A lot more people suffer from dandruff than you might think, and the majority of them struggle for a while to figure out what is causing it and how they can make it go away.
Here Are 5 Reasons Why Hats Give You Dandruff:
People who frequently wear hats likely don’t realise it, but they are more at risk of developing dandruff or making pre-existing dandruff worse when wearing a hat. This is due to:
Not washing the hat enough
Hat is too tight on your head
Hat is making your head hot and increasing the sweat
Wearing a hat with wet hair
Wearing a hat makes your hair oily
If you want to know about why hats cause dandruff please read below. We have also listed some great hints and tricks you can do to stop further dandruff with hats. Thanks for reading.
Reasons Why Hats Give You Dandruff
Not Washing The Hat
Though we may not think of them getting ‘dirty’ in the same ways that other clothes do on our bodies, hats also need to be washed regularly to keep them clean. Hats absorb lots of oils and moisture from your hair and scalp throughout the day because hats are so insulated, so you need to wash these out of the material before you wear it again. If not, more oils and moisture will build up, creating the perfect environment for dandruff.
Dead skin cells can also flake off onto hats, as well as any other dirt that the hat picks up throughout the day. All of this makes for an unhealthy environment for your hair and scalp, triggering flare-ups of dandruff. As well as not being nice to look at, these flare-ups can also be painful.
You should wash your hat with a gentle detergent to ensure that it is clean and doesn’t irritate your scalp the next time you put it on. Sometimes, using harsh cleaning products or putting your hat in the dryer can make the material more likely to irritate your hair. If you can, hand-washing your hats might be an even better idea.
Hat Is Too Tight On Your Head
There are a lot of misconceptions about wearing hats that are too tight, such as that it causes baldness, but hats that are too tight can actually contribute to the development of dandruff. This is because the tighter the hat, the warmer your head will be inside it. A warm microclimate like that is exactly what dandruff needs to thrive.
A tight hat doesn’t mean that you’ll instantly suffer from dandruff, but wearing one often, like a beanie, increases the likelihood of it becoming a problem. Tight hats trap oils and dead skin cells inside, allowing them to fester and work themselves deeper into your hair. Dandruff starts at the scalp, benefitting from the humidity of a tight hat, and then it becomes a visible problem in your hair.
In winter especially, it’s natural to want to keep your head as warm as possible with a hat that insulates it properly. However, continuous wear causes a bad combination of heat and friction that puts your hair follicles under pressure, so try to take the hat off at regular points throughout the day once your head has warmed up. This will allow your scalp to breathe and stop the follicles from becoming rough.
Hat Is Increasing Sweat On Your Head From Heat
When your head sweats, your hair is more likely to become greasy and oily, especially around the top of your scalp. Wearing a hat, of course, makes your head hotter and once your head starts to sweat, the only way to get your hair fully clean again is to dry it out and wash it. If you allow your head to stay sweaty all day, you are more likely to develop dandruff.
Sweat doesn’t mean that you are dirty, but too much sweat on your head can make your hair appear greasy, which you don’t want. A sweaty scalp also means that you’re more likely to scratch your head, which can cause the dandruff to continue spreading across your hair. Too much moisture moving through your hair makes it easier for dandruff microbes to cling on and multiply.
The overproduction of natural hair oils is a common response to consistent scalp sweating and it is only made worse the longer that you subject your head to prolonged heat. Take the time to allow your scalp some dry, fresh air throughout the day by taking off your hat. This will cool down your sweat glands and keep your hair free of moisture.
Wearing A Hat With Wet Hair
You should always avoid wearing a hat with wet hair because it creates the moist environment that fungi and microbes need to multiply in hair. Often, this environment builds up gradually with hair oils or dead skin cells, but wet hair is already really moist. When you combine that moisture with the heat that builds up inside a hat, it can trigger a dandruff flare-up.
Just like an increase of oils in your hair, a wet scalp also encourages the dandruff-causing fungi to feed and make their home on it. If you put a hat over your wet hair, it has no opportunity to dry out and prevent this from happening. Letting your hair dry by itself takes time, so you should try to wash it when you’ve got time to let it dry naturally.
If your hair is dry when you put your hat on, you have a better chance of avoiding dandruff. Your scalp will still become hot and possibly moist, but if you keep airing it out, your hair will stay dry. It’s easy to avoid wearing a hat while your hair is still wet, so you should be able to avoid developing dandruff if you do this.
Hat Is Making Your Hair Oily
As previously stated, your hair and scalp both become oily throughout the day, especially if they are being made warmer by a hat. Increased oils mean that you are more likely to suffer from dandruff because they provide the perfect environment for the fungus that causes dandruff. An oily scalp can often be itchy too, but itching it actually makes dandruff worse.
Excessive oil production causes lots of different issues for your hair. One of the biggest is that it provides a food source, of sorts, for dandruff-causing fungi, allowing them to multiply and causing your scalp to flake. Your scalp requires these natural oils to keep your hair healthy, but when it begins to overproduce them, your hair starts to suffer.
An overproduction of sebum, for example, encourages the fungus Malassezia to multiply across your scalp. This causes a type of scalp eczema called ‘seborrheic dermatitis’, which presents itself as dandruff and can be difficult to get rid of. Your scalp can become flaky and scaly, which then means that you’ll need to treat it with medicated shampoos or other treatments.
How To Stop Hats Giving You Dandruff
Stop Wearing A Hat If You Are Prone To Dandruff
Some people are prone to dandruff because they have oily scalps, sweat easily or already suffer from skin conditions like eczema. These aren’t things that can be changed overnight, if at all, but not wearing a hat could help to improve your scalp’s condition.
If you suffer from oily hair, for example, not wearing a hat will prevent your scalp from developing the perfect environment to overproduce oils even more. Or, if you already have a condition like eczema, keeping your head cool and exposed will stop it from becoming sweaty and itchy. You need to do what you can to protect your head from the heat, moisture and irritation that leads to bad dandruff.
Even just wearing a hat less regularly will go a long way to improve your dandruff. Having less friction on your hair will stop the white flakes from spreading through your hair and the fresh air will benefit your scalp in a number of ways. Before you try anything else, stop wearing a hat and see if you notice a difference in the condition of your hair.
Change Your Shampoo And Conditioner
Although dandruff isn’t caused by the shampoo or conditioner that you use, both haircare products can irritate a sensitive scalp and make dandruff worse. This is especially true of conditioner, which can make your scalp greasy if you apply lots of it. And if you’ve been noticing dandruff either appearing for the first time or getting worse, the haircare products that you use could be to blame.
Try switching to a new shampoo and conditioner and see how your hair reacts. If your dandruff problem seems to improve, you should continue to use your new products. But if it doesn’t seem to change or gets even worse, you can consult a dermatologist and see if you might need to switch to entirely new products again.
Luckily, there are shampoos and conditioners designed specifically for flaky scalps. Some of them are medicated and can be obtained from a professional, whereas others can be bought from the shelves in retail stores. They contain anti-fungal ingredients that attack the microbes causing dandruff and make it harder for them to feed and multiply on your scalp.
