Leaving long hair wet on a 7 year old granddaughter

Londonia

Does anyone else find it unreasonable to leave a child's long (though not particularly thick) hair wet after washing it - rather than using a small hairdryer. I find it unreasonable and have discussed it with daughter and s in law. They just consider it is not necessary. To me it's important for a couple of reasons. Just interested an objective point of view. Thank you. New member.

Good grief! Seriously? We do now own a hairdryer because MrBaggs bought one for drying his paintings but it's hardly ever used (he even forgot he had it). My three daughters and I have spent our lives letting our hair dry naturally. Absolutely no harm has come to us or anyone else as a result.

With modern, well-(often over-)heated houses, having wet hair for part of a day simply isn't a problem.

As for brushing it dry.... ???? What a waste of time!

Grannynannywanny Yes I had one in my teens in the 1960s I used to roller set my hair with Amani setting lotion and sellotape my fringe down. I used it twice a week but it took ages to dry my thick hair in the rollers. Happy memories.

When we were at college we used to iron our hair to straighten it, probably not a very good idea.

I'm on your side Londonia. Tell your daughter and SIL if their child goes to bed regularly with damp hair she'll end up with mouldy spots on her pillow. Happened to me.

I have very thick hair and when I was a child my mother didn’t use to blow dry my hair. Unless she’s going outside in the cold why does she need to have it dried?

I've got long thick hair, so does my daughter and two granddaughters. None of us use a hairdryer and we've suffered no ill effects

Londonia, you said you had reasons to be concerned but didn't share them. I respect that sharing them might have been inappropriate but, of course, responders couldn't take them into account.

Although most people seem to have disagreed with you, I think they generally wanted to reassure you that your GD was unlikely to come to harm from this.

I had long hair until my 30s, didn't have a hairdryer, slept with wet hair, never did me any harm. Both my GDs have very long hair and let it dry naturally.

My hairdryer is used regularly. To defrost the chest freezer . Rarely use it on hair.

I was always made to have my hair dried as a child. If you go outside with wet hair you will catch "your death of cold".

I wouldn’t worry, my hair was always left after washing.

I was watching a couple living in the wilds of Scotland, who farmed, amongst other things, sheep. The film showed them with the less than year old baby having his nappy changed in the mountains and having his bottom washed in cold water? from a stream. He didn’t react at all.

Worry ye not???

My DGD refused to have her hair dried after about 3. She's 8 and sometimes now dries her own hair with a hairdryer and a mirror. I can see long sessions in mirrors developing as she gets older. Problems change. It's best not to worry.

Elegran Londinia must be one of the younger grannies. Hairdryers have only been around for a comparatively short time
I don't know where you've been, Elegran, the first patent for a hand-held hairdryer was in 1911. My mum trained as a hairdresser in the 1930s and among her armoury of equipment was a rather formidable electric hair dryer. I don't think she ever used it on us - we all had short hair - but she did try to give me ringlets with rags in my hair overnight. Only a few times, though! She would never let me go out with wet hair which would have had some unspecified dire effect on my health.

some unspecified dire effect on my health.
You'd have caught your death of cold!

I remember going for swimming lessons from school, we never dried our hair properly and had a long walk back to school afterwards.

If given a good rub with a towel to get rid of excess water it should be fine to dry naturally.

I can`t see what the problem is tbh,although many years ago,a friend of mine who was a hairdresser said leaving hair to dry naturally can cause dandruff.
From then on i dried my hair.

crazyH

I’m not going to waste my time answering .....why do OPs ask for advice and not get back ?

annodomini Your mother was in the vanguard - and a professional. I don't think hairdryers were in general use in the home, except perhaps for the rich.

Power points to plug them into were not numerous. A farm cottage that DH and I bought in the eighties had been built in 1895 but "brought up to date" in the thirties and electricity installed. There were all of two power points - one in the kitchen and one in the livingroom.

If it helps londonia, and you’re still there, I have always used a hairdryer, and would never have put my girls to bed with wet hair, any more than I would sit and dry ‘ naturally’ after a shower, unless it’s really hot, or the house is really warm. I find having wet hair in a cold house very uncomfortable, but then it is very thick. One of my daughter in law’s leaves her children to go to bed with wet hair, in a not overly warm house. Didn’t agree with it, but never said anything. They’ve always had more ‘colds’ than the rest of us. Could be totally unconnected, but in my opinion, it’s just uncomfortable.

As a matter of interest, I googled this,and it makes for some it makes some thought provoking reading.

I leave my nine year old daughter’s hair to dry naturally. It’s much easier to deal with and untangle when dry than when it’s wet. And it takes ages to dry with the hairdryer.

three pages and counting...

I’m obviously in the minority here, but I’d hate to go to bed or sit around with wet hair, and wouldn’t have wanted my DC to do so either. I always used a hairdryer on them and they all seem to have survived with healthy hair intact.

I can’t remember us having a dryer when I was little, so I dare say it was dried in front of the coal fire. We had a heavy dayglo orange one when I was in my teens though - I recall it shooting sparks out when it overheated.

The OP has vanished.

So not worth saying I've never used a hairdryer in my life.

How strange not to dry a childs hair. How horrid to sit with cold wet hair, dripping down your back. Uncomfortable and chilly.