Made a massive difference when I started pat drying my hair, it became more softer and smoother instead of roughly and vigorously rub drying my hair, making my hair dry… I feel like this should be common sense but apparently not to me since I found out about this just recently 😅
I just shaved my head. No hair, no problems.
i do it because of atopic dermatitis, which would irritate my skin its the same for the rest of my skin.
Pat drying the body helps too if you have dry skin. Removes less oil which you lack in, don’t rub what little natural oil you do produce off. Hot shower bad too. Don’t open pores.
If you suffer from dandruff and no product has ever helped or only made things worse: try no products at all. People won’t believe it works but watch as nobody notices and your lovers compliment your hair all the same totally unaware because you smell and look just fine without putting $40 of GLORP MEGA MOISTURE NOW WITH DEMON TEARS XXXTREME in your hair.
You just reminded me to order conditioner, a task I haven’t been able to remember outside of the shower for several months now. So thank you.
Hi, it’s been 4 hours since you commented so I just wanted to remind you to order conditioner in case you haven’t yet.
roughly and vigorously rub drying my hair
my male-radar is going off strong here.
As a woman, I wrap my long wet hair in a towel and let it dry like that. Or in the summer I just go outside & play & my hair is soon dry.
Seems like that would massively depend on the length of your hair.
Up to a point, yeah.
It’s about the cuticle of the hair, so once it’s short enough you don’t notice the “roughness”. It’s still there, but less significant. But past maybe a half inch, you’d feel it by touch usually
I rub it aggressively with a towel but it’s all falling out anyways so 🤷
Wait til you learn about the acv rinse:
https://coconutsandkettlebells.com/apple-cider-vinegar-hair-rinse/
You can add a little raw honey for conditioning, if needed.
My daughter learned that lesson when she was around 3 years old, the first time we let her shower by herself. She washed her long hair with her wash cloth. It was a miserable night for everyone that night.
But yes, I love discovering something that you feel is something you should have already known. I had a realization in my 30s that maybe not everyone gets little sores all over their body all the time… I changed my body wash and the problem went away. I feel like most people would have known that was a problem much sooner.
Do you mean pat the water off the top layer of hair and then leave the rest of your hair damp?
Bold of you to assume anyone has thick and healthy enough hair to have layers
I’ve seen them!
Yep.
Another tip is you might be shampooing too often but this will depend on your hair type. I have curly hair and shampooing more than once a week kills my hair.
I quit washing my hair entirely, after a greasy couple months adjustment it’s nicer than any shampoo/conditioner combo I’ve tried. It’s almost like our bodies are self-regulating miracles or something :p
Also what I’ve found is that different brands can make a difference, even if they’ve both got the same gimmick eg. for dry hair etc.
Sometimes a particular brand just agrees with you less than another one and it can help trying different ones for the one that works best.
I recently developed psoriasis and it especially affects my scalp, so I bought a shampoo aimed at people like me. I’ve been shocked to find that I can use it only once or twice a week and my hair doesn’t get all greasy. It’s amazing. Wish I’d had this shampoo ages ago, nevermind the psoriasis.
I don’t think it’s just the hair type but also your oil production. I also have curly hair and it’s completely untameable if I don’t shower & get it wet, but it’s very oily and unpleasant if I shower and don’t shampoo it.
There might be a middle ground available with other hair products but I can’t stand the feeling of product left in my hair so I’ve left myself with only one real option.
I’ve found that my hair responds best to using the absolute smallest amount of shampoo I can get out of the bottle, like literally a single drop the size of the tip of my pinky. More than that and I get dried out. I’ve tried using none at all and the oils in my hair start forming into more complex polymers and it gets unpleasant.
I’ve been told this is the less damaging way, but I think it also depends on your hair’s thickness. If it can stand the violent rubbing, then you can do that. If all you have left is a few fragile thin hairs, I’d protect them as best as I can…
what now
…unless you want to dry hair below the top layer.
What is the difference between pat drying and rub drying?
Friction can lead to breakage
Is that an actual problem? My barbers always told me that I have very thick hair, so I never thought about how rubbing might affect it.
I guess that that is more of a problem when you have thin hair, right?
It depends what you mean by “thick” and “thin.” If by “thick” you mean that the individual hair strands are coarse rather than fine, then yes, that kind of hair can be more resistant to this kind of damage. But if by “thick” you mean you have a lot of hair (high density) as opposed to sparser hair (low density), that doesn’t mean much one way or another because it’s the coarseness/fineness of the hairs that really matters.
Either way, it makes sense to be gentle with your hair if you’re interested in having it look nice.
Even thick hair will dry more pleasantly not being rubbed
