Blow Dry Your Hair Upside Down?

One of the hottest how-to hair tips in recent years was the suggestion, from the various hair gurus, that you bend over at the waist and blow dry your wet tresses "upside down".

The key idea behind this reverse blow drying tips was that the heat from the blow dryer would be less damaging on the underside of delicate tresses. After all, hair endures daily wear and tear from the weather, environment, toxins and the rays of the sun. Why subject it to damage from a hot blow dryer?

The other principle behind the dangling head blow dry was the idea that it built a lot of lush volume throughout the roots and the top part of the strands. It also suggested that the underside of the hair would get totally dry, which can sometimes be a problem for some people with lots of hair.

But really.   Should you blow dry your hair bent over upside down?

Top celebrity hairdressers Ken Paves (hairdresser to Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, Carmen Electra, Jennifer Lopez and Eva Longeria), Robert Hallowell (Courteney Cox, Geena Davis, Lucy Liu, Dancing With The Stars) all recommend that you skip the upside down blow-drying trick.

Why? The disadvantages actually outweigh the advantages.

While it's true you may build in slightly more volume you can actually achieve longer lasting and better volume by lifting individual strands up in the air and blow drying from the ends to the roots.

Robert Hallowell is an expert at blow drying in volume and follows up with a volumizing spray and little clips to strength the roots for long lasting lush volume.

Barbara Lhotan points out that when you bend back over from being upside down you may have a tangled mess of knotted hair that has to be carefully smoothed out. Her opinion is that it's more time consuming to blow dry upside down.

Ken Paves also believes that you should blow dry working from the top of the head rather than from underneath. Ken is a master with a round brush, but confided to me that when he was working in New York at a large salon early in his career he was dismayed to see hair consumers struggling to co-ordinate using a large round brush at the same time as a blow dryer on their own hair.

So if you struggle with being co-ordinated with a round brush and a blow dryer simultaneously, don't feel bad. It really is an acquired talent.

Should You Or Shouldn't You?

Bottom line - should you blow dry bent over at the waist or not?

Besides developing a pounding headache from being bent over, you may generate some new tangles while not necessarily getting your hair more dry or with fatter roots.

My take on the whole blow dry upside down tip?

While most hair care experts are now recommending blow drying straight up, do what feels best for you and your hair.