Should you Wash your Hair with Warm or Cold Water?

Despite my age, I only recently found out that you should wash your hair with cold water... who would have thought?

05/01/2021

 

 

I have been going to the hairdressers for cut and blow-dry for most of my life but it was only recently when attending a hair salon that I became aware of the fact that you should only use cold water when conditioning, colouring or treating your hair. This year, as a result of the Coronavirus, my local hairdresser closed down. I decided to treat myself to a visit to a hair salon and it was there I discovered what I know today.

Before I go on, let me explain the difference between a hairdresser and a hair salon. A hairdresser in my personal opinion is a local hairstylist - one just around the corner - that is great for the occasional cut and blow, but my experiences with anything over and above that has shown that this is not someone you go to for professional treatments.

 

I don't mean to upset or annoy any hairdressers out there, so let me expand on this comment and re-iterate that this is my personal experience. A few months before my local hairdresser closed down, I took the plunge and decided to go silver-grey... finally! The only problem with this was that I left there with what looked like a pile of white bird shit on my head; sort of like a cake would look if you just poured the white icing on the top and let it drip down the sides.

Despite apologies and promises to rectify the problem, I eventually ended up with a funny ash-blonde colour that was more green than ash. It was so bad that I ended up buying a wig just to cover it up. So yes, this was definitely a bad experience for me.

This is what led to my decision to treat myself to a visit to a hair salon, which I had previously not done due to the high cost normally associated with hair salons. But what the heck, I couldn't continue wearing a wig during summer, so time to splurge on a new hairdo it was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you colour your hair on a regular basis, always wash with warm water and rinse after conditioner or treatment with cold water.

 

 

The process of treating my hair involved stripping out all the colour before starting from scratch with the colour I originally wanted. As I'm sure many of you know, stripping out the colour basically means bleaching your hair to white, and it wasn't a pleasant experience as it left my head burning. It was such a pleasure when they washed everything off with cold water and my scalp got a chance to cool down. At this stage, I was under the impression that the cold water rinse was to cool my burning scalp and it was only at the second session that I was informed that using cold water after conditioner, colour or treatment is actually the correct process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm water opens up hair cuticles and pores making it easy to wash away natural oils, grease and dirt. Cold water, on the other hand, closes the hair cuticles and pores and helps to seal in the natural oils and moisture in the hair.

 

At my second session at the hair salon, I didn't suffer as much from burning scalp so couldn't understand why they were rinsing my hair with cold water after colouring, glazing and treatment. When I remarked on this I was told that you should only use warm water when washing your hair for the first wash, after that, you should use cold water. Are you rinsing your hair the right way?

 

Did you know using warm water to rinse after conditioning, colouring or treatments washes everything out of your hair and colour will fade faster? Rinsing with cold water keeps the cuticles closed and preserve colour and condition for longer.