Life without a hairdryer – NEVER!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a little bit of an energy nut, and am always looking for ways to continue to live in our modern society but yet live as lightly on the planet as I can. Fortunately, my wife and I are on the same page which makes it much easier to do since both of us agree that living simply is the best way to live. I have learned, though, that certain things, no matter how much they will push up our electric usage, are not worth debating, and a hair dryer is one of those things. From a pure electric usage stand point, hairdryers are horrible in that they use about 1800 watts of electricity. In comparison, that is the equivalent of running 18 100 watt incandescent light bulbs (64 compact fluorescent bulbs). So what is an energy-miser like me to do? Fortunately my wife is VERY understanding that the hairdryer is an energy-hog, so is very conservative in its use, and doesn’t use it when she knows her hair will dry ok naturally. I’m sure it helps that she keeps it short. I did look into lower wattage hairdryers, but they still used 1000 watts and cost around $150 which didn’t seem to justify the slightly lower electric usage. There was a day a long while back when the hairdryer was broken (I swear I had nothing to do with it!), and it was the middle of winter and we had to go to work. Well, hair doesn’t dry real fast in the winter, so we cranked up the heat and fan in the car and she dried her hair that way. It wasn’t our best moment, but it did work in a pinch, but we did end up buying a new hairdryer. My point here is that, yes hairdryers are really bad, and you should not use them if you can get away with it, but sometimes you have to sacrifice a little spike in the electric usage to keep your marriage happy. It is the least I can do for her putting up with my miserly ways. Then again, this is just Life According To Troy.