The Right Temperature for Washing Hair: Hot or Cold?

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Let’s find out – once and for all – what is the right temperature for washing hair in different circumstances. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using hot or cold water. If you’ve heard different suggestions from different people on this subject but can’t really put it all together, don’t worry and let me help you. I’ve made this neat little guide, so that you can understand what temperature is the best for your hair: hot, cold or maybe warm.

If you think that water temperature isn’t important, think again because it actually is. If you learn how to use water of different temperatures to your favor then it may really benefit your hair.

Washing Hair with Cold Water

– Well, you have one obvious drawback here – it’s much more unpleasant to take a cold shower to your head than a hot one. However, there are some cases where cold water is definitely the best choice for your hair and you may consider tolerating some of that coldness in exchange for several key hair care benefits.

– Before we get started with all the good stuff, let me tell you about another disadvantage of this whole cold water thing – It can reduce the volume of your hair. Yes, that’s true, so if you’re afraid of it then think twice before adding cold water to your hair-washing routine. This fact could definitely be a concern for all those girls who have naturally thin hair.

Now, the cons aren’t so bad, right? Let’s proceed with the pros!

+ It makes your hair shinier and saves you from frizz. Rinsing your hair with cold water helps with closing your cuticle after your hair is washed. Open cuticle is good while shampooing or conditioning your hair but after you’re done, you want to seal the cuticle, so that your hair doesn’t get damaged too easily. If you use cold water for your final rinse then there’s a much better chance that your hair will stay shiny, healthy and frizz-free for a longer period of time.

+ It makes your scalp cleaner. Just like with closing the hair cuticle, cold water also shuts your pores. Both things are really similar actually – you want open pores when washing hair but closed pores after you’ve finished. It’s because closed pores are much less vulnerable than open ones. What it means is that by rinsing your hair with cold water you protect the scalp pores from things like dirt, grease and oil. If your pores are sealed then you are also much less likely to be suffering from hair shedding.

+ It improves the blood circulation to your scalp. When you’re cold your blood moves faster and your capillaries widen to warm you up. That way your scalp and hair roots get all the valuable nutrients they need to stay healthy. Another thing to mention here is that poor blood circulation can contribute to causing hair loss. You don’t want that, do you?

Washing Hair with Hot Water

Now that we have gone through all the positive and negative aspects of washing hair with cold water, let’s see why hot water is or isn’t good for your hair.

– It can make your hair easy to break. When exposed to hot water, your hair can become much more resilient than it actually should be. If you comb it or brush it right after applying hot water then be aware that it’s really easy to break some hair by doing so in these circumstances.

– It can weaken the hair roots. If you use very hot water when washing hair then you can do serious damage to your hair roots and let me tell you, it can sure cause a lot of problems later on. Why? Because if your roots are weakened then your hair starts to curl, becomes more frizzy and can be in danger of premature graying.

Yep, hot water can be damaging to your hair but there is one huge advantage of hot showers that you just can’t overlook.

+ It helps with cleaning your hair. An important reason why you need to use hot water when washing your hair was already discussed earlier on in this article. If cold water closes the hair cuticle then hot water opens it up and it needs to be open when you cleanse and condition. Then you can easily remove any dirt, build-up and oils from your hair and be sure that your hair will effectively absorb everything you put in it.

Summary

So, let’s get everything together and sum it up because we need an answer to the question asked in the title of the article: What is the best temperature for washing hair? That’s what you came here for, right?

The thing is that hot water can be quite harmful at times but you also shouldn’t use solely cold water for washing your hair. The best strategy for most girls would probably be to use warm water instead of hot when shampooing and conditioning. Don’t apply cold water at that point because you want the scalp pores and the hair cuticle to be open. If you feel like there’s particularly much grease and oil in your hair then you may turn the water from warm to hot in order to really open up everything and get those things out but remember that frequent use of very hot water is damaging and you have to be careful. Use cold water only for your final rinse in order to seal everything after you’re done and remember that it doesn’t have to be ice-cold – choose a temperature that you can tolerate.

Discussion

Do you prefer using warm, hot or cold water for washing your hair? Are you going to change something after reading this article?