Sweat - Okay for hair or avoid at all costs?

[Heidi_234]

It's summer, and it's quite hot, and for some reason my 24/7 (coconut) oiled hair causes my palms, my back and my shoulders to sweat (I'm pretty sure it's the oil to blame, or at least it makes me very conscious about it). I'm okay with that, that's not my problem, it's just that I can't decide if I should do a better job keeping my hair away from it (wash my hands before touching it, wipe my back with something? I'm not terribly sweaty or anything lol :scared:), or is it actually good? It's a natural rather clean liquid produced by my own body, my tap water is obviously harsher than that, but on the other hand sweat is salty, and salt is drying on hair(?). What do you think?

[bahannas]

No answer for you but I'll be watching this thread. I'm always getting sweaty at the barn and I hate having to wet my hair every single day. :rolleyes:

[RancheroTheBee]

I know that salt can give hair a sort of "bunched" appearance; they use it in "beach waves" sprays and the like. But from what I have heard, the salts can be drying on your hair, even in the concentration that occurs in human sweat.

See, I tried Googling this, and a lot of people said that dryness = damage, but since you've already got oil in your hair, I'd say you're avoiding a lot of this dryness already. I'm having the some problem using coconut oil, even at this very moment. I've actually just started washing my hair a bit more, albeit a little bit more gently and with a lot more oil after. :shrug: That's about all I can suggest.

[EtherealOde]

Wouldn't the oil act to protect your hair from any ill effects of sweat? If it was going to have any ill effects that is.

[Fethenwen]

I guess sweating in the sun might do something, not damaging but you would want to wash your hair more often I guess. Sweating like in exercise is just good, because it gets the blood circulation going on and that is good for hair ^^

[aahavaa]

What a timely thread! Its getting so hot here and I sweat buckets while I work out.So last night when my hair was feeling so dry and weird due to the hendigo I went for an hours workout and left my claw clips in the car so hair got absolutely soaked! Since I didnt shower straight away it dried and the curls went 3a /3b was so so awesome!! But the main thing was it went so soft! I only washed it cos I couldnt bear to think that it had been so sweaty. But it seems to have restored my hair to its normal softness and while I only washed with conditioner..to help with detangling mainly...it looks full and great today. Usually I dont do conditioner only because it makes my hair less full and shiny but this time it worked.Maybe the sweat bath had something to do with it .

[Heidi_234]

Actually I recall reading some people add sea salt to their treatments for softness. So maybe salt is not all that evil? aahavaa, you should definitely search for it, it might be something your hair will benefit from.
btw, a little note - my hair tends to become excessively dry all the time, that's why I oil it daily with coconut oil, sometimes even few times a day. It doesn't make it perfectly moisturized, but it keeps it manageable and in decent shape. :shrug: But I agree, maybe it's not as bad with the oil already in my hair. I don't wash my hair more than necessary due to the possible sweat working it way in my hair though.

[spidermom]

I think that if you're keeping yourself well hydrated, the amount of salt in your sweat should be diluted enough to not cause any problems.

[ilovelonghair]

I find that sweat makes hair go oily faster. I don't sweat much, even in hot weather, unless I wear a hat and my hair goes all greasy, yuk!

[Speckla]

Salt is ok if you have hard water. I was using a shampoo with salt added and it neutralizes the hard water minerals. I had to stop using it when we got a water filter. I used to add salt to a spray bottle and use that several times a day before I found the shampoo. I still use it every so often and find it to work great as long as I use coconut oil or a good thick, creamy conditioner.

Sweat has salt, water, and oils added to it. Those in a combo aren't bad for the hair. It's kind of like the above mentioned one.

[GlennaGirl]

Since the human head does sweat, biologically, I can't believe sweat could be that detrimental to the hair. :)

[desertgirl]

For the strand of the hair, I don't think sweat is a problem (at least I haven't experienced it pesonally!) But what about dried sweat on the scalp? I tend to lose more hairs when I let sweat (a lot of sweat, say after a work out) dry on my scalp.

[aahavaa]

Yeah Heidi I have been following Sybilla's thread with interest and its something I definitely want to try out in the near future. I have a feeling it will work on my hair.
It is interesting what speckla mentioned about the hard water since here we do have very hard water.
Sea salt on its own does tend to make my hair rather dry I have found and I dont stay in the water too long and rinse it out within a fe w hours. That being said Im not at the beach every day either just a couple times a week. But yeah I do agree salt is not evil :) I think it does my scalp a lot of good since its so cleansing and good for everything in general.Cant help feel that it will help hair growth if I keep those follicles in good shape.LOL
And on the coconut oil Ive been rather naughty and havent been using it as liberally..maybe thats why my hair was dry too.Off to slather some on I think.........:)

[longhairedfairy]

I doubt it's all that damaging, but I HAAAAATE sweat. Pretty weird for someone who loves dance, but there you go.:p

[Carolyn]

I don't think dried sweat could be all that damaging. I don't think the OP was talking about not washing it out for weeks and weeks :silly: Sweat just makes my hair greasy and smelly. So I always wash my hair either that day or the next day.

