Hair water swelling

[Hexana]

I read two articles about how water swells hair and how damaging it can be. It scared me a lot, because I am known to go to bed with wet hair and waking up the next day with still wet hair. :bigeyes::-(:scared::oops:

https://www.msn.com/en-au/lifestyle/style/why-you-should-never-leave-your-hair-wet-for-long-after-showering-and-how-brushing-your-damp-locks-can-cause-serious-long-term-damage/ar-BBLDlZW

https://afrocenchix.com/blogs/news/hygral-fatigue-can-water-damage-your-hair

Sounds like it's better to blow dry your hair than leave it wet when you go to bed.

What do you guys think? Any experience?
This may have been one of the reasons why my hair was not growing out years back. :(

P. S. I am never going to bed with wet hair again!:shake::shake::shake:

[Haziel]

First of all I should mention I'm not the most knowledgeable person, but I say that there's a difference between water IN the hair and water ON the hair.
If you had oils IN your hair then it would repel water and when you did succeed in getting it wetting your hair down the oils would also trap the water IN your hair, so blow drying would not work because the oils would keep the air from touching the water. Sweat and synthetic products used to volumize hair work the same way. Now if its water ON the hair the hair and it's still wet in the morning then you probably are dealing with a localized air flow problem.
How does your har dry during the day?
My mom always said "if your hair doesn't dry quickly then it probably is dirty" now we're talking about sweat dirt and hay chaff (I'm a farmer)

Hope this helps

[S&S]

:bigeyes:

My hair has been taking long to air dry here in NZ - its always 85%+ humidity here ...

[Hexana]

I understand, but I think that it was meant if you wash your hair with shampoo. Then the water probably gets into the hair and can damage it. Or did I not understand your response correctly?

[AutobotsAttack]

It’s all a matter of porosity, and the natural hydrophobic layer of 18-MEA, ergo sebum, that’s in the epicuticle of human hair, and how much or how less you have of that natural lipid. Typical wear and tear of daily grooming can slowly take away, or break down that lipid, causing swelling in cell membrane of hair, which can lead to damage. Certain conditioners can help coat the hair, sort of allowing for water to get blocked, or absorbed a bit slower. Oils can help too, and depending on their molecular weight, can adsorb through to the cuticle, and possibly the cortex, helping the 18-MEA lipid layer we naturally have, regulate the uptake of how much water our hair can hold, or let go of.

Strand size/diameter plays a factor, albeit to a bit of a lesser degree, but sometimes finer strands can go through damage just from the sheer weight of the hair being wet.

Typically, hair that can allow the natural sebum to reach much farther down than hair that is more curly/kinky, doesn’t have as many issues concerning hair being wet prolonged periods of time, because the sebum is only allowing just enough water to keep the hair moisturized, and the rest is slowly evaporating or being soaked up by whatever material. Environment plays a factor as well. If you have a warmer and more arid room, hair hair might dry quicker, versus a colder or more humid room.

Blow drying your hair at a moderate distance and temperature actually helps mitigate cell membrane swelling, but you do run the risk of manipulation damage if you don’t do it gently enough, or heat damage if it’s too hot. So finding a happy medium would be a good thing. You could get a microfiber towel that helps soak up more water, blow dry gently maybe every other wash, apply coconut oil to the older and more porous parts of your hair, or even keep the temperature in your room a bit higher for a bit to help your hair dry quicker.

Hope this helps.

[S&S]

Wow, super informative Autobotsattak!

[Hexana]

Thank you, that really helps.
I was wondering though, is there a difference when putting a leave-in on soaking wet hair or towel dry hair? Because you "trap" the water, does that mean that you risk more damage when putting a leave-in conditioner on soaking wet hair?

[lapushka]

I think someone once posted a link to a study saying it is better to blow dry than leave the hair wet, an actual scientific study on that.

I typically airdry for 2-4H, and then I can limit the time with the dryer (only 5 min. until fully dry, well just the ends are a little "dampish", but not much). In these temperatures it's lovely to airdy for longer.

I have to get it dry with a dryer (due to SD, seborrheic dermatitis). So there's that.

I don't think it's that great to go to bed with wet hair, but that's me personally. I don't want a soggy pillow case (I have a buckwheat pillow). ;)

[AutobotsAttack]

Thank you, that really helps.
I was wondering though, is there a difference when putting a leave-in on soaking wet hair or towel dry hair? Because you "trap" the water, does that mean that you risk more damage when putting a leave-in conditioner on soaking wet hair?

