Are they the same "She is drying her hair off" and "She is drying her hair up"?

Question

dry 4 PLATES/DISHES ETC British English to rub plates, dishes etc dry with a cloth after they have been washed dry something ↔ up

I’ll just dry up these mugs and we can have a coffee.

---

dry off | dry somebody/something off ​to become dry or make something dry

We went swimming and then lay in the sun to dry off.

We dried our boots off by the fire.

---

It seems that British people use "dry something ↔ up" to talk about drying plates or dishes, but the above dictionary doesn't limit it to plates or dishes, it could be "hair" or "car", etc.

I am not sure if British people say "She is drying her hair up"

While "dry something / somebody off" can be used by both British & American people, right?

So, we can say "She is drying the dishes / the car / her hair off" right?

Answer 1

No. "Drying up" is idiomatically limited to kitchen things. The dictionary intends a limited meaning when it says "plates, dishes etc" - you should treat that "etc" as referring to crockery, cutlery, glasses, mugs, pans, etc; not hair, car, etc. Drying up is the counterpart of washing up, which we also only use for plates, dishes etc. We say "She's washing the car / her hair", not "she's washing up the car / her hair". So accordingly we would say "drying the car off" (or simply "drying the car"), and not "drying up the car".