Is Sleeping With Wet Hair Bad? Risks and Tips to Protect Your Hair

Going to bed with wet hair makes sense for people who like to shower at the end of a long day. But is sleeping with wet hair bad? Surely, someone at some point has warned you against it.

If it’s not advised, what are the downsides of sleeping with wet hair?

Read on to learn about the potential risks of going to sleep without first drying your hair. We’ll also offer hair care tips to mitigate the risks of sleeping with wet hair if you’re too tired to dry your hair before bed — because, sometimes, it’s hard to muster the energy for a late-night blow dry.

For starters, nothing terrible will happen if you occasionally go to sleep with wet hair. But as a general practice, it’s not a great idea to regularly doze with damp or wet hair. Here’s why.

Sleeping With Wet Hair May Contribute to Breakage and Damage

Wet hair is heavier and more elastic than dry hair. It’s also more prone to damage. That, paired with friction from moving around on a pillowcase, can cause hair to break or become frayed, resulting in split ends.

However, this is less of an issue if you’re a side or stomach sleeper or don’t move much throughout the night.

Sleeping With Wet Hair Creates a Damp Environment For Bacteria

You know that musty smell that develops when you leave wet towels in the washer? Well, that odor is bacteria, and the same moist environment can be created on your pillow and scalp when you don’t let your hair dry before bed.

When you sleep with wet hair, your scalp and pillow stay damp, creating a breeding ground for fungus or bacteria. Yikes.

This could lead to certain skin and scalp issues like folliculitis (inflamed hair follicles) or tinea capitis (itchy scalp due to fungal infection). You could also get seborrheic dermatitis (a big cause of dandruff), which typically happens because of an overgrowth of a yeast known as Malassezia.

Sleeping on a wet pillow can also contribute to face or body acne.

Sleeping With Wet Hair Causes Hair Strands to Swell

When hair is wet, it absorbs water, and the hair cuticle (the outermost layer of the hair shaft) swells. Repeated swelling and contracting of the hair can weaken the inner lipid layer over time — and the friction between your pillow and wet hair can make this worse.

Research from 2011 suggested that “a long-lasting wet stage is as harmful as a high drying temperature.”

Occasionally sleeping with wet hair isn’t going to cause any major problems in this department. Having said that, going to sleep every night without drying your hair could weaken your strands over time.

We get it — you’ve just done a workout, taken a hot shower, and want to crawl into bed. Is it okay to sleep with wet hair sometimes? In an ideal world, you’d have time to towel dry your hair or hit it with a blow dryer, but that’s not always realistic.

Rest assured, occasionally sleeping with wet hair won’t cause long-term damage. And despite common misconception, it won’t make you get a common cold — you’d have to be infected with the virus to do that.

Below, we’ll cover steps you can take to reduce damage when sleeping with wet hair.

Is sleeping with wet hair bad if you take precautions? Maybe not. Here’s what we recommend:

• Use a microfiber towel. Microfiber is ultra-absorbent and gentler on hair than traditional terrycloth towels.

• Give hair time to air dry before bed. If you have time, wrap your hair in a towel or a soft T-shirt and watch TV, read, or do your skincare routine to give your hair some time to dry before bed. Even getting a little bit of moisture out of your hair helps reduce the potential for damage and scalp infections.

• Use a hair dryer to get hair partially dry. Going to bed with damp hair is better than hitting the hay with hair that’s soaking wet. Even if you don’t plan to fully dry your hair, a small amount of heat helps remove excess moisture and reduce the chances of breakage or unnecessary stress on your hair.

• Opt for a looser hairstyle. Pulling hair into a tight bun or ponytail can tug at your roots (potentially leading to a type of hair loss known as traction alopecia) and keep your hair wet all night. Instead, opt for a looser style like a low bun or a soft braid. This will keep hair out of your face and allow it to air dry overnight.

• Create a barrier with hair oil. Applying leave-in conditioner, coconut oil, or other hair products with some slip can reduce the amount of friction on the hair — and minimize tangles come morning.

• Sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase. These smooth, slick materials cause less friction between your hair and the pillow, leading to less frizz and damage, especially for curly hair types. To reduce hair damage further, consider covering your hair with a silk or satin cap.

If you sleep with wet hair every now and then, there’s no need to panic. However, if it’s happening every night, you may want to reconsider.

Is sleeping with wet hair bad? Potentially, but not always. Here’s what to remember:

• Regularly sleeping with wet hair can lead to issues like hair breakage, split ends, and even scalp conditions due to bacterial or fungal growth stemming from a damp pillow or bedding.

• Going to bed with damp hair most nights may also weaken your hair over time because the swelling and contracting of wet hair cuticles take a toll on hair’s structure.

• While not ideal as a daily habit, sleeping with damp hair every now and then is unlikely to cause significant damage. 

• If you do sleep with damp hair, minimize the risks. Using a silk or satin pillowcase, getting hair partially dry with a microfiber towel or blow-drying before bed, and sleeping in loose hairstyles can make a big difference.

To learn more about surprising things that could be damaging your hair, check out our guides to energy drinks and hair loss and how a lack of sleep can affect hair health.

If you’re interested in hair growth treatment, start with our free online hair loss assessment to see what’s available to you.