Waking up after sleeping with damp hair..

[6Freezing6Moon6]

I've read that sleeping with wet hair is a pretty common thing for most, some argue that you can contract a cold from it (that's completely false, I'd imagine) but that isn't my problem. My hair is rather thick and takes an excessive amount of time to dry, so if I shower slightly later than usual I will fall asleep with slightly wet hair (at that point it's not really soaked at all, and I've combed it, it's just damp). This leads to a TERRIBLE hair day afterwards, whether I washed it that night or not. My hair ends up still being wet (almost as if its more wet than when I went to bed) and looks greasy and not as thick. But if my hair is dry when I go to bed then it will be fine the next day. It's been happening to me often lately, and its rather frustrating. Does this happen to you guys? Or does sleeping with wet hair do positive things for your hair? What's the deal?

[JustPam]

If I leave it loose to dry overnight I end up with crazy frizz, if I braid it then it's still damp in the morning. If it's still that damp when I want to go to sleep then I use the hairdryer on low heat for a few minutes until it's dry enough to braid. This only happens when I wash it last thing at night really, my hair only takes about an hour or so to air dry.

[hennalonghair]

Yes! I have crazy thick hair. Going to bed with wet hair doesn't work too well for me either.
That damp bunning or damp braiding just doesn't allow my hair to dry at all which I find extremely unhealthy.
It can cause fungus issues ( dandruff itchy scalp) especially if you have ultra thick hair.
my hair takes about 3 to 4 hours to air dry but depends on air temperature etc.

[cathair]

I don't think you can get a cold from wet hair, unless you are already carrying the cold virus :)

My hair looks like some kind of strange bare tree in the morning if I sleep on it wet. I have heard others say they have better hair in the morning if they wet bun it or wrap it though.

I couldn't help wondering... is your username because of the Mayhem song? :)

[Madora]

I've read that sleeping with wet hair is a pretty common thing for most, some argue that you can contract a cold from it (that's completely false, I'd imagine) but that isn't my problem. My hair is rather thick and takes an excessive amount of time to dry, so if I shower slightly later than usual I will fall asleep with slightly wet hair (at that point it's not really soaked at all, and I've combed it, it's just damp). This leads to a TERRIBLE hair day afterwards, whether I washed it that night or not. My hair ends up still being wet (almost as if its more wet than when I went to bed) and looks greasy and not as thick. But if my hair is dry when I go to bed then it will be fine the next day. It's been happening to me often lately, and its rather frustrating. Does this happen to you guys? Or does sleeping with wet hair do positive things for your hair? What's the deal?

The idea of falling asleep with wet hair just creeps me out. I can't stand wet hair.

Here's a hair friendly method I devised (over a number of years) to dry hair naturally outdoors..or indoors, with the aid of a small portable electric heater:

Hair should be completely detangled and slightly damp before starting. The more water you can express from your strands, the faster the air drying will be.

Part your hair from nape to center of forehead so that it is in two sections. Band off one section with a scrunchie to keep it separate from the other section.

Take a pencil thin size sliver of hair in your hand.
Bring your hand up to your ear and then extend it all the way out (to the side)
Slowly let the strands drop to the floor

Take another pencil thin section and repeat steps 1-3

Repeat with the rest of the hair. Keep repeating the hair fanning motions until the hair is dry.

Once you notice that the hair is becoming drier, you can take larger portions of the hair, but use a wide tooth comb in place of your hand. Go slowly and gently when using the comb.

When hair is dry, band off the section with a scrunchie to keep it out of the way. Repeat the hair fanning procedure with hair in the other section.

When finished, you can leave hair as is, or apply your favorite oil, etc. and style as desired.

The technique was developed by me after years of having to wait forever for my very thick, long hair to dry (using the hair laying on a towel down the back approach). It took forever and I wanted a faster method.

Outside, my hair dries in 20 to 25 minutes. Indoors it takes about 45 minutes, using a portable electric heater (standing about 4 feet away).

The secret to drying your hair quickly is to thoroughly detangle it when you start, and to keep the air circulating through it as you fan the strands.

Hope this helps.

[SkyChild]

Madora's method makes a lot of sense - as it's how you would dry it if you used a blowdrier, sectioning hair and allowing air to circulate. It's just that you don't force the hot air around.
I do a similar thing, but flap my hair more vigorously around (I suppose I'll pay in damage later on)

Damp bunning or braiding overnight works ok for me. Leaving it loose usually results in erratically frizzy and curly hair.

[Trin]

My hair is naturally dead straight with very little to no body... so I can easily sleep with wet hair (I usually just push it up over my head on the pillow) wake up with a dry tangled mess, gently brush it, and have something vaguely resembling body for an hour or two, although the tangle waves only last about half to a quarter of that time.

[gustavonut]

All I can suggest is don't wash your hair before bed, maybe in the morning more often. That's what I do, I take a shower in the morning or during the day.

