how fast or slow should hair dry (air/naturally)?

[youwillrise]

lets say for medium length, fine stranded, medium density natural hair?

ive experienced both extremes - with my hair taking forever to dry and my hair drying what seems like *too* fast.

actually, i did my hair thing last night and found my hair still damp today and i was surprised because lately my hair's been completely dry by morning time...or even if i did it in the morning, it would be dry not even 2 hours later.

but ive also experienced my hair taking what seems like 10 years to dry. too bad i cant remember what the differences in my regimen/routine were then.

i have been using that terressentials mud wash (not last night, but for days before then)...and i used the aubrey organics hsr & one of their moisturizing products. could it be from those? i'd imagine it were the change in the products.

i guess what i'm really asking is, which is better: faster or slower drying hair? or are both of those telling of some kind of issue? should the natural air drying process be somewhere in the middle - not too short, but not too long? i'd imagine this is some kind of porosity issue, which i have sort of looked into before, but could never quite understand completely.

 

[MaraWithLove]

Hmm, I have no idea whether or not those products influenced your drying time-I have no idea what the ingredients are, etc. However in relation to porosity, it's been written many times that hair with high porosity dries rapidly, low porosity takes a while (my hair is between chin and full neck-length = short, but so THICK; it takes hours to dry ), hair with normal porosity is somewhere in between. I think you should record how long it takes your hair to dry next two times you wash your hair and make comparisons? Also make note of what products you're using. If you'd said you used henna, for example, I would think that the drying time might've shortened because it lowered your porosity some; but I haven't a clue. HTH and may you find your answer!

 

[youwillrise]

that's a great idea. i will test it out. i mean, i'm not complaining or anything...my hair feels more moisturized now than it has in a lonnnng time, buuut i just hope it stays that way after it's completely dried because i know that's when it really counts.. i'm in the middle of styling my hair into braids and they look great so far. hopefully i retain good moisture levels.

 

[NaturalEnigma]

The same exact thing happened to me. If I did my twists on wet hair at night (usually at 9 or 10 oclock) my hair would be dry by the time I'd be ready to go to school (8 am). Lately my hair takes longer to dry, which is annoying because I have to take out my twists before I leave the house, and uncoiled wet twists results in undefined frizzy hair. My hair takes almost 2 days now to completely dry. I think it means my hair is more moisturized. I noticed the change when I started using Shescenit's Curly Girl line. The brazil nut butter cream and the pomegranate curl quenching conditioner are so MOISTURIZING.

 

[Embyra]

My hair never truly gets soaking wet water runs off it i can be in the shower for 45 mins come out and my hair is damp

when i apply products they take 1-2 days to dry fully

 

[PPGbubbles]

for me it all depends on product.

My hair will air dry in about 2 1/2 hours without product and as much as 2 days when I use a heavy butter or cream on wet hair.

I find that letting my hair dry about 70-80% bare then adding product will leave me with fully dry soft strechted hair the next day.

 

[ms-gg]

There are so many variables as to how long it should take for one's hair to dry. You have to factor in climate, humidity, dew point, temperature, the style the hair is in, afro texture vs. relaxed, length of the hair, porosity, density etc etc. There is no set number imo.