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The secret of air drying...

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kandi1280

kandi1280

New Member
Hey all,

I would like to use this thread solely for all of your different methods of drying the hair with no heat. I'm having such a problem with this. My hair is going through excessive shedding right now. I am a type 4a/b and I am relaxed with affirm relaxer.

I am trying to master roller setting, however, I can never get my ends straight, and I find that I pull at my hair trying to section it and manipulating it onto the rollers.

When I do twist-outs they come out better when my hair is dry and already somewhat straight. When I do it on wet hair they come out too tight and turns out waay too frizzy and dry.

Pretty much any method I use gives me "big" hair and it gets so frustrating at times. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
 
For me, I put a leave in conditioner in, and that helps the frizz factor as it is air drying, after it is dry i just bun it, and then the next day my hair is relativley straight and i can munipulate it better.

4a
currently : almost SL
Goal : APL
Final Goal just past BSL
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Yeah, tell me about it. I have the same problem too. I'm trying to stretch my relaxer to about mid-february which will put me at 6 weeks, but the thing is, is that I have about 1 1/2" of ng, and by then it'll be probably 2". I have 4a/b hair too. I've been co. washing, and then loosely braiding my hair, and then spritzing with Qhemet Biologics Olive&Amla Heavy cream, distilled water, and coconut oil. After it's dry, i apply my homemade MTG, and then wrap my hair. This seems to be working, but last night I got some MAJOR shedding. I think it was my fault because I made the mistake of spritzing first before I wrapped it. I need to wrap it first, and then spritz. But yes, if anyone has suggestions we'd like to know. TIA:)
 
I too am looking for airdrying methods. I am not sure what type my hair is all I know is that right now its "BUSHY AT THE ROOTS" and I am only 4 weeks post. I attempted airdrying a few times but was not successful. I've found that my hair takes "days" to dry and when it does get dry its like an afro. (I like afros but not on me! LOL)
 
Well, i think that to get it straight by airdrying, some people just do rollersets. However, airdrying rollersets may take a long time. I think someone on this board said it took them ~12 hours to airdry their rollerset. I also think that some people wrap their hair after rollersetting it. I will definitely try these methods sometime in the near future but it's not definite.
I read in Carolyn Gray's book that she air dries in 2 ponytails and that helps straighten out her roots quite a bit. I've done that methods in the past and it does help. When using this method, something a bit more heavy to the ends and pin them up. That has helped me a lot. That's all i can think of right now, but i know there are more ideas out there. The beautiful LHCF ladies will chime in pretty soon with their ideas.
 
I have shorter hair and I can air dry. My routine so far (I have been doing this for about a month) is I detangle in the shower under running water, smooth my hair back into one with my hands, take a moderate amount of WGO (or whatever oil) and add some to my ends squeezing out more water, make one two strand twist, and pin up with a duck bill clip. I then airdry, it takes about a day for the twist to get completely dry. After it is dry, I can add more moisturizer if needed and I even combed once without any breakage. I don't know if it would work for longer hair, but I know a lot of people cannot band their hair with a ponytail holder like me because of breakage, and this avoids banding your wet hair.
 
I air dry my hair by using the ponytail method only. I spray my hair with Infusium 23 Leave-in Conditioner and ApHogee Keratin Reconstructor. I let it air dry a bit first to decrease breakage. Then I slick it back into a ponytail and secure it using a stocking cut width wise. I use a comb to smooth the hair. I was so surprised this method actually worked but it does and I am 10 weeks post relaxer.
 
I just do one ponytail and I braid it. I make my ponytail with an elastic band and I do it three or four times to get it tight. Before I do this, I have either washed, rinsed or CO'd my hair and put some some oil and/or butter or pomade on it. Last night, I used monoi oil with nature's blessings hair pomade over it. (Mind you, last week, I melted this down and added hempseed oil to it to thin it out.) I put in ponytail, make one braid, brush down the front of my hair and put a satin scarf on overnight. My hair is straight in the morning with a hint of a wave pattern. The moisture, plus the tension of the elastic band, plus the satin scarf are what straightens it out. Last night I let my ponytail dry a bit before I braided it and this morning, even the back was straight. The braided part is usually pretty darn wavy, but this morning, it was straight.

I do not know if my hair in the ponytail was straight this morning because I let it dry some before I braided it (it is usually a little damp in the morning, but it wasn't this morning); the monoi oil, which really gives me very smooth hair or the pomade, which I purposely used alot of because I just loved the way it melted and felt in my hands. I thought I would wake up with tacky hair because I used alot of pomade, but I woke with my hair as straight as it has ever gotten without heat. If anyone had told me prior to 14 months ago that I could get straight hair without heat or a relaxer, I would have laughed them out of the room.

ETA: The butter, oil or pomade always completely absorbs by morning, so I have shiny hair, but never greasy.
 
