Is water killing your hair?

EastIdahoNews.com Reporter Dylan Carder interviewed Lifestyle Columnist Tami Hymas about this column on KEIR 101.1 FM. Listen to the interview in the clip above.

It’s a common misconception that water is good for your hair.

Often in my salon, I hear about women who air dry or never let their hair dry before they style it. They think it’s healthier than a hot blow dryer. But most of them also wonder why their hair gets damaged even when they aren’t using heat.

The truth is that it’s the water that is actually harmful to your hair. Styling it wet or not drying it will actually make your hair break.

Here’s why:

Water has an average PH of 7 and your hair and skin have the PH of about 4.5 to 5.5. This means that water is alkaline to hair. So every time you get your hair wet you are slightly damaging it before it is dry again.

This comes as a surprise to many of my clients. Now let me make it clear, I am not telling you not to wash your hair — that’s worse, also gross and unsanitary. Please shower. I’m just saying that every time you wash your hair and style it wet without drying it you are actually harming your healthy hair.

Typically, you should wash your hair every 2 to 3 days. Environmental toxins get absorbed into your hair and make it greasy, and stinky. But washing your hair everyday or more than once a day is excessive, and harmful to your hair. It’s also a bad practice to put your hair in a ponytail right after you shower. Wet hair is more brittle than your dry hair will break in a ponytail, causing you to loss color and integrity.

So the question is — how do I avoid hair damage, but also shower enough not to be gross? Well there is a product called dry shampoo. It is an aerosol spray that goes on the scalp and in the hair. It traps environmental toxins and absorbs the grease. It also save you both time and money. Using this product you’ll only have to wet to dry style your hair every other day, and you are not wasting your shampoo and conditioner.

A couple other things to keep in mind — if your hair takes a long time to dry , or tangles easy when wet you should always dry your hair as soon as possible and do not let it air dry very often. These are signs of porous overly damaged hair. Drying your hair immediately with a leave in conditioner or thermal protectant is the best thing to do.

So this week when you shower, please keep your hair in mind and remember to keep it healthy!