What temperature water do you use to wash your hair?

[Cherrys]

I always used to use cold water for washing (shampoo and condition) because I read hot is damaging and that cool smoothes the cuticle for shiny hair. But recently I used hot water (not scalding, but more than warm) and I felt like my hair was super clean (so much so that I now feel like my hair was constantly greasy before and I just never realized how not greasy it could be) and had lots of body, so I might make that my new thing. What do you do? And do you like it? Or does it make no difference?

[ExpectoPatronum]

Interesting how temperature has had that different of an effect on your hair.

I usually wash with how water solely because I like hot showers. I don't do it for my hair. Same for my cool rinse at the end. While I started doing it for my hair, I continue to do it because it feels refreshing after beginning my shower in hot water. I can't say I've noticed a difference in my hair either way.

[jfg1987]

So I'm a weirdo and I like cold showers, though on wash days I wash with hot and wash out the conditioner with cold. I too noticed that when I washed my hair with hot water it head feel cleaner vs using cold water; to me in a way I suppose that makes sense, think of when you hand wash dishes, generally soap + hot water is the most effective. Not sure if it actually makes a difference but my experience is similar to yours.

[littlestarface]

I use hot water more warm then hot for hair, I cannot never ever take a cold shower not even in summer time brrrrrr, i'd turn into a ice cube.

[Obsidian]

I wash in my normal shower temp which is fairly hot. I've read numerous times that heat only damages hair if its super hot and my tap water is no where that hot.

[oddrey3000]

I usually take a warm/hot shower just because it is most relaxing. On occasion (if I can bear it,) I will rinse with cold water afterwards because I've heard it adds shine to the hair. No proof if that is actually true or not...

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I use warm water rather than cold. If I'm in the shower and not washing my hair I will have the water hot, but warm is what my hair prefers. Fussy. :)

[school of fish]

I always wash my hair in the warm/hot of my morning shower, every day. I too have always felt noticeably cleaner washing with hot water than with cold, couldn't tell you why but it's always been so :)

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

I always wash my hair in the warm/hot of my morning shower, every day. I too have always felt noticeably cleaner washing with hot water than with cold, couldn't tell you why but it's always been so :)

Maybe it has something to do with the way warm water opens pores and opens hair follicles? Maybe?
I do not know. I am but a child in a large world with very little knowledge lmao

I take warm/hot showers. The DBF and I also often times shower together (TMI? We're all adults... Lol.) and he really likes scalding hot water, so I get hot water most of the time. I never really noticed a difference between the way it makes my hair feel though!

[Crystawni]

I live in a hot, tropical climate and take my showers warmish (just past half way on the flickmixer) heading a bit either way in the height of summer (cooler) and winter (warmer). My hair has low porosity, so does better with hotter water, though.

[lithostoic]

I don't see how hot water could be damaging unless it would be hot enough to burn you. In that case, you wouldn't be showering in it!

[Frankenstein]

I wash with pretty warm water, maybe on the hot side. Cold water doesn't get my hair as clean either, but I do always rinse my hair in cold water before getting out.

[Crystawni]

From what I understand, hot water opens the hair's cuticles, and cold closes them. So, depending on how porous your hair is to start with (which can be mixed on your head and down the shaft, btw), the temperature of the water will affect how your hair behaves. High porosity hair works better with cooler water as the hair is already open to moisture (water), whereas low porosity hair works better with warmer water that opens up the cuticles to get the moisture in (and residue off).

[Ligeia Noire]

always cool or cold, in the beginning a bit warmer for the condition to penetrate better as the warmth opens the cuticles but yeah that is it

[turtlelover]

I must admit that I like my bath and shower water pretty hot, but that is the only heat my hair gets unless is it horribly cold outdoors and I have to go someplace in a hurry.....then I might dig out the hairdryer and use it on medium. I can't adjust to cold showers. I tried when I used chemical demi dye cause it made my color last longer, but now that I use henna, I am back to my old ways and using hot water again!

