Humidity/Rain - why does my hair feel dirtier so much faster?

[Moonstruck]

Every time it rains, I sigh a little inside and resign myself to the fact that I probably will have to wash my hair that day, even though I can often get away without washing my hair every 3 days or so. My hair just smells sebum-y and looks oily, and generally lank and gross.
Why is this? Does anyone else seem to have this problem? Everyone else in my family doesn't care and washes their hair every day no matter what, so they tend to be poor resources in this regard, haha. Does high humidity increase oil production on the scalp? Why would that be?

Also, if anyone knows of a way to combat this, it'd be GREAT. I currently use shampoo bars, a bit of condish, and ACV rinses - no oiling or anything that might be adding extra moisture really. When I use normal shampoo it seems to stay oil free slightly longer, but probably because my hair tends to feel a bit stripped after wards.

[rhubarbarin]

My hair hates humidity. I have tons of frizz, roots look greasy, length is lank, ends get dry and rough. I just wash more. Sometimes just wetting it, no shampoo, will improve things..

[pointydog]

My hair is nothing like that. I love how it looks on a rainy day. Especially if I get to be outside in the rain.

I get little ringlets in the fine, short temple hairs and the length looks fuller and thicker. Matters not if it's fresh washed or a few days ago, oiled or not. That's just from humidity, not actually getting wet.

My hair never looks healthier or feels better than after spending some time in the rain where it gets wet through with rain water and spends a day or more being moist. (It takes my hair several hours to dry normally, I usually leave it spread over a pillow for the night to dry as much as it will before morning) A rainy day might mean my hair never dries that day.

I've often thought I should be carrying rainwater inside to use as a final rinse, it makes my hair that much softer. I have really crappy city water, it's hard to begin with and they add all sorts of toxic crap to it as well. I never do it though, just doesn't seem important enough to bother.

I suppose people with drier skin might find the moist air causes their skin to release more natural oils, or maybe the moisture makes oils spread more? Just guessing.

[SheWolf]

Every time it rains, I sigh a little inside and resign myself to the fact that I probably will have to wash my hair that day, even though I can often get away without washing my hair every 3 days or so. My hair just smells sebum-y and looks oily, and generally lank and gross.
Why is this? Does anyone else seem to have this problem? Everyone else in my family doesn't care and washes their hair every day no matter what, so they tend to be poor resources in this regard, haha. Does high humidity increase oil production on the scalp? Why would that be?

Also, if anyone knows of a way to combat this, it'd be GREAT. I currently use shampoo bars, a bit of condish, and ACV rinses - no oiling or anything that might be adding extra moisture really. When I use normal shampoo it seems to stay oil free slightly longer, but probably because my hair tends to feel a bit stripped after wards.

Actually... I think it's pollution. Our environment, the air all around us is gross, full of car emission fumes and other nasty stuff.
Isolated and dry, it probably looks like powdery, ashy debris.
Now take a handful and put that in a steamroom... my guess is it probably turns to gross, icky muddy stuff.
Now picture that in your hair.

This is just a wild theory based on nothing more than my imagination, btw, but the same way acid rain affects the ground... you get my point.

I find a CO wash does help, if it is thorough. But I do shampoo every 3-4 days.

[enfys]

It happens to me too in rain, and I always think it must be pollution because it only happens in the city!

No solution sorry. But I give you my empathy :)

[RavennaNight]

Yup, my hair just feels weird when it's rainy. It feels like my feathers were ruffled. Big, unruly, fluffy.

[MsBubbles]

Interesting! There was a thread a while back about people loving to wash their hair with rainwater and I felt like such a loser because my hair - even freshly washed - suddenly looks filthy and oily if any rain has fallen on it.

If I can stay out of the rain, my hair actually looks better in humid conditions. Somehow the humidity must weigh my hair down so it's not as flyaway.

But yeah. Rain water makes my hair instantly dirty.

[Moonstruck]

I think you guys might be onto something with the city thing! I'm at college, just uphill from an old industrial city, where it's obvious the city is still sort of muddling in its not so clean past. And it's a lot worse here when it rains, compared to my suburban home, which in turn is worse than my grandmother's nice old oceanside country-ish property. That's an interesting theory for sure.
Especially since my hair is getting mucky without any actual rain touching it - just moist, damp, sticky air. It's so silly cause my hair is normally EXTREMELY behaved, and then it just starts acting like it hates the world whenever it rains here. Blergh. I ended up shampooing with one of my more cleansing bars this morning, and it looked nice again... and is approaching dingy again now. It would make more sense if it's the outside influence of say, pollution, than a dramatic increase in oil production, I think

[RancheroTheBee]

I'm from a big city, and humidity makes my hair all oily, too. I don't know why this is, but it's annoying and for some reason, the problem is aggravated at night.

[Zindell]

I love getting rainwater in my hair! (Small town in Sweden).

My hair gets very shiny and soft from the rain. :)