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I use the scarf method to flatten the front half of my hair with a narrow (about 6" wide) satin-like scarf. I moisturize, detangle, comb back, brush with a soft bristle brush to smooth then tie down with scarf. I then braid the back half of my hair into 4 braids and flexi-rod the ends. After drying overnight, I end up with the front straight with wavy ends. This works for me because I am not looking for a straight look, so if you are, this may not be helpful.

My siggy pic (Jan 07) is the end result.
 
blac_quarian said:
I use the scarf method to flatten the front half of my hair with a narrow (about 6" wide) satin-like scarf. I moisturize, detangle, comb back, brush with a soft bristle brush to smooth then tie down with scarf. I then braid the back half of my hair into 4 braids and flexi-rod the ends. After drying overnight, I end up with the front straight with wavy ends. This works for me because I am not looking for a straight look, so if you are, this may not be helpful.

My siggy pic (Jan 07) is the end result.
Click to expand...

That looks really pretty!
 
I usually part my hair down the middle and leave it in 2 low pigtails to air dry. If I get lazy I just bun it wet with extra moiturizers in my hair.

HTH!
 
adw425 said:
I just do one ponytail and I braid it. I make my ponytail with an elastic band and I do it three or four times to get it tight. Before I do this, I have either washed, rinsed or CO'd my hair and put some some oil and/or butter or pomade on it. Last night, I used monoi oil with nature's blessings hair pomade over it. (Mind you, last week, I melted this down and added hempseed oil to it to thin it out.) I put in ponytail, make one braid, brush down the front of my hair and put a satin scarf on overnight. My hair is straight in the morning with a hint of a wave pattern. The moisture, plus the tension of the elastic band, plus the satin scarf are what straightens it out. Last night I let my ponytail dry a bit before I braided it and this morning, even the back was straight. The braided part is usually pretty darn wavy, but this morning, it was straight.

I do not know if my hair in the ponytail was straight this morning because I let it dry some before I braided it (it is usually a little damp in the morning, but it wasn't this morning); the monoi oil, which really gives me very smooth hair or the pomade, which I purposely used alot of because I just loved the way it melted and felt in my hands. I thought I would wake up with tacky hair because I used alot of pomade, but I woke with my hair as straight as it has ever gotten without heat. If anyone had told me prior to 14 months ago that I could get straight hair without heat or a relaxer, I would have laughed them out of the room.

ETA: The butter, oil or pomade always completely absorbs by morning, so I have shiny hair, but never greasy.
Click to expand...

I do virtually the same thing and it works well for me! one ponytail and I twist the ponytail and I wake up with smooth, shiny straight(ish) hair. Leave in is the qhemet Olive & Coconut detangler and plenty of coconut oil.
HTH
 
kandi1280 said:
Hey all,

I would like to use this thread solely for all of your different methods of drying the hair with no heat. I'm having such a problem with this. My hair is going through excessive shedding right now. I am a type 4a/b and I am relaxed with affirm relaxer.

I am trying to master roller setting, however, I can never get my ends straight, and I find that I pull at my hair trying to section it and manipulating it onto the rollers.

When I do twist-outs they come out better when my hair is dry and already somewhat straight. When I do it on wet hair they come out too tight and turns out waay too frizzy and dry.

Pretty much any method I use gives me "big" hair and it gets so frustrating at times. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
When I started on LHCF, I got rid of all heating appliances which forced me (in a fun way) to learn how to airdry my hair and have it look good!

Pandora (her former name) shared the ponytail method which really helped my roots airdry straighter and made it easy to roll up my hair. This is making several ponytails on my head using hair-safe Scunci Hair Hosiery bands soaked in olive oil. After that, it's so easy to just roll up each ponytail. :)

I only recently began to wear my rollersets. Before I did it to straighten and smooth out my hair so I can make other styles on dry hair, like braidouts, French Twists and other updos. The result of airdrying in a rollerset is smooth, shiny, swingy, bouncy moisturized hair.

There are many rollersetting experts on this board, including Macherieamore and her rollersetting blog that can be of great help.

I must say I haven't explored airdrying without rollersetting.
 
toinette said:
how did you get your hair so straight?!
Click to expand...

Basically start out with good products. That day, I clarified and then deep conditioned with a silicone product (those tend to resist frizzies for me). Under running water, while rinsing out the conditioner, I detangled AND put my hair into a ponytail while smooth under the shower. My hair is smooth in the ponytail when I come out the shower. I then get dressed and then put in a leavein, plenty of mango butter, and oil to seal, and put back in a low on nape ponytail. With all the products, I apply them while smoothing my hair back to keep the strands smooth. I then sleep with a satin scarf. In the morning I apply more mango butter and smooth my hair all the way down the strands. Comb through hair to get out any waves obtained while sleeping.
 