[Hopeful65]

My hair is naturally dead straight with very little to no body... so I can easily sleep with wet hair (I usually just push it up over my head on the pillow) wake up with a dry tangled mess, gently brush it, and have something vaguely resembling body for an hour or two, although the tangle waves only last about half to a quarter of that time.

This sounds just like me. I can go to bed with damp (not real wet) hair. I just lay it up over my pillow and wake up with some pretty nice volume for a while. I don't do this too often, but it works well if I have to wake up early to hurry up and be somewhere in the morning. My hair is fine and very straight. If I have any waves or kinks from sleeping on damp hair, they are gone real quickly. I don't think it seems to harm my hair in any way. Not that I've noticed. Mine is not all that tangled in the morning, just a little on the ends, easily brushed through. I do like the volume I get from doing this.

[FallingDarkness]

I DO braid my hair damp. I shower around 7 pm on wash nights, let my hair air dry for 3 hours, so it's only like 50% wet instead of full wet, and I put my hair in 2-5 braids and then sleep like that. It's 95% dry by morning, I take my hair out of the braids, and then by the time I go to school I can put my hair up and have it not be a problem.

[LadyCelestina]

Ok not sure if you wrote it somewhere in your post and I'm blind ut do you sleep with it loose or in a style? Also is it still so bad when you comb it out and let it dry completely in the morning?

ETA: I assume you don't blow dry.What would happen if you blowdried it till it's just slightly damp then went to bed?Madora gave you really good advice on mostly damage-free drying if you are willing to take time to do it...I'm usually not ;) so I just blow dry a bit on the lower setting and braid.

[martyna_22]

I wake up with a headache/ sore throat when I fall asleep with damp hair. Not to mention discomfort. Ugh.

[Sharysa]

Falling asleep with damp hair is fine for me. If I tried to let it air-dry loose, it would "only" take about three hours to dry or maybe half a day if it's cold. BUT it would also mat up and tangle because thick wavy hair NEEDS RESTRAINING. Combing it out would mean pulling out the wave and often frizz, and frizz leads to triangle-head.

So I just let it air-dry for an hour so it's not dripping wet, and then once I've oiled it, I put my hair in Dutch pigtails and sleep on them for the night. By morning my hair's usually dry, but if it's still a bit damp I redo my braids and finish the job with the low setting on my hair-dryer.

[Aurum]

Have any of you seen my Ramen Noodle hair? This is the result of me being forced to braid my hair before bed when it was SLIGHTLY DAMP. The steroid braid waves I get are just not practical to comb out in the morning, so I avoid it if possible. I would rather get tangly hair from sleeping on it wet than get this from sleeping on it wet and braided:

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m532/Pintar5/Mobile%20Uploads/a01ee215-df6c-45f6-b4da-db3f68e1d999_zps9780968a.jpg (http://s1130.photobucket.com/user/Pintar5/media/Mobile%20Uploads/a01ee215-df6c-45f6-b4da-db3f68e1d999_zps9780968a.jpg.html)

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m532/Pintar5/Mobile%20Uploads/99ebbb67-60e4-4ca7-95fa-d9ad6ec26e5c_zps3e955893.jpg (http://s1130.photobucket.com/user/Pintar5/media/Mobile%20Uploads/99ebbb67-60e4-4ca7-95fa-d9ad6ec26e5c_zps3e955893.jpg.html)

Just a thought.

[cathair]

Have any of you seen my Ramen Noodle hair? This is the result of me being forced to braid my hair before bed when it was SLIGHTLY DAMP. The steroid braid waves I get are just not practical to comb out in the morning, so I avoid it if possible. I would rather get tangly hair from sleeping on it wet than get this from sleeping on it wet and braided:

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m532/Pintar5/Mobile%20Uploads/a01ee215-df6c-45f6-b4da-db3f68e1d999_zps9780968a.jpg (http://s1130.photobucket.com/user/Pintar5/media/Mobile%20Uploads/a01ee215-df6c-45f6-b4da-db3f68e1d999_zps9780968a.jpg.html)

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m532/Pintar5/Mobile%20Uploads/99ebbb67-60e4-4ca7-95fa-d9ad6ec26e5c_zps3e955893.jpg (http://s1130.photobucket.com/user/Pintar5/media/Mobile%20Uploads/99ebbb67-60e4-4ca7-95fa-d9ad6ec26e5c_zps3e955893.jpg.html)

Just a thought.

It might not my practical, but oh my it is pretty! :crush:

[sumidha]

Pretty much every time I wash my hair I end up going to bed with it wet, but I don't ever leave it loose and down around my body while I sleep, instead I twist it into a bun on the top of my head right before I lay down so it sits above me on the pillow while I toss and turn all night. It doesn't stay in the bun, but it stays out of the way of my thrashing. I have wavy/wurly hair to start with though, I don't know if this would work well for straight hair.

[spidermom]

I pile my hair into the space above my pillow. It mostly stays there as long as I'm not having a crazy-restless night. It's still damp in the morning, but sometimes I get beautiful spiral curls (still mostly wavy, though).

