Aside from the unfortunate period in my life (approximately 1989-1991) when I had a spiral perm which required the use of a diffuser, I’ve mostly managed to avoid hairdryers. I think I also used them a bit in high school, but after the perm fiasco (which I don’t like to speak about) I’ve used them only for special occasions. I kept the same dryer for about ten years until it went kaput about four years ago. Since then, I’ve bought two different ones.
For every day wear, my biggest styling tools are a towel and a comb.
It helps, of course, that I have no bangs and for a very long time, had hair that was long and all one length. And anyone with very long hair can tell you that the fastest shortcut to fried ends is daily use of a dryer. My current hairstyle is long but layered, and can handle a bunch of styling or no handling at all, depending on what I want to do.
Say what you will about special shampoos and conditioners with heat protectants and space-age dryers with ionizers and crystallizers and who knows what else. I tried quite a few and always ended up with the same result. My hair doesn’t like dry heat. Oh sure, it will look really good for the first few weeks. I will be seduced by the smoothness and shininess of my hair. But eventually it will protest by looking really, really crappy no matter what. Then I have to have three inches cut off the ends so that it will look decently healthy.
To me, not worth it as a daily thing.
I know some ladies who would sooner give up their morning coffee than their dryers, and good for them. If they have hair that works well with a dryer long-term, I’m glad and possibly a teensy bit jealous.
Maybe I’m doing it all wrong?