Is sweat bad for your hair??

**emsahib** · April 28th, 2011, 07:58 AM

I feel great that I've been doing more exercise lately. I usually end up red in the face and covered in sweat, very attractive lol, but makes me feel like I've had a good workout. I know exercise is good for hair growth because it incresses circulation, but I was wondering whether sweat is either good or bad for your hair?

**Kristamommyx3** · April 28th, 2011, 08:12 AM

As often as I exercise, which is generally most days of the week all of my life, I would have some very jacked up hair if that was the case! Lol. I suppose someone could say yes for some reason, but I have never noticed anything aside from sweaty scalp.

**Yozhik** · April 28th, 2011, 08:45 AM

Hmm... I don't think it's either good or bad for the hair; I usually rinse or wash it out at the end of a workout.

**Kherome** · April 28th, 2011, 09:58 AM

More bad than good, as it's salty and can be drying if left in the hair.

**x0h_bother** · April 28th, 2011, 10:06 AM

Does sweat=sebum? So confused. I would think it would be good for hair if it was sebum.

**Anje** · April 28th, 2011, 10:45 AM

No, sebum's a waxy, oily substance, while sweat is more like salt water. Though it seems like sweating also encourages sebum production and moves it out onto the hair a little.

I suspect if you got lots of sweat in your hair and never rinsed it out, it might be hard on it because all the salt would crystalize there. On the other hand, there are folks who have gone "sebum only" who don't even wet their hair and do fine. Brushing seems to help get the salt out. Most of us, though, find that a good rinse washes away the salt and smell well enough that it's not necessary to fully wash hair after each workout.

**emsahib** · April 28th, 2011, 12:01 PM

Yeah I wondered if it could be drying as sometimes my skin also feels abit dry after a workout. I ususally end up washing my hair after the gym, but as I've been exercising more lately I'll try not to over wash and just rince in the shower and condition.

**Hotflashes** · April 28th, 2011, 12:03 PM

<<<<< Points to screen name

If it were truly bad, I'd have no hair. It is why I have to wash every morning though.

**pinkbunny** · May 23rd, 2011, 04:25 PM

I'll be watching this thread (glad I searched for it lol). I've been doing more exercise lately, too. I don't wash right away because I get home in the early afternoon, workout, and then clean house til DH gets home (sometimes I help him with things around the house - yardwork, etc.), so I don't get a shower til dinner sometimes. It seems kind of pointless to rinse off in-between if I'm probably just going to get dirty again. I haven't noticed any ill-effects yet, but I do wonder about long-term?

**jojo** · May 23rd, 2011, 06:03 PM

I get a sweaty head but mine just dries into my hair. I cannot see how something naturally produced can be problematic. I find my hair when sweat dries is very soft, I do wash it...that sounded like I just let it dry but you know what I mean!