[vampyyri]

I like my showers burn-your-skin-off-hot, especially in the wintertime, but I usually end my showers lukewarm when I'm rinsing my hair out.

[Garnetgem]

I wash it in lightly hotter than tepid if that makes sense...i then blast my hair and scalp with cold water before a tepid rinse since doing this my hair seems to have more body and shine...i used to use it so hot it stung but it caused scales on the scalp and knotty hair!

[Seratopia]

http://i68.tinypic.com/2ijpvkx.jpg

This is me.

[vampyyri]

http://i68.tinypic.com/2ijpvkx.jpg

This is me.

:rollin: yup!!

[Groovy Granny]

I like a hot shower but use fairly warm water to shampoo and end with a cool rinse

[Deborah]

I wash and rinse in pretty hot water, then do a final rinse in cold, just on my head, not on the rest of my body. This works well for me.

[Anje]

Usually I use nice warm water. Trying to cool it down a little so I don't rinse out this bright red dye too fast, but... yeah, I like it warm.

ETA: Randomly, I notice that my scalp can't take as hot water as the rest of my body. So I do often turn it down a smidge for hair-washing either way. I don't like blazing hot showers where you look like a lobster coming out anyway, not normally.

[spidermom]

It's all relative, isn't it? I think I shower in warm water, but my husband says it's tepid. He says he showers in warm water, but to me it's almost scalding hot.

Anyway, I tend to turn the water toward the cooler side of warm when I'm washing and rinsing my hair.

[Kat-Rinnè Naido]

I start with warm to wet my hair as warm as my body can handle. Next I turn it to hot as I wash my hair then start lowering it to as lukewarm as I can handle.

[lapushka]

When the temperature is warm (not hot) on my wrist it is OK for my hair.

[Tosca]

I wash with my normal showering temperature, which is really hot in winter, and tepid at first to cool down, and then transitioning to warm, in summer. I've never noticed any difference in my hair if I wash it in cold water.

[Nique1202]

If anyone's wondering, warmer water washes everything better, not just hair. In cold water, your sebum will harden up and become much harder for your cleansing method, whatever it is, to loosen it and carry it away. In water near or above body temperature, the sebum will "melt" back into a more liquid oily state, much easier for your cleansing method (be it water only, conditioner, or shampoo) to carry it off. That's why you generally still want to wash with water close to your body temperature if not above, even if you believe in the "cool rinse" afterward to set the cuticle.

In my experience going back to room temperature as the hair air dries opens the cuticle back to its normal level anyway, so I just rinse in my regular warm-blanket shower temperature and be done with it. Why suffer a cold rinse for no result?

[school of fish]

If anyone's wondering, warmer water washes everything better, not just hair. In cold water, your sebum will harden up and become much harder for your cleansing method, whatever it is, to loosen it and carry it away. In water near or above body temperature, the sebum will "melt" back into a more liquid oily state, much easier for your cleansing method (be it water only, conditioner, or shampoo) to carry it off. That's why you generally still want to wash with water close to your body temperature if not above, even if you believe in the "cool rinse" afterward to set the cuticle.

In my experience going back to room temperature as the hair air dries opens the cuticle back to its normal level anyway, so I just rinse in my regular warm-blanket shower temperature and be done with it. Why suffer a cold rinse for no result?

^^Thank you for this explanation! I'd always noticed that any time I lost my hot water and had to finish my shower in cold, by mid-afternoon I'd be feeling like I was in need of a shower again - no matter how thoroughly I'd soaped/shampooed/scrubbed/rinsed that morning. I used to try to talk myself out of it and tell myself I was just imagining things but the physical sensation was very palpable to me! Running short on hot water actually ticks me off more for that reason than having to endure a cold shower - because I know that icky feeling will be coming to me in just a few hours...

