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Most of us have a strict showering routine: hop in, lather hair, practise our shower song, hurriedly shave legs, cut ourselves in our attempt to do so, rinse, then get out and manically shake and rub our hair dry with a towel to avoid that horrible wet drippy hair feeling. Simple and effective.
However, while excessive heat styling is well known for damaging hair, it turns out your towel-drying ritual can also do its fair share of harm.
“If you rub your hair with a towel you open up the cuticle leaving it susceptible to damage more easily,” explains Barney Martin, Pantene’s Expert Hairstylist and founder of Barney Martin Hair.
Not only that, you’ll also make it frizzy and full of knots — and brushing your knot-filled hair while wet only does more damage by stretching and weakening the hair. Yikes.
So how do you break the vicious cycle? Many recommend switching to microfibre towels, which are specifically designed to be gentler on hair.
Watch: 3 frizz-fighting hacks to try now. (Post continues after video.)
This is because they absorb significantly more moisture than normal towels requiring less vigorous rubbing, in a similar principles to plopping.
The best part? You can pick them up from your local Big W for just $6.
As a proud frizzy/curly hair-ed girl, I was sceptical – but couldn’t have been happier to be proved wrong. It seems like something you’d drunkenly order from a late night informercial, but it seriously works.
