Why You Have to Ditch Your Bath Towel - For Good!

by Allison McNamara

So you’ve found the perfect shampoo and conditioner, and have a slew of hair masks and leave-in conditioners to help hydrate your pretty precious stands. You think you have the whole showering thing down pat–but did you know the most important thing comes after your bathe?

Turns out, how you let your hair dry majorly affects the health of your hair. Chances are, you reach for a terry cloth or cotton bath towel and wrap your hair up in a turban. Or perhaps you’ve heard wrapping your hair in a turban is no good, so you press and pat the water out of your strands with your towel instead?

While the latter is the better of the two evils, the real root of the problem lies with your towel of choice. But to fully understand why a terrycloth towel is bad for your mane, you need to understand what water does to your strands. Water, especially warm water, causes the hair cuticle to swell and open up, leaving your strands prone to frizz and damage. Besides cutting your shower short, the quicker you remove excess water from your hair the better.

Enter: microfiber towels, a surefire way to absorb water faster, be more gentle on your hair, and ensure a frizz free air dry. A microfiber towel takes the moisture out of your mane way faster than a regular terrycloth towel. Additionally, the course, dry texture of cotton or terry cloth towels can damage your delicate, wet hair and can worsen split ends.

But there’s more to it than just swapping out your towel–the drying technique also comes into play. While it might seem second nature to wring or rub, gently press the water out of your hair with a super absorbing microfiber fabric towel.  

Then, wrap your hair up in the microfiber towel for 10 – 15 minutes to get the rest of the water out of your mane. This process causes the least amount of friction and allows the hair to dry quickly without damaging the shaft or the cuticle.

So now you know – ditch your cotton or terry cloth towels for microfiber towels and dry your way to healthier, stronger hair.
This article first appeared on Mane Addicts