How do you air-dry natural styles?

[LongLeggedLife]

So frustrated right now :sigh:

I did a braidout at about 10pm last night, and now 10 hrs later at 8 am, it is still soaking wet, as in, I can feel water squish if I squeeze the braid
I have til about noon for it to dry, which is not going to happen based on how wet it is now. I have been trying to eliminate the blowdrying step I usually do before a twist/braid out, but I'm not going to be able to do that if it takes 2 days of going about in a scarf to get a finished style
I also am not gonna be able to sit under the dryer for 2-3hrs everytime I want to do a braid/twist out.
:sigh: Guess I have to look crazy today

Was wondering if anyone with BSL+ hair is able to actually airdry over night, or do I just have super slow drying hair?


Note: I was trying the glycerin+aloe mix (I saw RenRen use) and used Ecostyler gel for hold, then grapeseed oil to seal,and made sure to squeeze all excess product from the hair, if this make a diff.

 

[suns4i6e]

Nope, you are not alone!! It's one of the many reasons I'm a wash n go girl. If I were to do a twist out, it would take a minimum of a day for the twists to set in order to be presentable. My hair is between MBL and WL with very low porosity (another contributing factor).

 

[ms-gg]

That's normal hun. The smaller you do your braids, the quicker they will dry.

I also don't braid/twist my hair up while it is soaking wet because it will take longer for it to dry. You want your hair to be damp and not dripping wet. Try to let your hair air dry as long as you can before you braid/twist it up if you need it to dry quickly.

When you pair smaller twists/braids with braiding and twisting your hair up on damp hair, the drying time will be reduced by a few hours (idealistically but it always doesn't work out like that). HTH

 

[lovegymnasts]

My hair takes about 30+ hours to completely dry. If I plan to wear a braid-out for the week, I do it on Saturday so that it is dry by Monday. When I go out, I wear my braids in a bun. When it ended up raining on Monday and Tuesday, I wore my braids in a bun to work until it stopped raining.

Also, I would strongly suggest that you do not use the glycerin+aloe mix when doing a braid-out or twist-out. Any humidity and glycerin result in a ruined style and big puffy hair. Yep, I learned that lesson well.

 

[Curlykale]

I wash my hair a few hours before going to sleep for this reason. First I towel dry with an old t-shirt or a microfibre towel in sections, then I wear it as a turban in quick/non perfect braids, without product, for 15 minutes. Then I air dry for ah hour or so, still in braids, without product. At that point my hair is more or less dry and stretched... it is the products that make air drying long for me.

Before going to sleep, I then apply my leave ins, oils and all that jazz and braid my hair in a style. If your hair is too frizzy or needs water you can lightly spray it, still it won't be like having soaking wet hair. I prefer to use flax gel for that purpose since it helps with styling too. I sleep with another t-shirt as a turban: since it is made of cotton, and cotton soaks out all the water, that is what I am going for. In the morning I am good to go! I do not use humectants if I am planning to wear my hair down (kccc, glycerin, etc) and I don't air dry out of home, otherwise the big puffy effect is automatic.

 

[LongLeggedLife]

Thanks ladies. I see all this talk of airdrying but I find it to be quite unrealistic for my lifestyle

And I dont understand how I'm supposed to comb my hair if I wait til its half dry to braid?? I like to run the denman thru each section before I braid it so it'll be smooth, I cant do that on half dry hair, I dont like the sound that makes at all!

Also, I thought the gel was supposed to counter the glycerin/aloe spritz, and still give it some hold??

curly kale, you braid it once, then take it down and braid it again??!


Ok, I'm back on the blowdryer asap!LOL

 

[kittenz]

My hair is much shorter (just around APL after my last trim) and I can't airdry over night unless I sleep in front of a fan. Also the type of scarf you use can slow down your drying, I use a porous stretchy scarf when drying overnight, the silk/satin ones keep the moisture in which is a good thing unless you're trying to dry your hair.

ETA: Oops, I'm not natural . I'm transitioning, 40 weeks post relaxer.

 

[glamazon386]

I started running into this problem earlier this year. The only options I have are to blowdry before hand or sit under the dryer. It won't dry overnight anymore.

 

[Bublin]

I wave a blowdryer over my hair before i go to bed. I have to braid whilst my hair is wet.

 

[Curlykale]

@LongLeggedLife yeah, I braid twice but I just do 6 braids. Even 6 chunky twists are good for airdying without product. I do it because I never air dry my hair in a non stretched state: this results in no tangles, no matting near the scalp and no single strand knots and it "sets the hair", keeping it "smooth".

I don't use brushes or combs and flax gel, conditioner and oil do all the final smoothing for me, but when I used a Denman I did this under the shower: condition or deep condition, then use a denman and braid, rinse my hair in braids, wear a t-shirt as a turban and then follow my process (air dry those smoothed, rinsed braids without product, apply conditioner on almost dry hair, rebraid with flax gel and go to sleep). I did not need to use the Denman again when styling and it came out smooth but I don't know if it works for everyone. I find that leave in products and gels do more "smoothing" when applied to semidry hair on me.

If I don't pre-air dry my hair without product, there is no chance I will wake up the morning after without wet hair.

 

[ProductJunkie]

I'm starting to think I have highly porus hair because it dries rather quickly but what I do is squeeze all excess water out of my hair as soon as I get out of the shower and then I let my hair dry for 15 min or so before I start styling... But this time it is fairly damp but no longer dripping... I use some Aloe Vera juice and grapeseed oil.. do about 6-8 braids in my hair and by morning (I usually do my hair at about 8-9pm wake up around 7am) my hair is dry...

Maybe i have thinner hair... I'm not sure.

 

[LongLeggedLife]

19hrs and counting....still not dry...
I will see if I can tolerate the dryer for an hour, if that fails, I will have to take this mess down, rinse and bun it :'(

 

[Rocky91]

yep, sounds like my hair. i can't bother with airdrying completely.
I HAVE to sit under the dryer for wet braidouts/twistouts-just won't make sense otherwise.
i mean i've tried using less product, etc. etc. just not gonna happen overnight.

a compromise iv'e found to get the smoothness/lasting hold of a wet set without the everlasting drying is to lightly blowdry first, then add a little foam wrap, and sit under the dryer to let it set.

 

[Leeda.the.Paladin]

Op, this is me as well.

I usually either wear the braids/twists until they dry by pinning them up or I put in small braids or twists and just wear them for a few days/weeks and undo them for the braid out. Here's one of my updos with big braids:

If you want it to dry faster, I would definitely stay away from gels and heavy butters too. A light leave in or liquid allows mine to dry a little faster.

 

[ms-gg]

Woman, you need to post up a warning or something before we pass out from all that gorgeous hair!

 

[Miss*Tress]

I twist soaking wet hair and sit under a hood dryer for 30-60 minutes before going to bed.

 

[Leeda.the.Paladin]

Woman, you need to post up a warning or something before we pass out from all that gorgeous hair!

Says the woman with the jaw dropping beautiful mane.