I know my sebum/sweat to be particularly waxy and build-uppey so possibly I feel it more readily than many. It's actually reassuring to hear this is a thing, not just all in my head :)

[Cherrys]

If anyone's wondering, warmer water washes everything better, not just hair. In cold water, your sebum will harden up and become much harder for your cleansing method, whatever it is, to loosen it and carry it away. In water near or above body temperature, the sebum will "melt" back into a more liquid oily state, much easier for your cleansing method (be it water only, conditioner, or shampoo) to carry it off. That's why you generally still want to wash with water close to your body temperature if not above, even if you believe in the "cool rinse" afterward to set the cuticle.

In my experience going back to room temperature as the hair air dries opens the cuticle back to its normal level anyway, so I just rinse in my regular warm-blanket shower temperature and be done with it. Why suffer a cold rinse for no result?

So informative, thanks for sharing this.

[Kat-Rinnè Naido]

If anyone's wondering, warmer water washes everything better, not just hair. In cold water, your sebum will harden up and become much harder for your cleansing method, whatever it is, to loosen it and carry it away. In water near or above body temperature, the sebum will "melt" back into a more liquid oily state, much easier for your cleansing method (be it water only, conditioner, or shampoo) to carry it off. That's why you generally still want to wash with water close to your body temperature if not above, even if you believe in the "cool rinse" afterward to set the cuticle.

In my experience going back to room temperature as the hair air dries opens the cuticle back to its normal level anyway, so I just rinse in my regular warm-blanket shower temperature and be done with it. Why suffer a cold rinse for no result?

Thank you for sharing.

[vampyyri]

If anyone's wondering, warmer water washes everything better, not just hair. In cold water, your sebum will harden up and become much harder for your cleansing method, whatever it is, to loosen it and carry it away. In water near or above body temperature, the sebum will "melt" back into a more liquid oily state, much easier for your cleansing method (be it water only, conditioner, or shampoo) to carry it off. That's why you generally still want to wash with water close to your body temperature if not above, even if you believe in the "cool rinse" afterward to set the cuticle.

In my experience going back to room temperature as the hair air dries opens the cuticle back to its normal level anyway, so I just rinse in my regular warm-blanket shower temperature and be done with it. Why suffer a cold rinse for no result?

Oh that's good to know... totally justifies my incendiary showers :lol:

[LadyCelestina]

My hair feels horrible after cold rinses! Not sure why, but after my final rinse (warm) in the shower my hair is normally smooth and silky.

If I use cold water it feels like coated straw and frizzes while wet!

[Hay_jules]

I wash in warm or hot water and rinse my conditioner in cold (ish) water. Unless I have hair colour I don't want to fade, in which case I cowash and and it's lukewarm to cowash and cold rinse. With the dye I feel it needs the cold shot to lock the colour in...I never get colour transfer. I notice a difference in how well the shampoo works in hot. I also notice when I rinse in cold it doesn't rinse my conditioner out as effectively as hot water which for me is a good thing. It leaves in enough to not be gross, when I try to leave some in deliberately it's always too much.

But the rest of my shower is nearly scalding hot. I hate being cold.

Last weekend I touched up my roots with bleach and realized after that the hot water was off in the building. I couldn't leave the bleach so I had to shower in ice cold water, it was so painful I cried and my head and muscles hurt for days.

[mizukitty]

I like hot water. I can't help it. Never hotter than what I use for my body, though. If it's too hot for skin it's probably too hot for hair. It's nowhere NEAR that of a flat iron or curling iron, though, so I don't think it's tragic. Especially if you're replacing the lost moisture.

[Mrstran]

Just warm but closer to hot than cold I guess. Cold is definitely a no no with my hair. It hates cold water.