I wouldn’t say risk more damage, I would say there’s a risk of dealing with buildup, especially when the hair is soaking wet. Since there’s not much room for it to penetrate. I’d definitely towel dry the hair before doing leave ins. I know some people apply product to soaking wet hair, but that also depends on porosity, how much dryness they experience, and the formulation of the products.

[Lizabeth94]

Ha! If this is true my will never grow, I’m a swim instructor, my hair is wet almost 24/7. Honestly don’t worry about it too much, there are at least 3 instructors where I work with waist length hair, and they have fantastic looking hair. There are also dozens of lifeguards who are on swim teams with long hair, who spend almost as much time in the pool as the instructors do.

[AutobotsAttack]

Ha! If this is true my will never grow, I’m a swim instructor, my hair is wet almost 24/7. Honestly don’t worry about it too much, there are at least 3 instructors where I work with waist length hair, and they have fantastic looking hair. There are also dozens of lifeguards who are on swim teams with long hair, who spend almost as much time in the pool as the instructors do.

I mean you can research and see that’s more or less the chemistry of hair, and cosmetics in general. Doesn’t mean your hair will never grow. I’m honestly confused why you even think that what I posted somehow insinuates you still can’t grow long hair while being a swim instructor. Just means you have to find tools and techniques to keep your hair in good shape. I use chemicals to straighten my hair, and it’s about an inch away from classic length now. Same with ladies here who use dye or are bottle blondes, and have long hair.

[akurah]

I read two articles about how water swells hair and how damaging it can be. It scared me a lot, because I am known to go to bed with wet hair and waking up the next day with still wet hair. :bigeyes::-(:scared::oops:

https://www.msn.com/en-au/lifestyle/style/why-you-should-never-leave-your-hair-wet-for-long-after-showering-and-how-brushing-your-damp-locks-can-cause-serious-long-term-damage/ar-BBLDlZW

https://afrocenchix.com/blogs/news/hygral-fatigue-can-water-damage-your-hair

Sounds like it's better to blow dry your hair than leave it wet when you go to bed.

What do you guys think? Any experience?
This may have been one of the reasons why my hair was not growing out years back. :(

P. S. I am never going to bed with wet hair again!:shake::shake::shake:

I think you are overreacting because that first article is a fear-mongering pile of crap that just so happens to have a kernel of truth in it and it frightened you. The second article looks accurate (I did not watch the video), but here's a third article for you to read that should help calm you down:
http://www.thenerdycurlygirl.com/2018/05/hygral-fatigue-excessive-water.html

As far as I know, hygral fatigue can be a real concern, but it's generally only a concern for people with curly hair and with porous hair. Because your hair is mostly straight, and because you are white, I would hypothesize your risk for hygral fatigue is quite low and not worth panicking over. (disclaimer: this is a hypothesis based on observation that I do not have the resources to test)

[Deborah]

I have gone to bed many, many times with wet hair and have had no damage or problems from doing so at all. The heat from a hairdryer is much more likely to cause damage.

[littlestarface]

I mean one can believe and do what they like but for me I think its a load of garbage, I never once used a blowfryer on my hair I let it air dry since I was a baby,overnight, the day my hair never got damaged cuz of this. For me I rather stay away from any device on my hair.

[AutobotsAttack]

I think you are overreacting because that first article is a fear-mongering pile of crap that just so happens to have a kernel of truth in it and it frightened you. The second article looks accurate (I did not watch the video), but here's a third article for you to read that should help calm you down:
http://www.thenerdycurlygirl.com/2018/05/hygral-fatigue-excessive-water.html

As far as I know, hygral fatigue can be a real concern, but it's generally only a concern for people with curly hair and with porous hair. Because your hair is mostly straight, and because you are white, I would hypothesize your risk for hygral fatigue is quite low and not worth panicking over. (disclaimer: this is a hypothesis based on observation that I do not have the resources to test)

Your hypothesis is pretty spot on though. For what it’s worth.

[Wendyclaire]

What about after working out? My hair is drenched in sweat. Is that damaging to my hair? I look like I’ve washed my hair. I usually let it air dry or I dry it with a cool hair dryer.

[akurah]

What about after working out? My hair is drenched in sweat. Is that damaging to my hair? I look like I’ve washed my hair. I usually let it air dry or I dry it with a cool hair dryer.

