’t want to towel dry their hair because they think that it is bad for the hair. There are some who say that towel drying their hair only leads to breakage. 

Breakage due to towel drying hair is a possibility but it only happens when you do it the wrong way. So simply saying that towel drying hair leads to breakage is misleading. Much depends on how you towel-dry the hair. 

If done correctly, towel-drying hair is usually better for your hair than blow-drying it (but it’s slower!). There are a few benefits of towel drying hair and they include the following: 

1. Doesn’t Cause Heat Damage

Heat isn’t good for the hair at all. It causes damage to your healthy hair so you should avoid heat styling or heat drying your hair as much as possible, unless you’re looking for a particular style. 

One of the fastest ways to dry your hair is to use a blow dryer. However, that causes damage to the hair. 

Letting your hair air dry could be a good option but that takes a while.

That’s where towel-drying the hair comes in. It is a better way to speed up drying the hair without using damaging heat. 

If you use a towel on your wet hair, it will cut down the time it needs to take to completely air dry. Although it could still take more time than blow-drying, it is still a better alternative because it is less damaging. 

2. Inexpensive

Another benefit of towel drying is that you don’t need to purchase a fancy tourmaline flat iron or ionic hair dryer to dry your hair (and pay the electric bill to run them!).

Not only that, if you really know how to take care of your hair then you’ll know that simply blow drying it will damage it. So you need to buy heat protectant  for your hair so you can lessen the damages due to blow drying it often. 

Both can be expenses that you can avoid by simply opting to towel dry your hair instead of using the blow dryer. 

3. Doesn’t Lead To Product Build-up

Apart from the expenses on your heat protectants, it could also cause build-up on your hair. If you skip using the heat protectants because you’re not using the blow dryer anymore, then you are less likely to have buildup on your hair. 

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How To Properly Towel Dry Your Hair 

In order to make sure that you don’t damage your hair even if your towel dries it, you have to know how to properly dry it out. The first thing that you need to prepare is the towel that you are going to use. 

There are excellent microfiber towels  on the market nowadays. They do a great job absorbing moisture.

As an alternative, soft cotton shirts could also be used because they are gentler on the hair. 

There are excellent microfiber towels  on the market nowadays. They do a great job absorbing moisture.

With your towel prepared, here are the steps to follow when towel-drying your hair. 

Step 1: Remove excess water

After washing your hair, the first thing that you should do is squeeze out the excess water from it. You can do this using your bare hands. Do this gently so as not to damage your hair. 

Start from your scalp and go towards the ends of the hair. By squeezing out excess dripping water, you can help the towel drying process.

Step 2: Use Your Towel To Blot The Hair

After removing water with your hands, you can now start using your towel. All you have to do is gently blot or press your hair with the towel covering it. 

You can do this all at once for your entire hair but you can also section your hair especially if you have long or thick hair. Remember to avoid tugging or rubbing your hair with the towel. Twisting your hair too tightly with the towel should be avoided as well. 

All you need to do is gently squeeze the water out of it. The towel will immediately absorb the excess water. 

All you need to do is gently squeeze the water out of it. The towel will immediately absorb the excess water. 

Step 3: Wrap Your Hair With A Towel

Once you’re satisfied with towel drying your hair, you can wrap it up with the towel. This is an optional step but most of us who have long hair do this. It helps get the hair out of the way so you can do the other things you need to do after bathing.

When removing the towel, make sure to do it without pulling the towel too harshly. That will also tug the hair. Wet hair is more fragile, so be careful with it. 

After which you can use a comb to detangle the hair and let it air dry thoroughly.