Maybe airdrying is not for you. Why not use a hooded dryer. This kind of heat is not damaging. Even if you are not good at roller setting, just dry it in a ponytail/bun. I do it all the time. I know airdrying is not for me, so I don't even try.
 
yea, DON'T DO IT!!! that is my secret of air drying...:grin: its sooo frustrating, i always get big puffy hair that sheds excessively. either i'm not using enough of the right product or maybe my hair is just too nappy to pull off a successful airdry. i kinda sorta think because my hair is probably blowdryer damaged and is too dry. so airdrying leaves my stands very rough and not smooth at all. i guess...
 
When stretching my relaxer I do braid outs, I can't do anything with my new growth but make it blend in :lol: .

For straight hair, after I do my ritual of shampooing and conditioning, I squeese the excess water out. I apply mango butter lightly throughout my hair and more on the ends. I spray serum or apply aphogee gloss lightly throughout. It drys pretty straight, then I apply a little more butter before tying it up for the night and it comes out straight as if It was flat ironed. For curls, I pin curl 2 big curls one on each side of my head or in the back. then tie a scarf over my head. Looks like a loose rollerset. :D
 
I also believe the secret to good airdrying is in the leave-in or what you put into your hair before you airdry/set. When I used to put in 2-3 products in my hair, my hair came out dry and my new growth kind of crunchy. However, recently I started using just one leave-in(usually Profectiv Break-free) and my hair came out soft and moist. This past weekend I used Lacio Lacio and my hair came out sooo soft, smooth, shiny and very moist. This product gave me the best airdried hair ever. I'm about 7 week post relaxer and alot my roots/new growth were softened and some parts were almost straight. Anyhow, I always part my hair into six parts and braid up each section resulting in six braids. It usually takes a day and a half to fully dry my hair.
 
I have a question for everyone... A hairdresser once told me that a person with relaxed hair should not air-dry as this causes split ends and ultimately damages the hair. And if you are natural, you can air-dry without any damage to the hair. Is this true?
 
Meli said:
I have a question for everyone... A hairdresser once told me that a person with relaxed hair should not air-dry as this causes split ends and ultimately damages the hair. And if you are natural, you can air-dry without any damage to the hair. Is this true?
Click to expand...

I've never heard of this. However, I know that I've always had more problems with breakage air drying instead of blow-drying. But that's my hair. Everyone's is different.
 
Meli said:
I have a question for everyone... A hairdresser once told me that a person with relaxed hair should not air-dry as this causes split ends and ultimately damages the hair. And if you are natural, you can air-dry without any damage to the hair. Is this true?
Click to expand...

I don't think this could be true because there are too many relaxed ladies here who air dry all the time who have amazing growing hair. Isis and Babygurl come to mind off the top of my head.

I had a hard time airdrying at first, but I finally realized that my hair had to be smoothed, oiled, and minimize tension to be successful. If you find it is damaging for your hair don't do it, but if you find that you are successful doing it don't stop because of a hairdresser's advice.
 
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Mizani_Mrs said:
yea, DON'T DO IT!!! that is my secret of air drying...:grin: its sooo frustrating, i always get big puffy hair that sheds excessively. either i'm not using enough of the right product or maybe my hair is just too nappy to pull off a successful airdry. i kinda sorta think because my hair is probably blowdryer damaged and is too dry. so airdrying leaves my stands very rough and not smooth at all. i guess...
Click to expand...

I used to think this as well. Maybe you just need to experiment and find the right products. I use Lacio Lacio as my leave-in, use an oil and a serum and then use the ponytail method and this has worked fairly well for me. I'm still in experimentation phase, but I'm getting closer to finding my perfect combination. Don't give up. I think that smoothing the hair while it's wet and confining the hair while it's drying is key too.
 
I dont have many air drying secrets...One thing I will agree to is, if you plan to wear it out (braidout, twistout etc.) make sure its FULLY dry before you unbraid or youll poof! I also like to use a serum to tame frizzies and give shine, I always use a scarf when I airdry.
 
Meli said:
I have a question for everyone... A hairdresser once told me that a person with relaxed hair should not air-dry as this causes split ends and ultimately damages the hair. And if you are natural, you can air-dry without any damage to the hair. Is this true?
Click to expand...


I air dry and have not had any split ends since May of 2006.
 
Meli said:
I have a question for everyone... A hairdresser once told me that a person with relaxed hair should not air-dry as this causes split ends and ultimately damages the hair. And if you are natural, you can air-dry without any damage to the hair. Is this true?
Click to expand...


I was natural and developed splits, I'm currently relaxed now (8 weeks post), and trying to get my hair on track.

Even with all the good information here, I've found it's still a challenge to develope the regimen that works. :ohwell:
 
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