wearing hair up all the time?

[glitterati]

Normally, I wear my hair up during the day and then down (in a sleepcap) during the night, and I probably lose 20-30 hairs a day. This past week, I've had little time to do anything with my hair, so it's pretty much stayed up in a bun the entire time, and I've hardly shed any hair. So now I'm wondering, is there a risk to wearing my hair up all the time? I recall reading somewhere that you want to wear your hair down for part of the day, otherwise the roots/follicles might become stressed. Is there any truth to that?

[amaiaisabella]

I know it's not good for you to wear your hair in the same position every single day, as the hair could become weak and stressed in that area. Simply wearing it up, and changing styles every day, protects the hair and keeps it contained.

[Periwinkle]

Wearing hair up protects it much better than leaving it down, especially if you're not careful with it down. Hair down your back gets caught on chairs, in doors, gets tangled...hair in an updo tends not to.

I've never heard about 'follicles being stressed', but it is true that if you wear your hair in exactly the same way every day, you can get some pretty bad breakage, especially if you're not using hair-friendly things to secure it with. For example, a ponytail every day with a metal elastic that snags your hair will create a ring of breakage, but if you alternate with braids and buns and change the placing, plus switching to scrunchies or no-metal elastics, you'll reduce the breakage a lot.

Round here, it's generally regarded as 'better' to keep your hair up to protect it, but that's not to say you shouldn't wear it down if you enjoy that! After all, what's the point of having long hair if you can't do what you like with it?

[edensapples]

I have noticed I shed a LOT less when I wear my hair up too!

[Meli]

I too shed more when I wear my hair down. At first I thought it was just an illusion, since the shed hairs fall everywhere when the hair is down, while they only come out when combing when I wear it up. But then I counted the shed hairs, and I do indeed lose more when my hair is down. I don't have any explanation, though - I just stick with wearing it up as much as possible. That also causes much less breakage than if I wear my hair down.

[plainjanegirl]

I really should try wearing my hair up more, maybe it will help me.

[MadPirateBippy]

The follicles getting stressed thing mostly applies to tension alopecia- don't have your updos tight all the time and you'll be OK. You can see the dangers of tight updos in older women who've worn their hair in cornrows most their lives- because corn rows are done TIGHT, a lot of them have balding spots. Some women who have also worn their hair in super tight ponytails for years will get some balding at the hairline. For this to be a problem it does need to be very tight, and habitual for years.

Putting a cinnimon bun on the same spot on your head for a month won't do anything bad to your hair or scalp unless it's really, really, really sensitive or in bad shape already.