Is sauna dangerous to hair?

[Soulina]

I live in Finland and I love sauna. I like to go to sauna couple times a week, but can this be bad for your hair? Or maybe its good? At least when I was lilte my mom told me that I shoud conditioner my hair before sauna and then wash it afterwards so it can effect in the warmth of sauna, dont know if its true.

[Nordlilja]

I think your mother is right, the heat makes the conditioner more effective. At least that's my experience.

[longhairedlady]

I dont think it would be bad for your hair. And with a little oil or conditioner you have a instant hair treatment! :)

[Avital88]

my hair is always more dry after a sauna so conditioner would be a good idea i guess

[Rosetta]

Hi Soulina, another Finn here ;) Yes, heat should strengthen conditioning effects of a deep treatment, etc.
What I've heard is that you should keep your hair up/contained in the sauna, otherwise the heat may cause some damage, especially if your hair is dry; or if you have it down, at least to water it before entering sauna. But I personally couldn't leave my hair down in that heat anyway ;)

[MinderMutsig]

I go to the sauna fairly often and in my experience it's better to keep your hair dry and up. If you wet your hair or put in conditioner or oils, the heat can expand this within the strand which can lead to damage. Heating your hair dry does cause the cuticle to raise and makes the hair more fragile so you have to treat it gently during that time but the cooling down procedure closes the cuticle again with minimal damage.

I always bring a microfiber towel to blot my hair as dry as possible between sauna sessions and use a bent knitting needle to keep my hair up.

If you want to use the heat of the sauna to do a deep treatment to your hair I'd only do this in your final sauna session and preferably in a sauna that is not too hot. I like putting some honey in my hair (and all over my body) and then finish my sauna session in the steam room. It's a great moisturizer and makes my hair incredibly soft!

[Mannaz]

I wouldn't go to a sauna with dry hair, seems very drying... If you want to be absolutely sure that your hair wont get damaged wet your hair before the sauna and put a damp towel over your hair. You can also have the conditioner in your hair if you like. I usually don't protect my hair in any way (except the water) when I go to sauna, but I don't do it very often so I'm not worried bout damage... I love sauna, hope I had one...

[missdelarocha]

I think putting conditioner/oils in it would be more beneficial than not doing anything, that way your cuticles aren't getting raised for nothing.. They get a deep treatment! ^-^

Steam room sounds like a good idea for this too.

[Hile]

I always rinse my hair with cold water and put it up before entering the sauna. Sometimes I'll wet a towel with cold water and wrap that around my head and I find it protects the hair from heat quite well;) I personally can't stand conditioner dripping down my back, but if you are ok with that it really is a great treatment:D

[Siiri]

Protecting your hair with a towel helps. I usually do a deep treatment every time I go to sauna, either with plain conditioner or SMT on damp hair. I put a shower cap on to keep it from dripping and then wrap a towel around my head. If I don't use the shower cap and towel, the conditioner will just dry on my hair, which is not a good thing.. My hair doesn't get too hot this way, it's just warm, less than the temperature in sauna. I get a lot better results with deep treatments when I use them in sauna. If I'm too lazy to apply the conditioner, I just put on the towel, but my hair does get hotter this way, so probably wetting your hair + using a towel works better.

ETA: I CO-wash with the SMT/conditioner I have in my hair after sauna. If you want to use shampoo it'd be sort of like a CWC-wash.

[mrs_coffee]

Oiling or conditioning before is a great idea. Sauna is so good for your health, I cannot imagine it would be damaging to your hair as long as you moisturize it.

[Yozhik]

I love sauna! :crush:

I only wish that there was one closely accessible to me so I could go multiple times a week, or at least once a week, but away from Russia or Finland, I don't have this option. :(

In the past, though, I've used my times in sauna as an opportunity to deep condition/oil. It seemed to work out well. :)

[teal]

Oohh this thread makes me want to run down to the local pool... they have a sauna! :cheese:

Personally I think I would do a hot-oil treatment at the same time, to make use of the heat!