For me that usually means:
- my leave in isn't sufficient
- I didn't remove shed hairs thoroughly enough in my detangle phase and they built up over a few washes to seem unrealistically too many for one wash day when they do slide out
- I broke some hair off that I didn't remove
- I had a matting mishap
- or I am going though a biological shedding phase
It's never air drying, in and of itself, it's always something on that list. Take a look at your shedding in context to examine what besides air-drying may be causing it.