Here’s What Happens When You Sleep With Wet Hair

After coming back from work, the instinctive thing to do is to dive right into the shower regardless of how tired you are from your day at work. While you might make it through to the end of the shower, who here has had one of those days where you just can’t seem to hold it together and just fall right into sleep on the couch. When you wake a few hours later completely dazed out, that is far too late already and you wake up looking like you have just been electrocuted — your hair seems to be standing on its end and you look completely dishevelled. It might seem like a funny sight in the middle of the night but if it happens during the morning rush and you don’t have the time to wash your hair once again, that could spell trouble. But inconvenience is not the only thing that you have to make do with when you shut your eyes with your hair wet, it might just lead to many other more disastrous outcomes.

Severe Hair Breakage

Did you know that your hair is at its most vulnerable state when it is wet? That would surely go a distance in explaining why we suffer the most amount of breakage when we sleep with our hair wet. Even though it is something that we did not set out to do, the accidental tossing and turning that you make in your sleep would generate friction that could cause your hair to snap than compared to dry hair. This is unlike the falling of hair from its follicles which is considered a norm. If you spy hair that is of a much shorter length on your pillow when you wake, that is the result of sleeping with your hair still wet.

Catch A Cold

Unlike Pokemon, this is not something that you would want to be catching. If you know how evaporation works, you would know that when water evaporates, the surface becomes cool and you would be more susceptible to getting a cold. If you are one who refuses to sleep in room temperature, the turning on of the air-conditioner would make you feel much colder and that could result in you catching wind of the flu bug. If you want a more scientific explanation, a theory could be that when our body finds itself chilly, there is constriction of our blood vessels within our nose and throat and that actually affects the amount of infection-combating white blood cells from making the rounds, pulling our body’s defences down.

Growth Of Bacteria

If you know how bacteria works, you would know that they thrive on water and warmth and they are what comes together when you sleep with a head full of wet hair. The combination of two just seems to accelerate the growth of bacteria and your damp pillow would be a hotbed of that. Considering how your face comes in contact with your pillow filled with bacteria and mould, this would mean your face runs a much higher risk of acne breakouts and more infection-related skin issues. Even if you change your bedsheets often enough, maybe it is time to reconsider your habit of sleeping when your hair is wet.

Dandruff Alert

As mentioned in our earlier point, water and warmth cause bacteria and fungi to grow on our scalp at an accelerated rate. What sleeping with wet hair also does is to remove the natural oils from our hair since it is absorbed easier by the fabric of your pillow with the moisture from your damp hair. When you put the growth of bacteria and the loss of natural oil from your hair together, it would actually make it twice as likely for you to start developing dandruff. While dandruff is not something that is harmful to us, it is never something to be proud about and to shout to the world.

Hair Loss

It might sound cruel but going to bed with wet hair might even cause serious hair loss. When your scalp is damp and warm, that is a favourite place for fungal infections like scalp ringworm to happen. The awful thing about these infections is that they are extremely contagious and that means you have to be extra careful when in contact with other things at home.

Final Note

You might think the occasional instance of sleeping when your hair is wet is fine. It definitely is, but when you do it regularly, what you are risking is the health of your skin and hair. A suggestion would be to prioritise the washing of your hair or shower over your other household chores the moment you get home. This would allow it to air dry on its own before you turn to bed. Another thing you can do is to use a hair dryer to quicken the drying process. Accidentally slept with wet hair the night before? It would be wise for you to switch up your pillowcase the next day, especially if it is made out of fabric.