[Tressie]

I don't think that it would do your hair or scalp any harm to get sweaty or even to dry after being sweaty. That said, I do think it would be better for the health of ones scalp to do a diluted poo and then condition or CO at least in a day or so.

[Neddy]

I wouldn't worry about it. The only place my hair normally gets sweaty is right around the hairline and the nape of my neck. If anything it just mats it down for a little, then dries and looks a little wonky, but nothing damaging.

[ericthegreat]

Sweat is a natural bodily fluid that is produced by our body, it definitely shouldn't be a seriously problem for both our skin and hair since human beings evolved sweating as a natural temperature regulating mechanism.

I exercise 4 days a week, I do brisk walking, running, jogging for over 4 miles and I swim at least 3 days a week. That adds up to probably buckets of sweat, plus now that its summer I swim in the ocean every chance I get. My hair honestly has never felt better and healthier in my entire life. As long as you are diligent about constant conditioning and oiling, you can actually go out and live your life without worrying about every which thing that could be harmful to your hair. Stress I think is the worst thing for your hair, so once you let go of that stress and actually stop thinking about your hair it will actually improve its condition all by itself!

[free_hug]

Since the human head does sweat, biologically, I can't believe sweat could be that detrimental to the hair. :)


:confused: How sure are you about this one? When i hike in the summer, my hair tens to gets wet to the tip of the locks. Isn't that sweat?

[Natalia]

I dont really have any thoughts on this myself but if we put oil on our hair to protect it at the beach or the pool where its exposed to alot harsher things or at least more contact with them then shouldnt a little sweat on oiled hair be ok right?

I have no clue just late night pondering :p

[Wicked Princess]

I work out nearly every day, but my hair is nearly always up or in a tight braid for it. On the few occasions that I wore it down (which is really rare, since it's quite thick and tbl) I did end up getting it sweaty.

For my hair, the sweat didn't damage it. It didn't really help it, either, though. I've never heard of sweat actually damaging anyone's hair, but then it's normally washed or rinsed out of one's hair relatively soon afterward.

However, getting sweat into your hair and having your hair rub against your skin will sometimes leave what is in your hair on your skin. So if your hair loves the oil/serum/conditioner you use, but your skin doesn't, you may want to keep this in mind :)

[Vivien']

Unfortunately, when the weather is hot, I'm very sweaty (even if I don't do anything special, in fact). And I just don't care (okay, the look is terrible :s), and I don't notice any disagreement, comparing to cooler weather.

[Anlbe]

I used to row in my college first eight which meant training eight to ten times a week. This resulted in quite alot of perspiration (particularly the summer river sessions in baking sunlight wearing a hat), but I found that so long as I let it dry out afterwards by either putting it down or up in a loose bun it wasn't too much of a problem and I could get away with only washing twice a week and even on my dry, damage prone hair it didn't seem to cause any problems.

[Calista]

I noticed that when I go running my hair stays clean for longer - presumably because of the (salty) sweat.

[LutraLutra]

Exercise gives me very salty sweat (sorry if you're eating your lunch while you read this :D) and it really makes my scalp itch if I don't wash or rinse it out as soon as possible. I guess it's a case of what's ok for some people isn't for others. :shrug:

[ktani]

Exercise gives me very salty sweat (sorry if you're eating your lunch while you read this :D) and it really makes my scalp itch if I don't wash or rinse it out as soon as possible. I guess it's a case of what's ok for some people isn't for others. :shrug:

It can also lead to an odour problem (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=695069&postcount=6), if you don't rinse.

[Deborah]

Sweat doesn't seem to do anything to my hair. I just let it dry, then brush and it is good as new. It does not cause more oiliness or any sort of odor - ever. Don't worry about it. Humans have always sweated; it is good and natural, and not dirty. :)

[alligatorbaby23]

I was painting my house a few days ago and my head was soaked with sweat. That night it was humid and rainy so I didn't even rinse it out (never dry and turn into a cotton puff!). While it may be gross, and it was a few days later when I washed it, it was actually very soft with no flyaways. Better than the conditioner that I use actually!
I dont think the salt in our sweat would really cause a problem with dryness. I mean it is our own bodies producing it... I think alot of chemical products we put on our skin/hair are worse.

[EdG]

I don't think there are any problems with sweat getting on one's hair other than that it makes the hair tangly (as does any means of getting the hair wet). :)
Ed

[Heidi_234]

Thanks for all the input guys!
Just wanted to clarify - I'm not worried about this, I'm definitely not freaking out about this, but on several accounts I was handling my hair, and my hands got somewhat sweaty from the oil, and I wandered if I should go wash them before further touching my hair, ignore it or even welcome it and go right ahead smearing that sweat on my hair (I don't find it gross). So instead of keep guessing it, I turned to you for opinions and experiences, and these I got. No being-overly-protective-about-my-hair here. :)