Adventures in Hair Drying...or, how do you dry your hair?

Reminiscing about my complicated "hair routine"

Recently, my blow dryer bit the dust. Yes, just stopped working. I went out pretty much immediately and got a new one, because even though I sometimes let my hair air dry, I can't let the top and bangs air dry...it ends up looking ridiculous!

Thinking about what I used to go through to dry my hair really makes me appreciate the hair dryers of today. And actually, all the hairstyling tools and products available today that WEREN'T there when I was a teen-aged girl in the 70s.

When I graduated from high school, the most popular and acceptable way to wear your hair was long, straight, and parted down the middle.

Not an easy feat when you were born with naturally curly hair.

When I think about the shenanigans I had to go through in order to come up with this look:

Yep, that's me.  And as you can see, even with my best efforts, I didn't get the board-straight look I wanted.  (Oh, Hot Tools Straightening Iron, where were you when I needed you!?)

Here's what I did to achieve the look:

• Grew my hair out as long as I possibly could
•  Washed my hair, rolled it on big curlers, and sat under an old-fashioned bonnet-style hairdryer for an hour.  (It's a wonder I didn't cook my brains!)
•  Took the rollers out and put my hair in a pony-tail directly on top of my head.  Divided the pony-tail into two sections and rolled them with two orange-juice-can-sized rollers.
•   Kept those in my hair for some time (overnight if possible) before brushing out my hair into a semblance of straightness.

I still can't believe I went through all that!

The 80's brought blessed relief.  I forgot bonnet-style hairdryers even existed.  It was the decade of BIG HAIR, and baby, I had it!  I was the envy of all my friends because I didn't need a permanent and never had.

It was too good to last.  Seemingly overnight, everyone was wearing stick-straight hair again. Once again, I was the odd girl out.

Fast forward to today.  Women everywhere embrace curls and volume as well as straightness.

If I want to have really straight hair, I have the tools to make it happen--the efficient blow-dryer, the powerful straightening iron, any number of pro-sleek and anti-humidity products.

Or...and I often do this...I can just let my hair be curly.  In that case, I don't even have to use a dryer--or I'll use mine with a diffuser attached.

But one thing I love is that, thanks to great hair-dryers and wonderful styling products, I HAVE OPTIONS! :)

What about you? Got any memories of crazy things you went through to achieve your hairstyle?  Will you be appreciating your blow-dryer today? Let me know in my comments section!