Leaving long hair wet on a 7 year old granddaughter

Even better Lucca - a non-thread!

A thread from April ???

I thought GN was supposed to gave a variety of threads some serious, some light-hearted and some asking questions as this one, etc. If I have nothing useful to say I generally avoid the thread.

So to add my two penuth (don’t know how to spell it). My grandsons don’t dry their hair and sometimes I don’t either, but I don’t leave the house until it is dry as I don’t want to get a chill ?

I can’t believe this NON problem is still going on and on

I bet this is from the old fallacy that not drying your hair, or going out with wet hair, will give you an awful cold or the flu etc!

Why damage a young healthy head of hair by subjecting it to blow drying. Nothing wrong with letting it dry naturally.

The whole world is going to hell in a basket and this thread is still running.
It quite frankly amazes me.

I agree with you OP, I think hair looks much nicer when it’s been gently blow dried as the cuticles are smoothed down, leaving it to dry naturally makes hair look rough and a bit tatty imo.
My granddaughters often go to bed with damp hair and I hate it too but would NEVER say anything to their parents about it lol.

Another one who has always let their and DCs hair dry naturally. I think they should be banned - use up electricity for little or no reason.

I stopped using a hair dryer as soon as I left home when I was sixteen.

My reasoning was that using one made it almost impossible to brush my thick long hair once it was dry and that the top layer became brittle.

I shall be 70 soon and leaving my hair to dry naturally has not done me any harm so far.

You have mentioned the matter to the child's parents who seem to agree with me, so say no more, please.

Thanks for all the replies. Please note I replied on 5th April when original post was 3rd April and it was over Easter!

Thanks.

Franbern that is so true about teachers and colds.
When I was a primary TA I had constant colds.
The first year especially. I was so ill that I think that I may have had multiple colds at the same time if that is possible!

I agree with henetha - it isnt wrong to let hair dry naturally, it isnt wrong to use a hairdryer.

Whatever the parents and the child are happy with is ok.

I think this is one of those situations where people just do things differently and you just have to accept someone elses preferred way might not be your preferred way.

As someone who always lets my hair dry naturally, I think it's harmless. And, more importantly, it really is up to the parents.

An elderly chap, at work, used to tell me off for arriving with wet hair - saying I'd catch a chill. My mother, too, was convinced that clothes had to be well aired - or you'd catch a cold.

I suppose it's hard to change people's long held beliefs, however irrational.

PS: Also wanted to reassure the OP about children and colds. There are a good few hundred different cold virus's. Over our life-times we get these and build our immunity to them. This is the reason that older folk have less number of colds. Children of course, have to start getting these and building their immunity. This is the reason that children always seem to have one cold after another - particularly during winter months.
It is normal and also the reason why small children are considered 'germ factories'. Young adult teachers particularly those in primary education)- who have not yet hadthe time to gain all their immunities, often spend the first couple of years catching cold after cold from their pupils.
Fortunately, grandparents are less likely to catch these from their g.children as we have so much more anti-bodies against them.

Both grand children have long hair, as a family we all swim a lot both in and outdoors, always leave our hair to dry naturally, seems to work ok.

DiscoDancer1975

Ok, on google, it says.....
1. Hairdryers are perfectly fine if set to ‘warm’, not ‘ hot’, and shouldn’t be too close to the head. My understanding has always been about six inches away.
2. Rubbing with a towel can damage the hair if done too vigorously.
3. Hair apparently absorbs up to 30 percent of its weight in water. To repeatedly allow to ‘air dry’, can weaken it for later years. To avoid this, you’d have to rub with a towel!
4. It’s fine otherwise, so long as your house is warm. Being cold and damp won’t give you a virus directly, but could lower your resistance to one. Hence, why most colds are in the colder months.

Well, that is interesting. When I was small, my long, thick hair was rubbed, extremely vigorously by my Dad after washing. Mums job to wash it - Dads to dry it!!! No hair dryers back then,- indeed, even washing it was done over a big bowl with lots of jugs of water - the final one containing vinegar.

As a teenager, I experimented with doing my own (pink) large highlights in the front. Apllied bleach (made up myself with chemicals I could then purchase at chemist). No hairdryers then.

Later, in the 60's I did have hairdryers - indeed got one of those talked about earlier in this thread with a hose and a plastic hood. Used this over large rollers.

After my third child was born, had my hair cut short, and that is how it has largely remained ever since. Stopped drying it, just brush into place after shower and leave whilst I eat breakfast. When I was still working, used to leave it to dry in car on my way to work.

Now I am 80 years old. My dad's forecast that I would be nearly bald by the time I was 50 due to my mistreatment of my hair, has not come to fruition. Indeed, my (short) hair is still very thick, has to be thinned by hairdresser and grows so quickly (one hairdresser described it 'like a weed')

We need to remember that the hair we see outside the scalp is largely dead. Hard to damage the young hair inside the scalp. So, vigourous drying, leaving wet, colouring, etc. etc. is unlikely to have any long-term effect.

Personally, I would not use any artificial heat on a childs hair as it looks so much better when left to dry naturally, and is also more eco, particularly these days as our homes are usually warm.

We live in a hot country and friends and us spend a lot of time at beaches and pools. Never seen one single child dry their hair. Even on school swimming days and in swimming teams everyone left their hair to dry naturally. No one was ever harmed by not using a hairdryer.

What, my grandaughter always lets her very long hair dry naturally. Why do we try and impose our ideals on others?

My hair was always left to dry naturally and I still do it
I don't own a hairdryer.

My daughter is 7 with long hair and I never dry it with a dryer.

The heat is so bad for hair and letting it dry naturally is better for it.

I have long, fine hair - and gave up using hairdryers long ago, as they just damage it.

My sister, though, was always really fussing about, saying I should have a towel around my shoulders - on a hot day - just couldn't stand me sitting around with damp, 'undone' hair!

Always try to wash my hair in the day and let it dry naturally. Hot hairdryer are bad for hair. Wouldn't go to bed with wet hair though or put children to bed with wet hair.

Didn't dry my DDs hair when they were little. The thought of all that heat on their hair would have appalled me, if I had thought about it, but it never even dawned on me to do so. As for me, I have shoulder length wavy hair with a mind of it's own. ( I am trying to get it shorter but Covid lockdowns keep getting in the way). I just don't have the time , the inclination or the ability to do anything about it. I shower in the mornings, towel dry it as best I can, then I am ready to go. If it is still damp when I go out, then the fresh air will soon dry it. If it is raining then I am no worse off.