What can do to protect my hair from the damage of blow-drying?

Good conditioner should help. Look for one that says something about heat styling. Also, use a dryer with multiple settings, and don’t use the hottest one.

The biggest thing is to avoid over-drying.

Augustlan’s suggestion about getting a dryer with multiple settings is a good one, but also make sure to look for one with a “cold” setting (it’s usually a separate button). This way, you can “set” your hair.

What you do is use the heat to get your hair to do what you want, and then when it’s mostly dry, hit it with a blast of cold, which will set it in place, and at the same time, avoid cooking your hair.

Thermasilk brand shampoo, conditioner, and styling products really well and they’re not all that expensive. Also a regular shot of Biosilk is excellent, but that is expensive, so once or twice a week should do it.

Blowdry downward. It helps keep your hair shiny. When you do it from the bottom up it opens up the folicles or whatever they’re called. If you have time time do it on cool blast.

use the towel to get most of the water off before you start drying. then dry it with the dryer when it’s still mushed up, so even more water gets off before you start doing the sections.

use conditioner, and keep getting it trimmed every 5–6 weeks to cut off the ends.