Hair surgeon warns against daily habit that is ruining your hair and increasing hair fall
Styling one's hair when wet may also exacerbate the damage, the hair transplant surgeon said.
A common daily habit may prove costly to the health and quality of your hair in the long run, a hair transplant surgeon warned.
Brushing wet hair may cause more permanent damage to hair follicles than you can imagine, said Dr. Mehmet Erdogan, co-founder and hair transplant surgeon at Smile Hair Clinic.
Brushing wet hair may weaken hair structure at a molecular level, leading to more breakage and eventual thinning over time.
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"When hair gets wet, it undergoes significant physical changes that can affect its ability to handle stress from brushing. The water causes the hair shaft to swell, stretches the cuticle, and makes it more susceptible to breakage," Erdogan said.
Research shows that we hair can stretch more than dry hair before breaking, but the elasticity leads to a misleading idea about hair being more resilient, warned Erdogan.
"Many people think [that] because wet hair stretches, it must be more flexible and resilient. The opposite is true - this stretching damages the internal protein structure, leading to weaker hair over time," he said.
Hair breakage is a result of people being unable to take care of their wet hair properly. Brushing wet hair "pulls on swollen, weakened strands, causing them to stretch beyond their capacity. As they dry, they don't return to their original state and remain damaged at a structural level," Erdogan explained.
Instead of brushes, Erdogan encouraged people to use wide-tooth combs for wet hair.
To detangle wet hair, it is important to use the wide-tooth comb from the ends and work one's way up to ensure healthy hair instead of brushing wet hair from the roots.
Styling one's hair when wet may also exacerbate the damage, Erdogan said.
"Using a hairdryer on soaking wet hair is particularly harmful. The fast evaporation of water from within the hair shaft creates a mini-explosion effect, pushing out and damaging the cuticle from within," he warned.
He advised people with straight hair to allow their hair to air dry partially before gently combing through it.
Folks with curly or textured hair should use a conditioner and a wide-tooth comb while it is still damp.
Aggressively brushing on wet hair may cause the hair cuticle to decline. Finer hair or chemically treated hair may be prone to wet brushing damage due to altered protein structure.
"Once the protein structure of hair is broken down, it cannot be repaired – only cut off. Applying the right hair care when wet is the best way to maintain healthy hair long-term and to prevent unnecessary thinning caused by breakage," Erdogan advised.