[Anje]

If anyone's wondering, warmer water washes everything better, not just hair. In cold water, your sebum will harden up and become much harder for your cleansing method, whatever it is, to loosen it and carry it away. In water near or above body temperature, the sebum will "melt" back into a more liquid oily state, much easier for your cleansing method (be it water only, conditioner, or shampoo) to carry it off. That's why you generally still want to wash with water close to your body temperature if not above, even if you believe in the "cool rinse" afterward to set the cuticle.

In my experience going back to room temperature as the hair air dries opens the cuticle back to its normal level anyway, so I just rinse in my regular warm-blanket shower temperature and be done with it. Why suffer a cold rinse for no result?
Oddly, a number of people doing WO have found that they can get more sebum off with cool water than hot. It's possible it removes easier with manipulation (and no cleansers) at those temperatures. When I did WO, I couldn't stand the cold enough to bother with experimenting with it though, so it seemed a moot point.

[Strands]

I wash in CWRCC. I use warm water except I do use cold for rinsing out both of my last conditioners. I find warm water gets the crap out better and the cold at the end helps the cuticle close.

[sumidha]

Warm water, except for the hottest parts of summer when I do lukewarm or cool showers because of the heat. I tried cold rinses and they didn't do anything noticeable for my hair.

Hot water and soap remove oils a lot more efficiently than cold water and soap, as you'll experience if you've ever tried to wash dirty dishes without hot water. :D

[sarahthegemini]

I like hot showers. I'm not prepared to have a cold shower - my hair can suffer the consequences lol.

[Complexity]

I like hot showers. I'm not prepared to have a cold shower - my hair can suffer the consequences lol.

Exactly this. I hate being cold, even in the summer months (though my showers are admittedly slightly cooler then than they are at this time of year).

[AZDesertRose]

I live in Florida, so the outdoor temperatures here are never truly cold. I like my showers warm but not hot, although I'll take a sit-down bath in hotter water than a shower (still not scalding), but I don't submerge my hair when I take a bath. My hair gets washed in the same water as the rest of me, but the water temperature is usually just slightly to the cold side of center of my faucet regulator in the bathtub; dead center is too warm for me. And given that my hair sees a hair dryer maybe twice a year and heat-styling appliances maybe once a year, it can live with twice-weekly washes in warm water. :p

[hannabiss]

I usually like to burn myself alive in the shower. But tend to do a last rinse with lukewarm. If I rinse with cold it seems my hair mats down flat to my head. I know that seems weird but for what ever reason it does.

[Flipgirl24]

I wash my hair with warm water....not hot but just before the water would start getting a bit cooler. I washed with cold water for a while because I didn't have a water heater and I felt like my hair didn't get as clean as with warmer water. I think part of it is warm water makes more suds and it helps rinse the shampoo out better than cold water. I rinse the conditioner with cold water to close the cuticle or so the story goes. Plus I like the cool down as I find the shower too hot towards the end. Except in the winter.

[Dark40]

I wash my hair in luke warm or the coolest water that I can stand.

[Garnetgem]

I have recently noticed washing hair in water too hot causes shedding well for me at least..when i washed in tepid i had no shedding at all.

[Aunty Miki]

Warm. I don't do cold anything, except ice cream.

[Nymphe]

All temperatures!

[Saldana]

I wash my hair in the shower, and I like hot showers. Ergo....hot water to wash my hair. :)

[Greenfire]

Hot in the shower, the hotter the better. The hot never lasts long enough (we have something wrong with our tank) so if I can get it shampooed and conditioned and rinsed before it runs out it's great. Mostly I wash in the sink though and I think the water is likely a little cooler in there. Catnip rinses tend to be cooler, but my hair is already clean when I do those. I'm not fond of the cold. In fact, I think I'll go turn the oven on and stand in front of it for a little while now....

[Llama]

I wash my hair in hot water. I think it cleans the hair better and feels really good on my scalp. I'm cold all the time in the winter- the shower is the one place I get to warm up I feel like.
Even in the summer I wash with hot water. Cold water just never feels very good so I don't do it.