Will wearing my hair up more often protect it from damage?

[Rufflebutt]

I know many of you on this forum almost never wear your hair down. Is there a practical purpose to this? If I wear my hair up more often will my hair be more protected from snagging, tugging, and the elements a little bit more?
I wear my hair down almost all of the time because I'm usually too lazy to put it up.

[pepperminttea]

It does for me, yes. :) You have to be careful to not use repetitive styles that'll strain the same part of the hair every time, and use hair-safe tools to put it up, but once you've got that sorted it really helps protect it from wear and tear, stops it from tangling (which means less detangling damage), and I've noticed my hair doesn't dry out as much either. You might find this article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=8) interesting, it really makes you think about what your hair goes through every day with bag straps, windy days, zips, etc.

Funny you mention down is the lazy option for you; up is my lazy option since I don't have to spend time detangling later. :D I do wear it down sometimes though, but it's more of something special for me, like wearing a skirt instead of jeans. ;)

[Tia2010]

Wearing mine up more has helped protect my ends (as well as the rest) from damage.

When it was down it was always getting caught on purse straps, rubbed on chair backs and just generally pulled on or blown around. I found it really started growing much better when I started putting it up and tucking my ends away.

My updos are nothing like the pretty ones I see here...Mine is just a clip holding my hair up, nothing fancy.... but it works and it keeps my hair protected. So even if you don't know the cute updos yet, just clipping it up helps. :)

[Madora]

Funny you mention down is the lazy option for you; up is my lazy option since I don't have to spend time detangling later. :D I do wear it down sometimes though, but it's more of something special for me, like wearing a skirt instead of jeans. ;)

Pepperminttea, I love your "lazy option" take on wearing your hair up! Truer words were never written!

[Deborah]

Oh yes! Your hair will absolutely be more protected if you wear it up often. Think about it; every hair is free to be blown about and tangled all day long when it is down. While up, put up gently of course, the hair is MUCH less exposed to wind, sun, seatbelts, chair backs, food, etc., etc. Wearing it up is a win-win situation. It's wonderfully protected, and simply beautiful once you learn a couple of easy ways to put it up. My favorite is the flipped bun. It's easy peasy, and is very pretty. The nape of your neck will have that lovely twist that you achieve with a French twist, but the flipped bun holds better and is much easier to do. :cheese:

[jeanniet]

Absolutely. My hair would be destroyed if I wore it down outside because of the wind here. In fact, wearing it down is probably why It never grew longer than BSL before--too much damage. That doesn't mean never wearing your hair down;nyou just have to be judicious. BTW, once you have some hair styles down, it doesn't take long to put your hair up. My usual buns literally only take 10 seconds, and even braiding doesn't take more than a few minutes or so.

[MiamiPineapple]

YES I believe this is most important if you are growing out damage. If your hair is healthy, I believe there is no harm in wearing it down more often but not all the time. I successfully grew out most of my damage by wearing my hair up all the time. When it was down, I was too tempted to obsess over it...

Put it up and forget it is what I do everyday. Plus, you can treat your hair all day with oils if it is up in a bun.

[Henrietta]

It does for me, yes. :) You have to be careful to not use repetitive styles that'll strain the same part of the hair every time, and use hair-safe tools to put it up, but once you've got that sorted it really helps protect it from wear and tear, stops it from tangling (which means less detangling damage), and I've noticed my hair doesn't dry out as much either. You might find this article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=8) interesting, it really makes you think about what your hair goes through every day with bag straps, windy days, zips, etc.

Funny you mention down is the lazy option for you; up is my lazy option since I don't have to spend time detangling later. :D I do wear it down sometimes though, but it's more of something special for me, like wearing a skirt instead of jeans. ;)

I second this, minus the skirt metaphor. I wear skirts all the time :P
When you think about it, putting hair up does not take much time, and you can create many interesting things on your head that are better ornaments than a bag or jewellery :)
And yes, it does protect the hair, at least in my case it works. After 836 days I can tell the difference :D

[PixxieStix]

Absolutely it will protect the ends of your hair more, and the rest of your hair as well. It know it seems easier to keep it down sometimes, but with some practice a few styles can readily become second nature to you and putting your hair up can take less than 60 seconds. Are there any styles you've tried that you like, or are you looking for ways to put your hair up that is easy and non-time consuming? Wearing hair up, for me, has allowed me to grow my hair without the worry of split ends and accumulated damage that would need to be cut out later, thus diminishing my overall growth. Plus, I find it makes the process of growing one's hair much easier, out of sight, out of mind!

