While I do own a hair dryer, I don’t use it all that often. It’s handy to have on the rare occasion that I need to dry my hair quickly, but since I don’t dry my hair every day, most of the time it just sits in my bathroom drawer.
After today, however, I’ll definitely be pulling my hair dryer out more often. I now know almost two dozen other ways I can use my hair dryer, and you will too once you’ve ready today’s post!
You’ll learn how to use it to do all sorts of things, from removing stubborn labels to making perfectly crispy chicken. In fact, some of these tips are so brilliant, it almost feels like drying hair is one of the less useful things it can do! ;-)
23 Surprisingly Practical Uses For Your Hair Dryer
Clean Up Sticky Messes
1. Stickers & Labels – Use your hair dryer to help you remove labels, bumper stickers, contact paper, and other stuck-on stuff. The heat will loosen up the adhesive and make it easy to remove the sticker.
2. Bandaids – You can also use your hair dryer to make bandaids less painful to take off! Just blow it at the bandaid for a few seconds to warm up the adhesive.
3. Candle Wax – Use your hair dryer to soften up spilled candle wax and make it easier to clean up. This method is very similar to the one described in this post. (You can also use this method to remove wax from candlesticks, votives, and other candle holders!)
4. Crayon Marks – Use your hair dryer to help remove crayon from walls and other surfaces. Crayons are made of wax too, so heating them up with your dryer will make them easy to wipe away.
Tidy Up Around The House
5. Dusting – Use your hair dryer on the cool setting to make dusting much faster! Just blow the dust off of your items and surfaces, then vacuum the dust off the floor once it settles.
6. Water Rings – The heat from your hair dryer can help dry out and remove water rings from wood furniture. Put the nozzle attachment on if yours has one, turn it on the cool setting then point the dryer at the ring. Increase the heat after a few seconds, and the ring should disappear.
Warm Things Up
7. Bed Sheets – It can be torturous to climb into a cold bed during the winter! Use your hair dryer to warm your sheets before bedtime.
8. Pet Fur – Wet dogs can really make a mess of your house! After coming back inside from the rain or snow, use your hair dryer to help dry your dog’s fur. (My grand-puppy Milo loves getting dried off like this!)
Dry Things Off
9. Quick Dry Clothes – Use a hair dryer to quickly dry small clothing items in a pinch. No one wants to walk around in wet socks!
10. Diaper Rash – For babies who are prone to diaper rash, use your dryer to help keep your baby dry and comfortable. While changing their diaper, use the cool setting to make sure their bum is totally dry before putting the new one on.
Stretch Things Out
11. Tight Shoes – Have a cute pair of shoes that are just a bit too tight? Pull on the thickest socks you own, put on the shoes, then point your hair dryer at the shoes for a couple minutes to stretch them out. (Learn more ways to stretch out shoes here!)
More Ideas You'll Love
12. Ill-Fitting Sunglasses – Do you glasses squeeze your head or slip right off? Heat the arms of your sunglasses up with your hair dryer to make them more pliable, then gently bend the arms inward or outward to correct it.
Beauty & Fashion
13. Curly Lashes – Blast your eyelash curler with your hair dryer for a few seconds before using it. A warm eyelash curler helps produce extra full and curly lashes! (Just be careful not to burn yourself!)
14. Clothing Wrinkles – Get rid of clothing wrinkles fast! Spray the item lightly with water, then aim your hair dryer at the wrinkles and watch them disappear!
In The Kitchen
15. Glossy Cakes – Use your dryer to give your homemade cakes a glossy, professional look! Just blow warm air on the frosting until it starts to look shiny, then let it cool.
16. Unstick Meat – Use your hair dryer to separate meat that got stuck together in the freezer. Blow the warm air on them just long enough to get them unstuck.
17. Soften Butter – Forgot to soften butter for cookies? Use your hair dryer to soften up cold butter quickly.
18. Eliminate Clumps – Salt and pepper can form clumps if they are put in shakers that aren’t completely dry. The next time you wash your salt and pepper shakers, use your hair dryer to make sure they are completely dry before filling them again.
