We're often told to avoid heat at all costs when it comes to styling our hair. It's been said it strips your locks of natural oils and can lead to breakages and frizzy hair.
However an expert says it can in fact be more damaging to let your hair dry naturally - and in fact makes it greasier. Content creator Abbey Yung, who is currently in training to get her trichology certificate, shared the "mind-blowing" information she learned while studying.
According to Abbey, your hair will naturally lose excess oil in other ways, but blow drying your hair essentially kickstarts it. In a recent video on her @abbeyyung TikTok page, she said: "You will never air dry ever again after I tell you this."
She then pointed to a piece of research which was published in 1981 and presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Oil Chemists' Society, the Mirror reports. Abbey continued: "In that journal I found one of the most mind blowing sentences I've ever read about hair science.
"It says 'hair dried in air lost its sebum, or oil, at a slower rate than hair dried with a -hot-air dryer'. So if you've ever wondered why your hair doesn't seem to get greasy as quickly when you blow dry it versus when you air dry it, this is exactly why."
She said you lose 40-60% of the sebum a few days after from brushing your hair, sleeping on a pillow, or other ways, but using a blow dryer makes it happen faster.
And because too much heat still isn't good for your hair, Abbey tends to air dry 80% of the way, and then "blow dry the rest". She added: "You can also just blow dry your roots!"
The video has now been seen by more than 850k people, and many were blown away by finally realising why their hair gets greasy more quickly by letting it air dry.
One person said: "That makes so much sense! I've always noticed the difference but never knew why."
Another added: "So here I thought I was doing my hair a service by not blow drying it and that's what is causing my hair to be so greasy after a day!" A third said: "That is so true! I've always wondered why I can go with more days between washes when I blow dry it! But I don't have time to do it every time."
