If you’re in a rush and having a bad hair day, it’s easy to throw on a headband or a hat to cover it up.
If you’re sweating, you may wear a headband to keep your hair out of your face. Could that headband cause your hair to be oily or greasy?
Headbands Can Be Grease Traps:
If you’re not washing your headbands enough, you can cause your hair to be greasy. Headbands absorb the natural oils from our scalps, and if you don’t clean a headband after you use it, you can end up transferring all that oil and grease back onto your head.
Can Headbands Collect Sweat and Oils?
Fabric headbands are made of naturally absorbent materials, and even hard-style headbands usually have some soft material padding.
So, if you toss on a headband to cover up your greasy roots or wear one to keep your hair out of your face while you work out, your headband will undoubtedly get sweaty and oily.
If you put it back on, you’ll deposit those oils back onto your hair. On the other hand, if you’ve got a clean headband and clean hair, you can use a headband as a barrier.
One of the main ways we transfer oils onto our hair and scalp is by touching our hair. If you want to protect your roots from your fidgeting fingers, having a headband can prevent you from touching your hair and intercepting those oils.
A headband will work to keep your hair from falling in your eyes, so you won’t have to sweep it back. It can also help if you absently touch your hair.
Instead, you’ll touch the headband, which will help prevent the oils from making it to your roots.
Can You Wear Headbands to Bed?
Especially if you have curly hair, sleeping with a headband is a great way to protect your hair at night.
Curly hair can be prone to breakage, especially if the shaft of the curl gets narrower as your hair gets longer. Using a headband or scarf while you sleep will help mitigate this risk.
Instead of sleeping directly on the curls, create a headband from a scarf and tie your curls up. This will get them out of the way while you’re sleeping and prevent them from looking flat in the morning.
Investing in a silk pillowcase will also help protect your hair while you sleep. Cotton, a common material for pillowcases, wicks moisture away from hair. It can also snag on coarser hair and again lead to breakage.
How Often Should You Wash Your Headbands?
If you’re wearing your headbands to work out, you should treat them like they’re a piece of your gym outfit and wash them after each use.
If you toss them onto your hair to cover up your greasy roots, you should toss them in the hamper immediately after using them. Only put clean headbands on your hair when it is greasy so that you don’t make the problem worse.
If you don’t have particularly oily hair and are just using the headband as an accessory or to keep your hair out of your face, you can probably get away with washing your headbands every few wears.
If you wake up with greasy or oily hair, you should consider washing your pillowcases more often. At a minimum, everyone should wash their pillowcases at least once a week, along with their other bedding.
However, if you’re prone to sweating, get a lot of acne, or wake up with greasy hair, it may be worth changing out your pillowcase several times a week and up to every day.
Especially for silk pillowcases, toss them in a garment bag and wash them on a gentle cycle. Cotton or jersey pillowcases are harder, so you can toss them in with the rest of the wash.
Can Grease and Oils Hurt Your Hair?
Putting oils and grease onto your hair can adversely affect your hair and your scalp.
It may also cause your body to release its natural oils, which can clog the pores on your scalp, cause acne on your head, and cause your hair to become matted.
People react differently to different products, so you’ll probably want to experiment with a few different products. In general, heavy oils like coconut oil and olive oil can create a barrier on the strands of your hair that prevents them from absorbing moisture. Mineral oil is often petroleum-based, and thus you should also avoid it.
No matter what kind of oils you’re using, apply very small amounts to the ends of your hair. In general, you shouldn’t put oils and greases onto the top of your scalp, as it will interfere with your body’s natural processes.
How Often Should You Wash Your Hair if it is Greasy?
If you’re washing your hair too much, it may cause it to be more greasy.
This happens because washing with shampoo and conditioner daily can strip away the natural oils that your scalp produces to protect your skin and hair.
When that happens, the glands jump into overdrive and then make more of those oils to compensate. You end up with greasy hair because of your frequent washings.
The same thing happens with acne. Those with oily skin on their way may be tempted to skip the moisturizer, but the same thing happens.
If you wash your face but don’t moisturize, your skin will try to produce that moisture. Those with oily skin will overproduce, clog their pores, and cause acne.
Depending on your hair type and how often you naturally produce those oils, you could wash your hair as few times as once or twice a week.
If you notice that your hair is excessively greasy, try throwing on a shower cap in most of your showers instead of busting out the shampoo and conditioner.