Dopo la doccia, mi asciugo i capelli con un asciugamano pulito.

Because Italian often uses a reflexive-style structure with actions you do to yourself, especially with body parts.

• mi = to myself / myself
• asciugo = I dry

So mi asciugo i capelli literally works like I dry myself the hair, but in natural English that becomes I dry my hair.

This pattern is very common in Italian:

• Mi lavo le mani = I wash my hands
• Mi pettino i capelli = I comb my hair
• Mi lavo i denti = I brush my teeth

So mi is there because the action affects your own body.

Because with body parts, Italian usually prefers:

• indirect object pronoun
  • definite article

rather than a possessive adjective.

So instead of saying my hair, Italian often says the hair and shows whose hair it is with mi:

• mi asciugo i capelli = I dry my hair

Using i miei capelli is possible, but it is usually less neutral and may sound more emphatic, contrastive, or specific.

For example:

• Mi asciugo i capelli = normal, everyday phrasing
• Asciugo i miei capelli, non i tuoi = I dry my hair, not yours

It means after the shower or after showering.

Breaking it down:

• dopo = after
• la doccia = the shower

In Italian, this phrase often uses the article:

• dopo la doccia
• dopo il pranzo
• dopo la scuola

Even though English sometimes says after showering, Italian commonly uses the noun phrase after the shower.

Because Italian often uses the definite article in places where English may not.

So la doccia literally means the shower, but in context it can correspond to natural English after a shower or after showering.

This is normal Italian usage, not something special about this sentence.

In Italian, capelli is normally plural when talking about the hair on your head.

• il capello = a single hair
• i capelli = hair / the hairs on the head

So:

• Mi asciugo i capelli = I dry my hair

If you used il capello, it would usually refer to one individual hair, which is not what is meant here.

Because in Italian, many adjectives commonly come after the noun.

So:

• un asciugamano pulito = a clean towel

This is the most neutral, standard order.

Italian adjectives can sometimes come before the noun, but that often changes the tone or emphasis. For a simple descriptive meaning, noun + adjective is very common.

Pulito agrees with asciugamano, not with capelli.

• asciugamano is masculine singular
• so the adjective is pulito = masculine singular

If the noun changed, the adjective would change too:

• un asciugamano pulito = a clean towel
• una salvietta pulita = a clean towel/napkin
• asciugamani puliti = clean towels

So here pulito describes the towel.

Un asciugamano means a towel, so it introduces the towel as an unspecified object.

• con un asciugamano pulito = with a clean towel

If you said con l’asciugamano, it would usually mean with the towel, referring to a specific towel already known in the conversation.

So both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

• con un asciugamano pulito = with a clean towel
• con l’asciugamano pulito = with the clean towel

Yes. Asciugo is in the present indicative: I dry.

In Italian, the present tense is often used for:

• habitual actions
• routines
• general statements
• actions happening now, depending on context

So this sentence can mean something like:

• After I shower, I dry my hair with a clean towel
• After the shower, I dry my hair with a clean towel

The exact time sense comes from context.

Grammatically, yes, but it usually sounds less natural if you mean your own hair.

• Mi asciugo i capelli = I dry my hair
• Asciugo i capelli = I dry the hair / I dry hair

Without mi, it may sound more general or as if you are drying someone else’s hair, depending on context.

For personal grooming actions involving your own body, Italian usually prefers the version with the pronoun:

• mi lavo
• mi pettino
• mi asciugo i capelli

Yes. Italian word order is fairly flexible, especially with time expressions.

These are all possible:

• Dopo la doccia, mi asciugo i capelli con un asciugamano pulito.
• Mi asciugo i capelli con un asciugamano pulito dopo la doccia.
• Dopo la doccia mi asciugo i capelli con un asciugamano pulito.

The first version is very natural because it sets the time frame first: After the shower...

The meaning stays basically the same, though emphasis can shift slightly depending on what comes first.