Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tell About It Tuesday: Blowing Hot Air

Brace yourself. This is riveting stuff, folks.

I want to tell you about the discovery I made about my hair dryer.

I'm tough on hair dryers. My hair is very thick and can take a sweet forever to dry. I can't tell you how many hairdryers I've blown through (punny--ha ha!) over the years because I've burned up the motor in them. Four or five years ago, I splurged and bought this one (with a coupon and my Ulta rewards because y'all know I'm cheap, right?)

This hair dryer has been very good to me. Not only has it lasted 4-5x longer than the kind I used to buy, it dries my hair super fast and it leaves it ultra smooth.

But last fall I noticed that it was taking longer for my hair to get dry. And my hair dryer felt super slow and draggy. (Is draggy a word?) I figured it was probably about to die and I should start thinking about a replacement.

At Thanksgiving, my sister let me use her new hairdryer that was similar. Honestly, I was jealous. Pea green with envy. Hers was super fast, super light, and left my hair looking and feeling great. I wasn't happy when I had to leave her house and return to using my slow, draggy one.

Not long after that, I walked in my bathroom and noticed that the end piece on my hair dryer had come off. And then I saw how filthy it was--inside and out. I picked it up and completely washed every single piece. I got that thing cleaner than clean.
And guess what?

It's like I have a brand new hair dryer! I think my sister would be jealous of MINE now. Ha!

I'm sure some of you clean yours regularly. It's probably the same few of you that knew to sear your meat. (Smile). But if you're slow on the uptake like me, try cleaning your filters (like the manual suggests) to preserve the life of your hair dryer and keep it working well!

It really was an "A-ha!" realization for me. I probably could have saved myself a LOT of needless hair dryer purchases over the years if I'd simply taken less than five minutes to do this.

10 comments:

Gretchen said...

Can I just say, I love you??!!
You are the perfect mix between deep spiritual sisterhood and Help from Heloise. (remember her gray mane in GoodHousekeeping?)
Even though I knew about it, I haven't done it in forever and a day, so guess what I'm doing tonight? Cleaning my hairdryer.

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Oh gosh...that Heloise comment makes me LAUGH.

Can I just tell you that sometimes I read my posts and think: Gah. Did I really just blog about HAIR DRYER LINT?

SZM said...

I discovered this little trick when I accidentally dropped my blowdryer. It makes a WORLD of difference! I LOVE that you blogged about this...for all the non-searing peeps in the world :)

jen medeiros said...

I had a friend point out to me how my hair dryer lint was full while we were away on a girls weekend. (a few years ago) Me:"What...there is a lint area?" I played dumb and said...oh yeah I need to clean that right away:) BTW...I need to do this soon to my current dryer. Thanks!

Nancy said...

first, let me say that i like your new header (sorry if it's old news but it's been more than a few days since i've been by here).

secondly, cleaning that filter makes a huge difference. i did mine just last week.

Angie @ Flibbertigibberish said...

Love those seasonal pictures, Mer! When did you change your blog? It was a shock when it popped up - fun new change!

Um, yeah. I didn't know I should clean that out. I figured that once there was enough of that lint, it catches on fire, melts the sucker and you buy a new one. At least, that's what happened with my last one. It's a wonder I'm not bald. What would I do without you?!

Anonymous said...

Your blog rocks!! Some days your posts really speak to my heart and disciple me as a Christ-follower, and other days they help me be a better wife, mother and friend (with awesome hair) Thanks!!

*carrie* said...

I use my hairdryer about twice a year, but I'm sure this tip could apply to a variety of other household appliances!

Megan O. said...

I had to learn this the hard way after investing in an pricier hairdryer after continuously burning through the cheap ones. When the expensive one bit the dust recently I finally realized I'd let that lint thing clog up. Now I'm back to a cheap one and we'll see if I can make it last.

Stephanie Kay said...

You can clean out your hair dryer? Hmmm.. I'm going to go look at mine right now!