A hairy situation: has my mom been blowing hot air all this time?

curagea — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:17:04 -0800

Mom says to blow-dry my hair all the time, but isn't it bad for your hair? So, I understand blow-drying your hair is in general bad for your hair. It damages it, burns the living crap out of it, sets your head on fire - whoops, getting ahead of myself there. I tend to shed hair, usually about 10 strands every time I wash it, and recently I avoided the blow-dryer all together to see if I can stop dropping strands all over the place (I have long hair, if that makes a difference).

I use Pantene, take a multivitamin and B-complex every day, and wash my hair every 2 days. My hair is generally thick, but like I said, I tend to shed, though not as much as I used to.

My mom, however, said I should blow-dry my hair. "It's good for your hair," she said, "and you won't get sick from wet hair." She said shedding hair at "such a young age" (I'm 21) is a no-no. Maybe the getting sick part makes sense, but the former part goes against conventional wisdom, as far as I know. Nevertheless, I followed her advice for years, even using hot air from the heater when I was too lazy to break out the hairdryer.

So, what do you say, fellow MeFites? Is my mom wrong and I've been subject to heat abuse for too long on my hair?

On a related note: How do you grow out new hair? I used to have a bunch of hair, not just thick, but A LOT, and people had trouble putting it into a bun. Now I shed so much that I can definitely feel my bundle of hair being smaller.

Where you come from, do men blow-dry their testicles?

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 20 Sep 2004 23:06:27 -0800

Where you come from, do men blow-dry their testicles? [more inside] Here in Korea, I've started going to a gym regularly for the first time in my life, and I don't have a frame of reference. I'm... disconcerted by the habit of many of the men in the change room, once they get out of the shower, to fling one foot up on the counter in front of the mirror, nude, and use the blow dryer on their dangly bits. I use that thing on my head, before I go back to work.

Is this something that happens everywhere, or is it just here?

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A hairy situation: has my mom been blowing hot air all this time?

Where you come from, do men blow-dry their testicles?