13 Unusual Uses for a Hair Dryer

Intro: 13 Unusual Uses for a Hair Dryer

OHHHH the unusual things you can do with your house hold gadgets!!!  I've thoroughly research all the strange weird uses for your blow dryer. Yes that's correct: BLOW DRYER.  Fitting your glasses to your head and adding a glaze to your cake frosting are just some of the unusual uses I discovered.

You can tell from the look on my face that this is no joke ;)

STEP 1: Remove Stickers and Price Tags

Have you ever spent hours peeling of a sticker from a window or box?  You scratch it but can only get small bits of paper off...

The hot hair from a hair dryer will loosen a price tag or sticker making removal super easy.  You can also use this trick to remove contact paper from shelves.

STEP 2: Custom Fit Your Glasses

Custom fit your plastic frame glasses.  Simply heat up the ends and mold them to fit our head.

This works great on store bought glasses.  I wouldn't recommend this for your $300 designer glasses frames.  I bought these prescription glasses in Vietnam for only $12!  They're a great back up pair.

STEP 3: Wax on WAX OFF

Getting candle wax on wood furniture can be a nightmare to get off (again with the scratching!!!).  The best way to remove it is to heat it back up.  Blow medium heat on the wax until it starts to melt then wipe away with a cloth.

STEP 4: Add Gloss to Cake Frosting

Give your baked good a professional looking gloss.  Turn your dryer on low heat and slowly blow it over the entire cake.

STEP 5: Dry Clothing

Quickly dry spots of water you spilt on your clothes.  First REMOVE THE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING -- you don't want any burns on your skin! Hang it over a shower rod and dry.

If this happens at a party i fully encourage snooping through your friends bathroom cabinets for a dryer.

STEP 6: Dry Steam Off of Mirror

Its frustrating to lose mirror access after a steamy shower!  Dry that steam off with a quick blast of hot air from your hair dryer.  Now you can just leave the blow dryer on and continue drying your hair :)

STEP 7: Remove Dust

Use a hair dryer to remove dust from hard to get to nooks and crannies in your house.  Use this trick on carved wood work, art work, artificial flowers, bookshelves, lamps, computers....you name it!

STEP 8: Hot Compress

Keep a hot compress hot by pointing your blow dryer at the towel and leaving it running while you are putting the compress on an injury.  Keep the towel wet by misting it w/ a spray bottle.

STEP 9: Remove Crayon Marks From Walls

If you read step three then you can understand why this makes sense...

Crayons are made out of wax, blow dryers remove wax, thus blow dryers remove crayons.

Set the hair dryer on hot and keep it on the crayon mark until it melts.  The crayon will wipe off easily with a damp cloth and a small amount of oil soap cleanser.

STEP 10: Dry Wet Boots

This is a great trick to use in the winter!  Dry off your snowy boots with your blow dryer setting on high.  Be sure to do this over a towel so your mom doesn't yell at you for getting water every where! (personal experience...)

STEP 11: Thaw Windows

Another winter time use. If you forgot to put your storm windows down in time for the first snow and your windows freeze shut thaw your window with a blast from your hair dryer.

STEP 12: Dry Painted Nails

I love painting my nails, but I have so much trouble waiting for my nails to air dry.  A tip for quick drying your painted nails: blow dry them!  Not too high of a setting, just a little hot air to speed the process up.

STEP 13: Defrosting Food

I have had bags of peas freeze to the side of my freezer.  Its super frustrating and I hate having to chip away at ice mounds with my hands.  Make this process easier by melting the ice with a blow dryer. 

Comments

[WilliamG21]

The getting stickers off actually works. I had to turn in a parking decal one time that was attached to my car. I used the hair dryer method to get it off. Left very little adhesive I can say.

[2937214]

Make popcorn ;)

[grannyjones]

Dry socks and inside shoes after being caught in the rain.

[helpfulroe2]

What a great idea! I also use a hairdryer on Cold Shot Setting to dry my acrylic paints when I have to leave with them in a hurry. The paints dry fast and there is no smear.

[dollarseed]

You missed one. You can also use a blow dryer to roughen up styrofoam to create a realistic looking cement wall surface. Many do this after carving out the grout lines with a chisel, then use the blow dryer to soften the edges. Great for making props for plays, etc.

[NickJ32]

Interesting! I'll have to try that :)

[jelushart]

Last Halloween I made several tombstones from Styrofoam insulation, using the hot tip of a glue gun to carve out names, dates and phrases on the tombstones. Worked really well and made the task fast and easy.

[dollarseed]

Here, Nick Ferry uses a regular heat gun, but a blow dryer will work the same, just takes a bit longer due to the differences in heat transfer temperatures.

https://nickferry.com/2016/04/making-brick-walls-from-styrofoam/

[Tanya Snively]

Excellent!

[rkrishnan7]

You could carve grout lines by : 1. Placing a metal ruler on the Styrofoam as a guide/heat sink. 2. Run a soldering iron rapidly and smoothly along the ruler edge, applying just enough pressure. (This may need some practice).

[Mihsin]

Drying Acme rock welding cement on cold and humid weather.

[John T MacF Mood]

The frozen windows thing might be a good one for the "low" heat setting. Lots of glass will crack with too rapid changes in temperature.

[Ethan8or.]

Not if the heat doesn't change too much.

[John T MacF Mood]

If you understood me, we actually agree. Rapid temperature change will shatter glass. Freeze a glass, then pour some 140F water in it, you'll see my point. (If you do it wear safety glasses!)

[ncaulford]

For years I've defrosted my windshield with 120-degree water with no problems, although maybe the laminate structure changes the game. The shattering (or cracking) of glass with rapid temperature change will be much more likely with the presence of any imperfections in the glass, or hairline scratches on the surface, etc. It should be noted, defrosting glass only requires that the glass be heated to 33 degrees F, so gentle/even heating from a moderate distance with a hair dryer should minimize risk and still be effective.

[John T MacF Mood]

GRANTED, if you put the dryer on NO HEAT and put ambient temp room air across the glass to defrost it you'd be OK. But the point was if you use the HEAT from A HAIR DRYER on the HEAT setting, it WILL crack 60 to 70% of the time.

If you've "defrosted" glass with 120°F water for years, you've been defrosting either 30°F to 31.5°F glass that has no defects whatsoever, and you've been very lucky. One of these days, you'll develop a long one REAL FAST, especially on layered automotive glass. Much safer to use Lysol or alcohol spray from the Auto store.

[Ethan8or.]

I know that glass and similar materials may crack if the heat changes rapidly from over boiling point to cold water temperature. I just think a hair drier wouldn't be so harsh on a window, like from below freezing point to well above in a number of seconds. If it did, I would expect my hair or head to be on fire or burnt.

[ronald.ferreira.39]

we heard you already

[Ethan8or.]

I know that glass and similar materials may crack if the heat changes rapidly from over boiling point to cold water temperature. I just think a hair drier wouldn't be so harsh on a window, like from below freezing point to well above in a number of seconds. If it did, I would expect my hair or head to be on fire or burnt.

[Ethan8or.]

But if the temperature doesn't change to much, there won't be much risk, I don't think a hair drier would make a huge increase of temperature and rapidly.