How to Dry Yourself After a Shower

You have 2 different choices to dry yourself out after enjoying a soothing shower, namely using a towel and using air as a drying agent. While some people enjoy the latter method, others prefer to stick with the former. The choice depends on personal taste and likeness. Nonetheless, both methods have their own set of advantages and are equally good. If you’re confused as to which one suits you best, you can try both of them one and one and then decide for yourself which one to adopt.

towelSo, here are the step by step guides for both of the drying ways that you can use right after a shower:

Drying Out With a Towel

This method makes the use of a towel for the purpose of drying up. Always remember to use only a neat and clean towel for drying yourself up. And yes, do remember to let the towel out to dry once you’re finished with it.

  1. Use a clean towel – Because organic and damp places are most suitable places for the bacteria to thrive, your towel might act as a breeding ground for the bacteria. Using a bacteria prone towel can lead to skin infections and other minor health issues. To avoid such mishaps, use a personal towel and wash it every week or after 3-4 uses. If you’re taking a shower after having a heavy workout or an athletics session, you need to wash it more often. You can bleach your towel to make sure no bacteria is left on it.
  2. Dry out your hair – Now that you’ve got your hands on a neat and clean towel, it’s time to start the dryout. Start with your hair first. If you’ve long hair then try to avoid rubbing down the towel on your head as it could damage your hair. You can also roll it to make a turban for drying out long hair. To start with, set the longer side of the towel laterally with your head base. Then after, close it around your hair and collect it at the top of your forehead. Keep twisting the towel until it has collected all your hair. Now, take the tail created over the top of your head and tuck it into the edge of the towel.
  3. Pat down your entire body – You should avoid rubbing towel with your skin as it can cause the dry skin to flake off. Moreover, it can also cause the dry patches to spread all over the skin. Moreover, it can also cause skin irritation. Pat your skin gently with the towel instead. Start working from the neck and go down to the feet. Be sure to dry out your back and underarms.
  4. Get completely dried out – Before hanging your towel out to dry, make sure you’re completely dried out. Let your towel absorb as much water as it can off your body. This is important because harsh water can cause skin damage. Undesired metals present in the water can get themselves attached to free radicals that can collagen in the skin and hence, can become the potential cause of clogged pores and other skin related issues.
  5. At last, apply ointment/cream/moisturizer to lock the moisture in your skin pores – Once you’re done with the dryout, it’s time to lock the moisture. For the purpose, you can make use of moisturizers, ointments and creams. Ointments and creams are preferred over moisturizers as they doesn’t cause any kind of irritation however you are free to use moisturisers too. Just make sure that the one you’re using is skin friendly and doesn’t cause any kind of skin related issues. Gently apply the cream/lotion/ointment all over your body to lock the moisture within your skin pores.

Air Drying – Let the air do the job for you

Air drying is the other way around that can help you get dried out after a shower. Unlike towel drying, air drying relies on air for drying you out.

  1. Squeeze the very last water droplet out of your hair using your hands – First of all, your hair needs to be dried out but before you let the air do the drying part you need to make sure to make the hair lose as much water as it can. For doing so, squeeze dryingout all the water in your hair by twisting it gently using your hands. Short hair is easy to dry while long hair requires wring out a couple of times. Repeat the squeezing and twisting until no more water is able to come out from your hair.
  2. Wipe off as much water as possible off your body with your hands – Use your hands to gently whisk away water from your skin. Make sure to remove the last water droplet off your body. In case you have a lot of body hair, it is better to swipe off in the opposite direction of the hair growth. This will hasten up the drying process. Once you’ve removed most of the water off your body, let the air do its part.
  3. Time to fan yourself – You need a fan or hair dryer for this step. To hasten up the things, you can open doors and/or windows of your room and turn on the fan. Hair dryers and fans are best to dry those hard to reach areas.
  4. Leave the shower with caution – Be sure to step onto a mat after taking the shower to avoid any unnecessary slippage. Rug your feet gently on the mat to remove water from your feet before you walk out of the bathroom.
  5. Apply ointment/cream/moisturiser and other hygiene productsFor maintaining moisture, it’s a good practice to apply moisturising ointments and creams after the shower. These will help your skin pores to lock the required moisture and to prevent skin from cramping and flaking. After using the moisturising products, you can use other hygiene products like hair gel and deodorants.