Unless your hair is curly or porous? I would lean towards "probably not". If you are a white or asian person with straight hair, I would say "probably not" more strongly.

Sweat is a combination of water, salt, and proteins. Sweat can cause skin irritation, and the salt in sweat can be drying. But in general, unless your hair is curly or porous, panicking over water and sweat is a whole lot to do about nothing.

This article consults a hair stylist (and not a scientist), but it explains sweat and workout effects on hair a little bit: https://www.elle.com.au/beauty/sweat-bad-for-hair-20266

[Green leaves]

I've never used blow dryers either, and have hair that can easily take 12 -24 hours to dry. When I spent more time in water when I was younger my head could be wet or damp for days on end. I never saw any ill effects of that either at the time or later in terms of breakage or hair strength or growth. It can occasionally irritate my scalp to have my damp hair next to it, but I think that's more to do with humidity and the nature of my scalp.

[Entangled]

I mean you can research and see that’s more or less the chemistry of hair, and cosmetics in general. Doesn’t mean your hair will never grow. I’m honestly confused why you even think that what I posted somehow insinuates you still can’t grow long hair while being a swim instructor. Just means you have to find tools and techniques to keep your hair in good shape. I use chemicals to straighten my hair, and it’s about an inch away from classic length now. Same with ladies here who use dye or are bottle blondes, and have long hair.
I think Lizabeth94 was responding to the OP’s fears rather than belittling your claims. :flower:


I agree with Akura in regards to hygral fatigue. Too much water can damage hair, especially if it’s more susceptible because of its structure, but you probably don’t need to sweat over it. Here’s a link (http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/managing-elasticity-and-porosity-in-hair.html?m=1) to a blog post talking about moisture in hair and balancing it.

[RottenMango]

My hair can stay wet up to two days. I need to be more efficient at drying it.

[Hexana]

Thank you all for all the information. Since I started Hennaing my hair (3 years and a half) my hair needs waaaay longer to dry (like half a day or more sometimes), and before that (I am naturally blond) my hair was dry in like 30 min (no blowdrying needed!). Also before I used Henna my hair would break and split a lot and wouldn't grow past APL for 2 years (thats when I got frustrated and cut it all off into a pixie). :shrug:
I hope you all understand why I'm worried about doing the "wrong" things to my hair. shudder:

I am sorry if I overreacted :oops:, but as I decided that I want to try and grow my hair out, I am so worried of anything that could cause breakage to it. That's why I am so thankfull that all you here are so nice and give so much info. :love: :flower:

[pailin]

There was a study that showed blow drying (Not with heat, I believe) was slightly better for your hair than airdrying. However I think in practice it's more of a theoretical one than a real problem. The bigger issue is physical manipulation when wet. That is, brushing or combing. Your hair is less strong, so you should be more careful with it.

My experience regarding air drying, my hair is fine and I used to have major problems with splits until I figured it out as I grew it out this time (for one, I no detangle wet hair; also I use better conditioners). These days I have very few splits, and I wash WITH sulfate shampoo, every day. And go to bed with it wet, every day. And it's around mid-thigh now.

So maybe I'm a fluke of nature, or maybe the dangers of airdrying are really not a big deal.

ETA just saw your new post. I think we all understand getting really careful, or overreacting, about limiting damage! Also maybe your hair's porosity has been changed by the henna; that could explain the difference in drying time.

You also probably need to figure out how much you can handle. For me, even if I washed less frequently, I don't think I could stand to blow dry as long as it would take to get my hair dry at this length!

[akurah]

Thank you all for all the information. Since I started Hennaing my hair (3 years and a half) my hair needs waaaay longer to dry (like half a day or more sometimes), and before that (I am naturally blond) my hair was dry in like 30 min (no blowdrying needed!). Also before I used Henna my hair would break and split a lot and wouldn't grow past APL for 2 years (thats when I got frustrated and cut it all off into a pixie). :shrug:
I hope you all understand why I'm worried about doing the "wrong" things to my hair. shudder:

I am sorry if I overreacted :oops:, but as I decided that I want to try and grow my hair out, I am so worried of anything that could cause breakage to it. That's why I am so thankfull that all you here are so nice and give so much info. :love: :flower:

You're allowed to overreact. :) the trick with that is to not continue to panic if it's later shown that it's probably not a big deal, though that is less for other people and more for your general sanity. You're fine.

