Hiding columns load performance

We have a hide column function that takes a long time to load the data. TECHNIQUE 1 below is slightly faster than TECHNIQUE 2 but they are both too slow. Any suggestions on how to increase the load performance for hiding columns?



function hideColumn(count,str) {
  var layoutName = getLayoutName(count);
  if (layoutName == false) return false;
  var tableLayout = document.getElementById(layoutName + "-table");
  if (!tableLayout) return;

  var col = -1;
  //Find the column with str as its header
  for (var c=0; c<tableLayout.rows[0].cells.length; c++) {
    var str1 = tableLayout.rows[0].cells[c].innerText;
    //strip trailing blanks
    while (str1.substring(str1.length-1,str1.length) == ' ') str1 = str1.substring(0,str1.length-1);
    if (str1 == str) {
      col = c + 1;
      break;
    }
  }
  if (col < 0) return;

  var maxRow;
  if (footRow > -1 ) {
    maxRow = footRow - 1;
  } else if (aggrRow > -1 ) {
     maxRow = aggrRow;
  } else {
    maxRow = tableLayout.rows.length;
  }


  for (var row = 1; row<=maxRow; row++) {
//        tableLayout.rows[row-1].deleteCell(col-1);       //TECHNIQUE 1
        tableLayout.rows[row-1].cells(col-1).style.display='none';   //TECHNIQUE 2
  }


}