Is Hot Water Ruining Your Hair? | The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast Ep. 16

Does a hot shower actually damage your hair? Consistently hot, yes -- and Delena can usually tell in the salon who takes steaming showers before they say a word. In this episode she covers the wash-day temperature rule she teaches every client, why the drying step does as much damage as the water, and the one swap she tells those clients to make first: a Microfiber Hair Turban instead of the terry towel.

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Episode Summary

Very hot water strips natural oils from hair and scalp -- research groups including the Cleveland Clinic land in the same place: it dries hair out, and dry hair becomes brittle hair that breaks. It also backfires at the roots, because a stripped scalp overproduces oil. Delena's rule: comfortably warm, never steaming, with a quick cool rinse at the end if you like how it feels, though the smoothness comes from your conditioner and not from the water temperature. Then the half most people miss -- wet hair is at its most fragile, and scrubbing it with a terry towel plus max blow-dryer heat causes more breakage than the shower ever did. The swap: blot into a microfiber turban, let it drink for ten minutes, and cut your blow-dry heat in half. Plus the honest answer on hot water and hair loss.

The research this episode draws on lives in our evidence guide: Rice Water for Hair Growth: What Cleveland Clinic and Dermatology Research Show.

Full Episode Transcript

Jess: Welcome back to The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast. I'm Jess with Delena Markland. Delena, a question people are literally asking their AI assistants lately: does a hot shower actually damage your hair?

Delena Markland: Consistently hot? Yes, and I can usually tell in the salon who takes steaming-hot showers before they say a word. The fix costs nothing, and the one product I tell every one of those clients to change is the towel, which is why I stock microfiber hair turbans in the shop. We'll get to why the drying step matters so much, but let's start with the water.

Jess: What does hot water actually do?

Delena Markland: Two things. First, it strips the natural oils off your hair and scalp, the same reason you don't wash dishes in cold water. Hot water cuts oil. The research groups we cite in our rice water guide, including the Cleveland Clinic's guidance, land in the same place: very hot water dries hair out, and dry hair becomes brittle hair, and brittle hair breaks. Second, it works on the scalp, and this connects to something I say on this show constantly: a stripped, dry scalp overproduces oil. So the steaming shower that's drying out your lengths is also why your roots are greasy again by tomorrow afternoon.

Jess: Okay, so how hot is too hot? Nobody's showering cold for their hair.

Delena Markland: And I'd never ask them to. My rule for over 25 years: comfortably warm, not steaming. If the mirror is fogged solid and your skin is pink, that's too hot for your hair. Wash and condition in warm, and then if you can stand it, finish with a quick cool rinse. And I have to be straight about that rinse, because everybody says cool water closes the cuticle and that is just not what happens. Hair is dead keratin. There is nothing in there to open or shut on a temperature cue. Your hair can look smoother right after, and that is the conditioner film you just put on, not the water. The cool rinse is still a nice finish. It's free, and it takes ten seconds.

Jess: You said the drying step does as much damage as the water. Explain that.

Delena Markland: Wet hair is hair at its most fragile, and what most people do the second they step out is grab a heavy terry towel and scrub. That friction on wet, swollen, open-cuticle hair causes more breakage and frizz than the shower ever did. Then they hit it with maximum blow-dryer heat because the towel left it soaking. That's the routine that walks into my salon with mid-length breakage. The swap is a microfiber turban: blot the water out, twist it up, and let the microfiber drink for ten or fifteen minutes while you do everything else. No scrubbing, way less friction, and your blow-dry drops to half the heat and half the time because the hair is already most of the way there.

Jess: And on days you're not washing at all?

Delena Markland: Protect the hair from the shower entirely. That's what the shower cap and turban set is for, the steam and splash on non-wash days undoes yesterday's work. Cap on, and if you took my advice from our hair tie episode, the hair under it is up in a loose silk scrunchie, not a tight elastic. And pair the warm-water rule with a gentle wash. The rice water shampoo bars are what I hand clients for that, and it's a routine, not a rescue: warm wash, cool rinse, blot with microfiber, low heat.

Jess: One more from the search bar: does hot water cause hair loss?

Delena Markland: No, and I want to be careful here. Hot water causes dryness and breakage. Broken hair can look like thinning because you're losing length and fullness, but it is not the same as hair loss at the follicle. If you're seeing genuinely more shedding at the root, that's a different conversation, and we covered where to start in our scalp and ProCell episodes.

Jess: Turbans, the shower cap set, and the shampoo bars are all at thepixiegarden.com, linked on this episode's page. See you next time.

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Hosted by Delena Markland, Licensed Cosmetologist and Owner of The Pixie Garden. New episodes weekly. Browse all episodes.