How to Blow Dry Your Hair When Tired + Before/After Pics of Me
Like many chronically ill women, I find it hard to blow dry my hair. It’s painful and impossible to lift my arms in the air for 40 minutes! At last, I finally found a miracle product that answers our blow drying woes: Pureology Color Stylist Anitsplit Blowdry Styling Cream. This product has cut my blowdrying time down to 20 minutes! As you can see in my pictures, the difference blowdrying makes is between me looking like I’m “lost” on a deserted island versus me looking dignified.
Why Don’t You Just Cut Your Hair?
(In case you’re wondering who that “before picture” is, it’s Hurley from LOST.) A lot of people (ahem, my father) say, “Why don’t you just cut your hair short?” Because it took me forever to get it back. When I got sick with Myasthenia Gravis in 2008, I had to chop my hair because I no longer had the energy or strength to brush it. The doctors in my family said, “Don’t worry. Your long hair will be back in no time.” Well if “no time” meant two years, then yes it came back in no time. For some women, long hair is a sign of femininity. It’s a preference–just like some women prefer wearing pantsuits and others dresses to weddings, this is a preference. Losing your hair, whether it’s all of it due to chemotherapy or most of it due to neuromuscular limitations, can be demoralizing. So if you’re fortunate enough to get it back, it’s hard to let go of it. And now you may not have to.
3 Steps for Blowdrying Your Hair:
1. Use lots of conditioner in the shower. Start at the ends of your strands and work your way to the top. When you get out of the shower, while your hair is still wet, apply Pureology’s Color Stylist Antisplit Blowdry Styling Cream evenly across different strands of your hair. You can purchase it here at ultra.com.
2. Put pillows on your bed so your back is comfortable and you’re less likely to become fatigued. Angle yourself so you’re lying down while blowdrying your hair.
3. Brush your hair and dry while it’s still wet. The cream is not effective if you do it 30 minutes after your shower. If you have a hard time drying the back of your scalp, clip your hair up front with a hair claw. (You can find cheap ones at Target like this set of three claws from Goody.) Then take the blowdryer to the back of your scalp.
Your Turn?
Have you discovered solutions to blowdrying woes? Are you going to try Pureology’s Antisplit cream?
–Your Stylist, Jessica Gimeno
I too have Myasthenia Gravis, diagnosed in August of 2010. Washing and blow drying my hair became such an impossible task that I just kept cutting it shorter and shorter. Now it is back to shoulder length. I have thought about buying a stand for my blow dryer, but will now try your method first. I’m not sure about using the blow drying cream because my hair is thin and fine and the cream may weigh it down too much, but I have used other Pureology products and like them, so maybe…
I like your positive attitude and sense of humor. Laughter is good medicine. I hope you are having a lovely day.
Donna Grant
Dear Donna,
How did it go? Did the strategies I suggested work? I hope you are doing well.
Best,
Jessica
I use a special microfiber hair towel. Not the turban things. Bed bath and Beyond sells it over by the bathrooms stuff (not in the toiletries area) Buy the one for long hair, because it’s not that long. When I twist back I use a clip to hold it in place, or you could just pat your hair dry…
Hi Cynthia! Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look it up. Maybe I’ll do an updated version of this post with a link to the microfiber towel. I’m glad you found something that works. –xoxo
I would take breaks when I’m tired. I blow, when I get tired, I take a little break, then I start back using my other arm, then i would take another break and redo this until my hair is almost dry. It’s never fully dried but I’m not patient enough and I never been before anyways!
I use an over-cabinet door holder for my blow dryer, but I hang it from the top of my bathroom door. Then, I can stand under it and not have to keep one arm raised the entire time.
Costs about $6, works like a charm.
Thanks for sharing! What a creative idea 🙂