[S&S]

akurah, what if my hair is curly, high porosity and I live in an area with high humidity...? Just do coconut oil treatment before I wash?

[akurah]

akurah, what if my hair is curly, high porosity and I live in an area with high humidity...? Just do coconut oil treatment before I wash?

You'll have to defer to someone else. I'm not an expert on curly hair.

[Lizabeth94]

I mean you can research and see that’s more or less the chemistry of hair, and cosmetics in general. Doesn’t mean your hair will never grow. I’m honestly confused why you even think that what I posted somehow insinuates you still can’t grow long hair while being a swim instructor. Just means you have to find tools and techniques to keep your hair in good shape. I use chemicals to straighten my hair, and it’s about an inch away from classic length now. Same with ladies here who use dye or are bottle blondes, and have long hair.

I don’t think it will prevent me from growing long hair! That’s the whole point. Getting your hair wet on a regular basis isn’t going to cause any significant damage. This thread is going to get a lot of people upset, who are already overprotective with their hair.

[akurah]

I don’t think it will prevent me from growing long hair! That’s the whole point. Getting your hair wet on a regular basis isn’t going to cause any significant damage. This thread is going to get a lot of people upset, who are already overprotective with their hair.

As a person with straight hair to another person with straight hair, you're barking up the wrong tree here.

Hygral fatigue is real, and hygral fatigue is largely a concern for curly hair. Since you do not have curly hair according to your hair type, this is not likely to affect you. I would like to hope anyone who is reading the thread would read my comments in this thread, where I have included less alarming information on what hygral fatigue is, and have explained that it's basically not a straight hair problem, and AutobotsAttacks has also concurred with my assessment, so I don't get why you seem to be so determined to pick this fight.

[MusicalSpoons]

I'm gonna chip in here and say that when scientific studies show concerning results, or articles backed up by hard facts, sure go ahead and be concerned and research! But ... Wow those two sites were *not* in that category! 'You're better off blow drying your hair on hot because it's less damaging than your hair being wet' No Way!! Just be sensible with it when it's wet, and make sure your scalp is happy, and you'll be fine. Yes there are grains of truth in there, even quite a few true sentences but taken way out of context to scare people.

There have been discussions about this kind of thing on here; in fact there was even a specific study commissioned by a company that makes (you guessed it) blow dryers which genuinely did show damage from hair being wet too long *under very specific conditions* - conditions that don't reflect real-world washing and hair care. Hygral fatigue in general seems to have become a problem mainly for natural curly hair that is regularly wet for extremely long periods of time: hours of pre-poo (wet, not just oil), a very long washing routine, + lots of leave-ins so it takes very many hours to dry, and is then 'refreshed' on most days to keep the curls looking nice, until the next 24-48hr period of the whole wash routine, followed by refreshing, etc. So we're talking about extremes when simply being wet is damaging, and as akurah says really not something many straight or wavy-haired people need to worry about.

There are many of us who have indeed cut down on how often we wash our lengths to minimise unnecessary damage, but that's more because of hair being weakest when wet plus necessary handling means more opportunity for damage that we don't need. That's why scalp washes are pretty popular for those of us who have oily scalps but lengths that don't need to be washed as often as the scalp :)

Hope that made some kind of sense and helps allay some fears.

[S&S]

Hygral fatigue in general seems to have become a problem mainly for natural curly hair that is regularly wet for extremely long periods of time: hours of pre-poo (wet, not just oil), a very long washing routine, + lots of leave-ins so it takes very many hours to dry, and is then 'refreshed' on most days to keep the curls looking nice, until the next 24-48hr period of the whole wash routine, followed by refreshing, etc. So we're talking about extremes when simply being wet is damaging...

Yes, exactly. Read up on it and came to the same information. I used to do this a lot when I wore my hair curly.

[Lizabeth94]

As a person with straight hair to another person with straight hair, you're barking up the wrong tree here.

Hygral fatigue is real, and hygral fatigue is largely a concern for curly hair. Since you do not have curly hair according to your hair type, this is not likely to affect you. I would like to hope anyone who is reading the thread would read my comments in this thread, where I have included less alarming information on what hygral fatigue is, and have explained that it's basically not a straight hair problem, and AutobotsAttacks has also concurred with my assessment, so I don't get why you seem to be so determined to pick this fight.

Not picking a fight :shrug: just explaining why people don’t need to paranoid about getting their hair wet. Not sure why you are being so aggressive in your reply? :rolleyes: