Whether sweat is good or bad for your hair shaft depends on certain factors. If you have healthy hair, sweat shouldn’t cause any damage, it can help to keep your scalp and hair hydrated.
The sweat glands on your head are closely interlinked with your hair follicles, so when your sweat glands are flowing, the pores in your scalp might open, freeing any buildup that might have accumulated and clearing the way for the natural oils your scalp produces to support hair health. Under the right conditions, you might say a good sweat can be your scalp’s best friend.
How to Care for Sweaty Hair
During exercise, while the sweat is flowing, you should use a cotton headband to absorb sweat. If you tie your hair up, replace your elastics with a more gentle method like a clip or fabric-covered hair ties to protect hair from breakage.
Keeping your scalp sweating from ruining your style requires a bit of prevention and strategic hair care with the right products.
Heat should not be used on the hair since it can cause oil buildup on the scalp. Hair styling machines such as hair straighteners, hair dryers, blow dryers, and other hair tools should be avoided. Using these machines can cause damage to your hair as well as a build-up of chemicals on your scalp, resulting in clogged pores.
1. Try a Non-Wash Day Blow-Dry
For an instant refresh between wash days when your hair feels particularly sweaty, apply a heat protectant and blast your roots with a blow dryer! This creates instant lift by hiding any grease (the heat works to wick away sweat!) while banishing flatness. Even though the hot air from the blow-dryer is doing the heavy lifting here, don’t skip the heat protectant and risk damaging your locks!
2. Use a Volumizing Spray
Adding a volumizing spray to your hair-care routine especially when working out every day helps your hair appear fuller, which gives the illusion of sweat-free tresses! Flat hair sticks to a sweaty scalp more easily, making our locks look thin, flat, and lifeless. A boost of volume from a scalp-supporting volumizer helps your hair stay gorgeous and full through the sweatiest summer days!
3. Give Your Sweaty Hair a Rinse
Sometimes the solution for scalp sweating and greasy hair is as simple as a rinse with room-temperature water! This helps refresh hair and remove a small amount of buildup and oil without stripping away natural oils or disturbing the cuticle as much as a full wash. In fact, rinsing hair between washes helps distribute oils down the hair shaft—instead of concentrating them on the scalp—which helps naturally with detangling and moisturizing strands!
You can rinse your hair with pure rose water once every 2-3 days to keep it healthy and oil-free. Rose water is a good cure for controlling sweat on the scalp and preventing the emission of foul odors from the scalp.
How to Style Your Locks to Camouflage Sweaty Hair
Easy, sweat-defying styles can give volume to sweaty hair and help you go from an oil slick to stylish in minutes. Here are two of our favorites:
For Long Locks
Try a low, loose-knot bun! This requires only a few bobby pins and some volumizing spray. It’s super simple and it boosts volume, preventing your hair from lying flat against your scalp and causing itchiness from your sweaty hair.
Steps:
- Brush your hair back from your hairline to detangle and evenly distribute oils.
- Next, apply your volumizing spray to give your hair a lift at the roots, tilting your head downward to maximize lift as you work the volumizer through your hair.
- Once your hair is prepped, divide your hair in half at the nape of your neck. Loosely tie your hair like you’re tying a knot. (Make sure it’s a loose knot!)
- Tie one more knot, and then use bobby pins to hold the look in place and secure any wild pieces. Voila! A gorgeous take on the traditional low bun!
For Shorter Hair
Try adding a stylish bandana as a headband! Styling sweaty hair is all about keeping it off your face and neck while adding back some of the body that you lost with your scalp sweating. A bandana gives you a chic, vintage vibe while helping you stay cool!
Steps:
- Choose your bandana and then either fold it into a triangle or roll it into a long, thin snake-like shape. Next, work a volumizing spray through your hair to disperse the oil and add a bit of volume back to your locks.
- If you opted for the rolled bandana shape, loop the bandana under the back of your hair and tie it about an inch back from your hairline on the right or left side. If you opted for the triangle shape, this style gives you the bonus of some sun protection for your hair!
- Place the middle of the bandana about an inch behind your hairline, with the loose point of the triangle facing your back, and tie it under your hair.
