Green Chic Tip of the Day - Air Dry Before You Hair Dry
Today’s tip is from Christie Matheson’s book, Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style.
Air dry your hair before you blow dry. According to Christie, using a hairdryer that’s 1875 watts for 12 minutes a day every day adds up to over 500 pounds of CO2 per year. If you cut your dry time in half by air drying or towel drying very well, you can cut your hair dryer emissions in half as well.
Christie says that this comes with the added benefit of saving your hair from damage.
Keep reading, there’s a giveaway!
I enjoyed reading my copy of Green Chic, and in the spirit of being eco-friendly, I’d like to pass it on for someone else to read.
For the rest of the week, I’m going to make the Tip of the Day a tip from Green Chic. Sign in with a valid e-mail address to comment on the Green Chic Tip of the Day posts from Tuesday, March 18th through Friday, March 21st.
For each comment, you’ll get an entry (one per day, please). The giveaway will close on Sunday, March 23, at noon (Eastern), and I’ll draw a name out of a hat to determine the winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 24th. Comments that appear to be spam will not be counted. Good luck!
Note: If you haven’t commented on this site before, your comment will be held up until it’s approved, and will show up later this afternoon.
CONTEST CLOSED 3/23/2008
March 18th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
This is one of the reasons I love spring/summer/fall more than winter. You can leave the house with damp hair and not freeze. Another thought: I’ve found that if you wash your hair less (which is good for your hair and for the environment!) it requires less blow-drying. Maybe it’s just my hair type, but when I have some natural grease in there, it dries differently. Another reason why I wear my hair back every few days to give it a rest from products and from the blow dryer. Just think how much energy we would safe if we just wore pony tails more often?
March 18th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I guess this is where having fine, thin hair comes in handy. I only have to use a hair dryer for less than a minute to finish my hair. That, coupled with the fact that I live in Tucson AZ where your hair is speed dried by the heat and lack of humidity, means that my hair dryer use is negligible.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Rachel- exactly! I wash my hair only a couple times a week, and it definitely seems healthier. I also spend less money on shampoo and don’t have to recycle quite as many bottles. Since my hair is pretty short it takes no time at all to blow dry after letting it air dry for a bit!
March 18th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I wish I had enough hair to warrant blow-drying.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
haha I did laugh at Mickey’s comment!
I rarely blow-dry my hair so I can feel a bit virtuous on this one!
I came over to say thank you for all the lovely comments you have made over the past few days whilst I was feeling all glum. So a big
Thank you!
x
March 19th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Mickey, you’re the greenest of them all.
Actually, this post makes me happy. I’m usually too lazy to dry my hair immediately and end up letting it air-dry most of the way. So in my laziness I’m being green. That’s what I like to hear.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:07 am
not only that… but blow drying is boring, and I always manage to make myself dizzy with all the head flopping.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
i agree with Rachel - cut back on everything and it kind of evens the usage out. i wash my hair every other day; you can tell how clean my hair is by how i wear it - clean = down next day = half up and if I am so bold as to go ANOTHER day third day = pony tail.
if you’re hair does not get too oily, trust rachel and i, the ponytail works!
i have pretty thick hair, don’t use a lot of product, so air drying before the occasional blow dry not only helps the environment, it keeps your hair healthy - less dried out and frizzy!
March 20th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
My hair dryer is also obnoxiously loud. So loud that my dog growls at it.