Hair Dryer

I don't remember exactly when I dropped the hair dryer habit, but certainly it was years ago, possibly before I was married. Like lots of American women, I used to get the blow dryer out every time I washed my hair, pretty well every day. But for the last many years, I haven't touched a hair dryer; I think we have one in our home, mostly in case any relatives or friends stay with us who might need one.

On this trip out to ski country, though, I've started using one again. The first time was because I really, really needed clean hair on a day that I also wanted to get outside into sub-freezing temperatures - without waiting for my hair to dry. I found that about 4 minutes of blow-drying did the trick, and made my hair look super nice!

Now, I am not a vain person. I wear no makeup whatsoever, except maybe to a wedding, and my style of dress can best be summed up as: "Stevie Nicks goes to Yoga Class in Her Pajamas," a line from my new favorite book, Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. And, I like my hair even when it's not blow-dried - it's very thick, kind of a nice color, behaves decently most days.

But every shower since that first one here, I've been blow-drying my hair! With no excuse except that I want it to keep looking like it does now, thicker and more stylish than usual. I guess this would be fine, except that I feel guilty about it: will I still be my treehugger self if I consistenly use a blow-dryer? What kind of energy usage does it take, anyway? Am I, by blow-drying my hair, sending the message to my boys that appearance counts more than what's on the inside?

Well, I hope not, because for the time being I'm going to keep doing it. At least, if I can find the blow-dryer we have at home!

P.S. We're traveling Thursday, wish us luck! I'll post from home as soon as I can, knock on wood.