Shoulder Pain When Drying Hair? Stop Holding the Dryer

A hair dryer is light. Holding one up beside your head until your hair is dry isn't. When one shoulder already hurts, that's the part of the morning you put off, and some people get round it by washing their hair less often.

Then there's the person who gave in and bought a hair dryer stand, a holder that keeps the dryer up for you while you move your head about under it. Their verdict:

Now drying my hair takes so much less energy and effort and I can wash my hair more often! Worth it.

The person who started the thread, in r/ChronicPain

Three replies had no idea such a thing existed, and say so in nearly the same words. One asks why they're only hearing about it now. If your shoulder or arm gives out before your hair is dry, this is the thing nobody told you about either.

Somebody with severe pain in their left shoulder finds blow-drying extremely painful, because that's the hand the dryer is in. Another, with neck and shoulder trouble, can't diffuse their hair and says a stand would make it possible.

What a hands-free hair dryer stand is

A cradle for the dryer, on an arm, on a base. IFOPA, a rare-disease charity, keeps a guidebook of daily-living aids with a page on dryer stands. It lists the parts they differ in: a base that sits on the counter, suction-cups to it or clamps onto its edge; a rod that adjusts in height and turns a full circle; and on some, a flexible neck for setting the angle.

In practice that's three shapes. A floor tripod like the RELMITALL stand is freestanding: it goes beside a chair or a mirror. A counter stand sits on the vanity on a base of its own, with a bendable neck for the angle. A clamp-on holder like the Simaixing one grips the edge of a counter or a desk.

Whichever shape, you hold nothing. A bonnet attachment, a hood that goes over your head on a hose from the dryer, is the other way to get there. A reply names it, and in another thread someone rates it above a stand.

Who it helps most

It's as much for one working hand as for a bad shoulder. In that first thread, an owner bought theirs years ago when they lost the use of one hand.

On the community forum of Scope, a UK disability charity, an occupational therapist says people limited to one hand are often more independent with hair care given a hands-free holder and a long-handled comb. The person who'd asked there doesn't have the strength in their arm to lift the dryer.

IFOPA's guidebook names who they're for: limited shoulder and arm mobility, poor endurance, or anyone for whom holding a dryer up for long is too difficult. A blogger at Trend-Able with weak hands uses one because it keeps their hands free to work on their hair while it dries.

A lighter hair dryer for arthritic hands, or a stand?

Someone in r/rheumatoid went looking for a lightweight dryer for their mother, who has rheumatoid arthritis. One reply remembers holding a dryer being almost impossible before treatment. It suggests a stand instead: keep the dryer she already likes and put it in a stand on the vanity, so nobody has to hold it up. Another reply seconded it, and the asker said they'd look into one.

A lighter dryer still has to be held up. The one in the stand doesn't.

Does it hold up?

The person who started the chronic-pain thread calls theirs sturdy and says it's working great. Another owner's broke, but they still say these rule: they're getting another one.

Which kind to buy

Start with the spot where you already dry your hair. A vanity or a desk with an edge to grip takes the clamp-on holder. Open floor beside a chair takes the floor tripod. A counter with no free edge wants the counter stand. Then put the dryer you've got in it, switch it on, and keep your arms down. Drying off after the shower is hard on a bad shoulder too, and a robe can do that for you.