19. Crispy Chicken – As strange as it sounds, you can use your dryer to help make the crispiest, most delicious roasted chicken! Check out this post for full details!
Home Improvement
20. Frozen Pipes – Use your hair dryer to thaw out frozen pipes during the winter.
21. Painting Helper – Your blow dryer can be a useful tool when making small repairs with paint or spackle. It’s very handy for speeding up the drying process!
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For Travel
22. Dry Toiletries – Use your hair dryer to dry out your toothbrush, loofah, and other damp items before packing them for a trip. This will prevent them from developing an unpleasant musty smell inside your toiletry bag.
23. Heat Food – Staying in a hotel room without a microwave? You can use the hair dryer in the room to heat up leftovers in a pinch!
Do you have a favorite tip or trick that involves a hair dryer?
I rarely use my hair dryer. I have been using it on the cool setting to dry my nails.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I recently had to use my hair dryer to dry a piece of Mail. It had been very rainy and our Mail carrier person hadn’t shut our mailbox tight. When my dad brought the Mail in for the day it was all soggy. The item that came was an important item. So I just used my hair dryer so l could open it and read it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I recently bought a clear plastic tablecloth to cover my fabric cloth so that while painting a dog portrait I wouldn’t ruin my fabric cloth. The plastic one came all flattened and folded so after struggling to get it out of the package and onto the table it was full of folds and would not sit flat. I used the hairdryer to heat it and make it lay flat. Why not just remove the fabric cloth you ask ? My kitchen table is my work space because it is the only room with good lighting. I paint, draw, sew etc., at the kitchen table. With the plastic cover, cleanup is easy and the table still looks pretty.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.After a freezing rain storm, I was desperate to get into my vehicle.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I used my hair dryer to loosen the ice around the door. I was able to open the door.
I LOVE the hair dryer hacks! I only ask that you please use extreme caution when using the hair dryer hack on your pets. These dryers can attain temperatures that will cause burns. I’ve seen these injuries when I worked in clinic.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When I had a series of spider bites up my arm the only thing that relieved the itching was blasting them with the hottest setting of the blow drier I could stand (without burning myself of course). That relieved the itching for several hours. It worked for a friend who had hives from a reaction to medication also.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.After you remove the snow from your vehicle and your brush is completely soggy, I use a hair dryer for 2 or 3 10 minute cycles to dry it out. I can then put it back in the car without it freezing to the carpet because of the cold temperature.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use mine to aid in time defrosting my chest freezer. Done in no time!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I gently tap mine with a hammer, then use a clean dust pan to scoop it out of the bottom. Finished in less than 10 minutes!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I open the lid and wait about an hour. I use a metal bench scraper I got at the dollar store to scrape from the top down. I’d be too nervous using a dryer or a hammer LOL
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When getting dressed you notice hanger ‘horns’ on your shoulders – those little annoying bumps caused by your hangers slightly stretching out the fabric. Get dressed, then use your hair dryer to blow warm air on your shoulders and this will relax the fibres and get rid of the ‘horns’.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Excellent tip!! Thanks!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Use a hair dryer between your toes after a shower, in a humid country or enviroment to avoid fungus.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Perfect tip!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Using the hair dryer on your baby’s bottom after a diaper change definitely works to prevent diaper rash! Have 3 kids and bought a travel size hair dryer to keep on the changing table. Always used it on the cool setting after cleaning and before applying the new diaper. My kids never had diaper rash unless we were out on a trip and had to skip the dryer. They also found it very soothing and relaxing.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Dawn, thanks for sharing your experience. It’s always great to hear people’s experience with tips I recommend. :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Fantastic ideas! I love the dusting one of course. That’s my least favorite job. I never seem to find a good way to dust.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Repair a bump on the body of a car. heat metal with the air dryer 5 minutes and cool with a can of compressed air. The bump will pop out.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Did your car lock freeze shut from snow/sleet? Warm up your key and lock with a hairdryer and it should slip right in.