On Easter Sunday I set a new world record. I washed my hair at 6 a.m. and my hair was dry by 10:45 a.m. service. And no, I didn’t sit under the dryer for 3 hours. In fact, I cooked my contribution to Easter Dinner and got my girls dressed — with the assistance of my husband, of course. Surprised? So was I. I have low porosity hair and for years I struggled to get my twistout to dry by morning. And since I’ve notably mastered this task, I figured I’d share a few of my magic tricks to get your natural hair to dry faster.
Towel Dry Natural Hair with an Old T-shirt
Although wetter hair results in more defined twists, they also take much longer to dry. To cut down on drying time, twist on damp NOT wet hair. I usually blot out excess water with a t-shirt or towel; I then add my leave-in product.
Twist on damp Natural hair and NOT wet hair
After towel drying with an old t-shirt, I let my hair air dry for a bit, before I begin to twist my hair. (If you wait to twist, your hair has more surface to dry. Also, by adding products that lock in moisture you slow down your drying time. Get more of the water out before you lock in moisture and voila! Shorter drying time!)
Don’t Cover Your Hair
It sounds intuitive, but not everyone takes heed to this very important step to get your natural hair to dry fast. How often have you quickly covered your hair after twisting? After twisting your hair, delay putting on your bonnet for as long as humanly possible. If you have a satin pillowcase, you can forego the bonnet altogether.
Use your Hair Dryer or Blow Dryer to speed up Drying your Natural hair
If you’re worried that your twists won’t dry by morning, then pull out your dryer to help your hair dry faster. (My daughters let me blow dry my hair for a whole five minutes on Sunday. I’m convinced blow drying for 5 minutes with a diffuser made all the difference…lol.) If I had the time I would have spent about 2o mins under hooded dryer but the blow dryer was a quicker option.
If Your Twists Don’t dry, Handle with Care
Suppose you follow all of these hair drying tricks and your hair still isn’t dry. Then, handle with care. As long as it is not wet or humid outside, you can still have outstanding results. The key is to make sure you don’t disturb the curl as you unravel the twists. Even untwisted, your hair can finish drying and no one will be the wiser because your twists will have definition. In fact, on Sunday, portions of my hair were still damp. But as you can see from my pictures, my twistout was still defined.
There you have it, my magic tricks to get your natural hair to dry faster. And in this case, less than five hours.
What Natural Hair Care tips tips do you have for reducing drying time ?
After applying leave-in conditioner and two-strand twisting damp hair, I run my pinched thumb and forefinger down each twist to remove excess water/product.