Unusual Ways to Use Your Hair Dryer

This morning I grabbed my hair dryer in a panic but not because I needed to dry my hair – – I needed to de-wrinkle my blouse and it is too delicate for the dryer. I cannot count the times I have used my hair dryer to “blow away” wrinkles in a hurry.

After thinking for a minute, I realized that I use my hair dryer for lots of chores that have nothing to do with drying or styling my hair.

• Ironing clothes – As I said, my hair dryer is great at getting rid of wrinkles when I am in too much of a hurry to iron. I have learned though not to get it too close to the fabric because it may burn the fabric.
• Drying toothbrushes – My husband thinks I am silly; however, when we are traveling I use the hair dryer to dry my toothbrush before I pack it. The thought of packing a wet toothbrush is just yucky to me.
• Remove stickers – When my daughter was young, she loved to play with stickers. I realized that blowing on them with a warm hair dyer releases the glue and makes them easier to scrap off surfaces.
• Adjust eyeglasses – The frames of my glasses occasionally need to be adjusted. Since they are plastic, I use the hair dryer to heat the frames so I can bend them to fit. WARNING: If you overheat them, you can damage them and under heating may result in snapping the frame when you bend it. Also, never heat the lenses.
• Gloss frosting – On the low heat setting, use the hair dryer to blow over frosting on a cake to make it shinny and glossy. Just be careful not to warm up the icing too much or it will run.
• Removing wax – Spilled wax can be difficult to remove. After removing all you can by hand, heat the remaining wax with the hair dryer and then wipe it away when it becomes liquid.
• Arts and crafts – We use a hair dryer to speed drying when doing arts and crafts with our kids at church. It speeds up drying of glue and paints but do not let children use the hair dryer – only adults.
• Drying surgical incision – After surgery, my physician told me to use the hair dryer on low setting to dry the incision completely after bathing. Check with you physician to be sure but mine said it helps keep the incision from becoming infected and prevents unnecessary tugging and rubbing by drying with a towel.

As always, safety should be the first concern with the use of any appliance. Read and following the manufactures safety guidelines for safe use.