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Tight Shoes!!!!! I love it! I went right in and one by one found my tighter shoes, (a total of about a dozen!) put on those sox and shoes and blew dried my wonderful shoes I wouldn’t let go of, but rather suffered in. This really did the trick, even on tall leather boots both the fronts and the calf! You know, those onese where you gained a few pounds and never thought your shoes and calf are would gain weight too! LOL! Thanks for the tip and I highly recommend it to EVERYONE! Especially those with one foot slightly larger than the other and need a little more space. Thanks Jilly, you have saved my beautiful shoes and a lot of money replacing them! It works better than a professional shoe stretcher in my opinion!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.There is another great tip–I think it was also from Jillee. Fill some ziploc bags with water, stuff them in your shoes or boots and stick them in the freezer. When the water expands as it makes ice, it will stretch out your shoes. Then just let the bags thaw and remove them later. works amazingly well!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m so glad!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Re: #18 Place a few grains of rice in salt and pepper shakers and they will never clump. The rice absorbs moisture, and can be left in place for ages.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.” (You can also use this method to remove wax from candlesticks, votives, and other candle holders!)”
There is a less messy way to get candle wax off. Put those items in the freezer. Once frozen the wax comes right off.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You can use the hair dryer to soften the end of a tapered candle to help it stick in the candle stick. I’ve done this.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Make that P showing in the lower RIGHT SIDE!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I always blow behind the toilet stool when I finish blowing my hair to get the fuzzys, etc out from behind the stool and eliminate that hard to reach area – then just wipe up with a damp tissue and throw away!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sometimes I splash water on my shirt when I’m doing dishes. I get out my hair dryer and dry the front of the shirt. I don’t even need to take the shirt off, I just hold it away from my body and blow dry it. It only takes a few minutes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Just a thought about using a hairdryer on your pet……hair dryers get hot very quickly, so if you intend to try this one out, please be careful not to burn your fur baby! Don’t get too close or hold it in one spot too long. They’re skin is just as delicate as ours!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Our dog loves to be blow dried. lol
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I put my hand near my pet and keep it always in the path of the air. If the air is getting too warm for my hand then it is too warm for my pet and it’s time to back off.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Years ago when I was in College we would use hair dryers for quickly defrosting our freezer., The apartments were old and we had monthly cleaning checks. We would just remove items from the freezer. Then unplug the refrigerator.. It was much faster than other methods. When we used the hair dryer method , the ice would melt in 5-10 minutes.. Then all we had to do was use old bath towels to soak up the excess water.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have also used the hair dryer to quickly dry clothes when I m traveling or on the go and don’t have the time to wait .
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This trick is great when traveling in the summer. I can really sweaty. I had wash ones of my bras out and it wasn’t drying fast enough. I just set my hairdryer on high and it was dry fairly fast. I can’t remember where we were staying. It was either at my Aunts house or a hotel and trying to get ready to leave.
I plan to use my blow dryer to break the ice away from the walls of my chest freezer stored in our carport this morning. It’s too cold out there to thaw on its own.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I look foward to your articles and suggestions each day. The best informer for me. Thank you so much. Not only are your articles informative but very helpful.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thanks Jeri!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.EEEK! After spending my career in Hospitality Management and Lecturing in the same subjects, I personally would NOT go any where near food items with a hair dryer (no matter how salted you think the chicken is). Additionally when testing if chicken is cooked the thigh is the place to test.
The thought of going near any food with a hairdryer makes me cringe, there are many other ‘safe’ hacks for achieving similar if not the same results.
Sorry Jillee!
Usually love your posts but this one takes the biscuit; pun intended
Please log in or create a free account to comment.INDEED!!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use my hair drier to blow on the flames of a fire in the fireplace or when we are having a braai.
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