Years ago, I would do this thing where I’d time my wash days to my laundry days—emerging from the shower with dripping hair, and tousling it with a warm, fresh-out-the-dryer bath towel. I’d continue my routine as usual, but I kept experiencing loads of frizz. My hairstylist would eventually tell me I had lots of breakage, too. I’d go on to list the handful of hair strengthening treatments I was testing—bond repair masks, anti-frizz serums—thinking there’s no way I’m doing something wrong. “Well, how do you dry your hair?” she once asked? Mid response, detailing my bath towel method, she stopped me saying I should switch to microfiber towels instead.
You wouldn’t think that changing your hair drying technique would make that much of a difference; but turns out, it can really make—or break—your mane. “A microfiber towel is a towel made of tiny synthetic fibers [thinner than a human hair strand],” Rita Hazan, celebrity colorist and founder of Rita Hazan Salon tells me over email. Per Hazan, using one on a regular basis can prevent hair breakage and reduce the amount of stress put on your wet hair.
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New York City-based trichologist and founder of haircare retail platform Leona.co, Shab Caspara explains it like this: microfiber’s soft and fine structure makes it more gentle on the hair cuticles, which helps reduce friction, frizz, and breakage. Traditional towels, on the other hand, “have more texture and can disrupt the delicate cuticle layer of hair when used to dry hair.” Caspara explains that even air drying isn’t the a good solution either: “Air drying hair can take an extremely long time depending on the thickness and porosity of hair, and even lead to hygral fatigue where hair sweals from too much moisture,” she continues; plus, it can “cause the top layer of hair to dry faster than the hair underneath resulting in an uneven texture when hair is all dried.”
The first time I used a hair towel, I noticed an immediate improvements in my hair’s look and feel. True to Caspara and Hazan’s notes, when using my normal routine—clarifying shampoo, then hydrating shampoo, followed by a deep conditioner—my hair was smoother and sleeker by simply swapping out my usual bath towel. Having my hair dry faster was an added bonus—instead of my just-washed hair dripping down my back, all of the excess moisture was quickly absorbed as the towel sat securely atop my head. Most hair towels have some sort of fastener or elastic that holds your hair in place—another asset that sets it apart from your usual towel.