Wet hair mistakes might be damaging your hair silently

Dr Blossom Kochhar

We all take so much pain to take care of our tresses, from using organic, sulphate free shampoos, to getting hair spas every fortnight to doing DIY hair masks to get shiny and flowy hair. But there is one big mistake that we always look over and don’t realise which secretly might be damaging our hair. Most of the time we come out after washing our hair and start combing wet hair to detangle them. If you are one of those people then you are causing serious damage to your hair. Our hair follicles are the weakest when they are wet, combing them at this point will not only break them but lead to dry and dull hair.

Let us look at few wet hair mistakes that we all are guilty of doing –

Combing wet hair – that’s the first thing we do after dressing up, the hair is too weak and needs gentle care. Rather brush your hair before you hit the shower, if you feel that your hair gets tangled after wash, apply a serum or a light hair oil and then brush it with a wide tooth comb. This will make detangling easy. Also, don’t wait for your hair to completely dry off and then comb your hair, that makes your hair dry and lose the luster. Always start from the ends, and work your way up. Hold the section of the hair you are brushing/combing in your hand. Also remember to use a leave-in conditioner.

Vigorously towel drying – your hair follicles are the weakest when they are wet, they tend to break even at the gentlest stroke, imagine how much damage we cause when we vigorously dry them using a towel. Rather simply dab your hair with a towel and try to squeeze out excess water and do not tie your wet hair with the towel it can cause dandruff.

Tying your wet hair – I understand keeping your hair open in summers can be really challenging especially when they are wet, the urge to tie them up in a ponytail or in a bun is irresistible but your tresses are so vulnerable when wet, your hair tie will be full of hair when you remove it and will form a dent in your hair. Avoid doing this at any cost, don’t even tie them when they are semi dry, wait for your hair to be completely dry and you are then free to style them however you wish to.

Using heat tools on wet hair – when we are in a hurry, we just blast the blow dryer to dry our hair quickly but that’s where we are causing damage to our hair. Wait for the water to drip out, put your dryer on medium heat, and then move on to a higher level to style your hair, just the way you like it. A simple step like this can go a long way. Also, the steam you see while ironing your hair should have major damage written all over it. Do not do this to your hair, this can burn your tresses and make your hair care journey really tough at times irrevocable. Let your hair be completely dry, apply heat protectant and then use any heating tools.

Sleeping with dripping hair – I can not stress enough on the reason why I should completely avoid going to bed with wet hair. This can lead to extreme hair damage, give you a bad cold, hamper your immune system as sleeping with wet hair can lead to bacteria growth, give you severe acne and will take you double the time to style them in the morning. Rather, make sure you wash your hair well before your bedtime and if you feel your hair are still wet, give them a cold hair blast. Also, it is better to have a silk pillowcase than a cotton one, it will reduce breakage and growth of bacteria.