[nobeltonya]

I know many of you on this forum almost never wear your hair down. Is there a practical purpose to this? If I wear my hair up more often will my hair be more protected from snagging, tugging, and the elements a little bit more?
I wear my hair down almost all of the time because I'm usually too lazy to put it up.
That's the general idea.. of course, I still prefer to wear mine down when I go out as much as I can.. barring wind or extreme cold.. I've gotten relatively used to watching for it so I don't get it caught in stuff.. plus, I don't like to leave it up for too long at a time, or it pulls on my scalp.. and I wash every morning, so whatever style I put it up in has to come down at some point to dry anyway. :rolling:

[spidermom]

I do wear my hair up most of the time, trim regularly, and my ends still look destroyed. What's up with that?!

[Nikinka]

I wear my hair down most of the time but wear up is better when is a windy day...

[dwell_in_safety]

Oh, yes, wearing it up does protect from all kinds of damage. My hair used to be split end city, and now it is difficult to find one, six months after beginning to wear it up every day. (This result will not happen for everyone; some hair is just prone to splits, and that is OK.) It stays clean much longer as well. I know that if I didn't always wear it up, I could not wash it only once a week. No way.

[akilina]

After reading this I will try harder to wear mine up everyday! I can not stand wearing my hair up though. I even bought myself a wooden fork the other day in hopes that would spice it up. I recently even upped my oil stache so It would be more fun to have different oils on my hair that I actually like. I think that would help someone who wants to wear hair up more...to heavily oil right after washing so you don't really have the option to wear it down.
I should wear my hair up at least 3 days a week. Probably with a heavy oil treatment on them. I could alternate between my fork, hair sticks, and a cool clippy I have. That might help someone out more, switching it up.

[HintOfMint]

It definitely protects from damage. I can get some pretty terrible nape tangles and wearing my hair up prevents that. I think part of the reason I was able to grow my hair as long as I did was because I forced myself to wear it up often.

I wear it down most of the time now, but there is some damage as a result. I'm pretty vigilant about S&Ds which helps.

[hyettf16]

Before I found LHC, I wore my hair down all the time and I wondered why the hair in the back that rubs against my shirt was so badly dammaged. Now that I trimmed the split ends and I wear my hair up more, it is growing normally as well as the rest of my hair.

[Elanadi]

I almost always wear my hair up, I find it so much easier than wearing it down. And I do think it protects is a LOT. My hair is just now hip length, and I've only had it trimmed twice in the past 4 years, and I have no noticeable split ends. I think when you wear it down, you are constantly moving it, touching it, brushing it, running your fingers through it, and so on, and all of that can put stress on hair. So I opt to keep it up 99% of the time, and the few times I do wear it down, I don't focus on potential damage, because its for a short period of time, and I just enjoy it for what it is. And the next day, I'm happy to have it back up again, because I'm lazy and I don't have to deal with it after it's up. :)

[Slug Yoga]

Funny you mention down is the lazy option for you; up is my lazy option since I don't have to spend time detangling later. :D I do wear it down sometimes though, but it's more of something special for me, like wearing a skirt instead of jeans. ;)

Totally! I am all about lazy hair care. Having it up all the time is WAY less time/effort consuming. It's not just the detangling, it's also all those little things...I don't have to worry about brushing my hair out of my eyes, tucking it behind my ear, putting it behind my back so it doesn't fall in my food, pulling it around my neck so it doesn't get caught under the strap of my bag, etc. If I kept it down I'd have to frequently pay attention to it and manipulate it in all these ways. (If you keep it down all the time you probably get used to that and don't really think about all those semi-conscious things you do throughout the day, but I keep my hair up all the time, so I'm really conscious of it.)