[fiðrildi]

I always wash my hair at night. I just make an English braid, put my silk cap on, and sleep. Next morning my hair is still a little damp, but after I undo the braid it dries quite fast.

[Carolyn]

If I go to bed with wet hair I wake up with part of it oddly wavy and part of it straight and the rest just a mess. I would never plan on wearing it down after sleeping with wet hair. I'd be planning a bun or braid for the next day, so no matter what it looks like when I get up. I really love going to bed with wet hair in the summer. It's so cooling. I love the feel of wet hair on my back and arms. It's quite delicious! Most of the time I chose to wash in the mornings so I don't have the wonky hair problem too often.

[Arete]

I'm lazy, so I always shower at night. While I have thick hair, it's not crazy thick (though I do refer to it as my beast hair because it has a mind of it's own :p). My hair turns out fine sleeping on it damp and loose. No more frizz than is normal, and my wurlies will be their wurlies and have a mind of their own. :D

[Cania]

My hair is too heavy and thick when wet, it soaks the mattress and leaves me chilly! I just blow dry on a cool setting, makes life much easier.

[6Freezing6Moon6]

Yes it is indeed after the Mayhem song lol

[cathair]

Yes it is indeed after the Mayhem song lol

Nice choice :D it's one of my favorites too. You've sent me on a Mayhem binge this week :)

[idiay]

I feel like if I don't dry my hair as soon as I get out of the shower, and let it dry by itself... it gets oily faster. I've slept with my hair not fully dry and it's just oily again in the morning? :confused:

[Jennwith4]

I can leave my length to dry overnight. My bangs are another matter. I have to dry them before bed or else they dry wonky and only re-wetting will fix them.

[Nadine <3]

I never sleep with wet hair. If I HAVE to I can put it into a french braid, but I try to avoid it at all costs. If I slept with it wet and loose...I don't even want to think about it. I would look deranged.

[ShDiHa]

I can't stand sleeping with wet hair. It never fully dries, so it has a weird texture to it when I wake.

[Eastbound&Down]

Strange, I love the way my hair looks the morning after I sleep with it wet. The curl/wave pattern is always so well defined that i hate to have to put it up!

[captaincrunch]

My hair looks best if I sleep on it wet. I'm a wavy and it takes the weight off of it laying down while it dries. It really brings out my best waves. The down side is, yuck! it's wet! Now that my hair is getting so long and the weather is getting colder I will have to at least blow dry it a little.

Your thickness must be amazing, or your house really cold, to have it still be wet in the morning.

[ZeppHead]

I cannot and will never sleep with anything less than bone dry hair. If for some reason I had no choice it would definitely be braided because all I see is split ends in my future laying on wet hair.

[leilani]

Blow dryer on cool setting.

[meteor]

Sleeping on wet hair invariably results in waking up with wet hair and, since I put hair up every day, it will probably stay wet until I take it down in the evening! So I really try to spend a couple hours with hair down doing some fanning and detangling right after a wash. If my hair stays contained, it simply doesn't dry.

But if the hair is only a bit damp before I go to bed, then I have no problem. :)

[Allie_snowflake]

I am the poster child for benign neglect on wash days! I only shampoo and finger comb in shower. I'll leave my hair in towel for about ten minutes then take it down and scrunch conditioner thru it. I usually leave it like that to sleep (not even finger combing until bone dry). Sometimes I loosely braid but only divide my three sections and braid.... Just carefully pull apart sections, no repetitive combing. As I get down to the end of my braid, I'll dislodge some of the shed hairs but leave them there. In the morning (whether braided or loose) I'll finally comb thru. I usually have no snags that pull, even if I left it loose all night. I will get all my shed hairs to brush out but it's a whole lot less than if I combed at all while damp. I've been doing that for years. Way before LHC. My hair has a very tacky, sticky texture when wet so I don't like to touch it until it's dry.

[brooke_kawaii]

When I go to bed with wet hair, it looks awful in the morning. It sticks up and curls all wrong so I usually damp my hair in the morning or I'll just shower in the morning.

[PixxieStix]

My hair actually prefers to be damp bunned overnight, I have much better hair the next day than if I go to bed with completely dry hair.

[Beckstar]

My hair is wet right now and I'm in bed for the night. :) I have it pulled into a high ponytail. It's only shoulder length right now so it's a lot different than if it were long. I normally don't go to bed with wet hair but it was late and I needed to wash it, so here I am. I would braid it if it were longer and sleep like that. Tomorrow morning. I'll let it down, detangle and put it up.

[JellyBene]

If I sleep on wet/damp hair it gives me a bad hair day too. It's still pretty short but it has enough length now that sleeping on it wet just makes it dry funny and I get weird flat spots and cowlicks. If I let it dry first its totally fine though

[JellyBene]

Although when it's long enough I like to sleep with damp braids and I get wonderful weaves the next day ;)