I know what you are going to say: that’s ridiculous; my hair is falling out, and all you have to say to me is to go take a cold shower?? Excessive shedding is no joke. It’s not some random unseen phenomenon, it is your hair literally laying there on the bathroom floor and you not knowing what on God’s green earth to do about it.
Listen, you have heard crazier things right? Using yeast infection cream, onion juice or even cayenne pepper for hair growth, so a little cold water doesn’t sound so bad once you hear that there is a logical scientific explanation for it.
I have been doing a lot of reading lately, I have to, its my business and I came across the most interesting thing while on Entrpreneur.com. Thats not even a hair site, so allow me to tell you how I got here. The article was “7 Insanely Productive Habits Of Successful Young Entrepreneurs” of course these habits vary from website to website, book to book but one habit piqued my interest.
Take a hot-cold contrast shower every morning. You do this by stepping in the shower for 30 seconds blasting your body and hair with cold water, then follow up with 30 seconds of warm water, then doing the cold water again. I thought to myself that it sounded like an insane habit, but a part of me wanted to see the research behind the benefits of doing this, and doing it all the way cold, no punk stuff, full blown 10 minutes cold!
So I kept reading and I found out that there is a scientific name for it, and its called hormesis and here in a simple quote are the benefits:
Cold showers provide a gentle form of stress that leads to thermogenesis (internal generation of body heat), turning on the body’s adaptive repair systems to strengthen immunity, enhance pain and stress tolerance, and ward off depression, overcome chronic fatigue syndrome, stop hair loss, and stimulate anti-tumor responses ~ Gettingstronger.org
Of course thats just one website’s opinion and who says they are the authority on anything? But then I thought about it, I thought about what happens when we actually take cold showers and then it made perfect sense as to why reduction of hair loss is even on that list.
All bodily functions work together, the blood is the vehicle for development and growth, that’s the basics of high school biology, you eat nutrients and the blood delivers it to the various parts of the body to keep you healthy.
There are many and I mean many testimonials about how cold water reduces hair shedding and here is why; when you dunk your head in cold water the pores around the hair follicles constrict which holds the hair in place because there is a tighter hold. This essentially makes it more difficult for the hair to naturally shed from the scalp.
We always suggest that you should use heat to deep condition because the heat opens up the cuticle layers allowing for the hair goodies we apply to seep in and condition the strands. The skin works in the same way, when we steam our face the pores open up to let in moisture or whatever it is that you put on your skin.
When you blast your hair with cold water, the cuticles lay flat sealing things up and your hair appears silky and shiny. For the skin when you blast it with cold water, your pores constrict giving that even skin tone we love to see.
The scalp is an extension of the skin so naturally the same thing holds true in that cold water tightens the pores and follicles which makes your hair stay in place and not fall. Women have reported no changes with shedding the first time they tried the cold shower trick but after practicing for a while they have seen a reduction in hair fall.
For hair growth, the process is simple, cold water gets your heart pumping faster and your blood rushes to the cold areas and suddenly your feel warm again even when still in the shower. The blood stimulates growth in your hair and rejuvenation in your whole body and as an extension to that it helps you emotionally as well.
There is a ton of research that deals with the psychological effects of a refreshing cold shower, the level of clarity you feel when you do one, which is why this story started on Entrepreneur.com.
The idea is that a business owner should always start his or her day with moments of clarity and rejuvenation so that you can think clearly and not have that foggy mind thing we tend to have in the early hours. It is better for decision making, working harder and more consistently, all the things a focused individual needs to be successful.
Since we are a hair website exploring the effects on hair is our number one priority, so this is pretty interesting to say the least. We have to end with probably the most important thing and that is, if you are planning to try this, do it with the consent of your doctor especially if you have any underlying health issues.
Some people have reported long periods of numbness, migraines and this is especially dangerous for people who have heart conditions, so be very careful. If you want to know more about the overall benefits of cold showers, you can find out more here.
Comment below and let us know if you plan to try this yourself or if you do it already; how do you like it?
LOL in this cold weather?? Why not just tilt your head forward, put the water setting on cold and run the shower over your hair?
Sorry I’m not taking no cold ass shower or putting cold water on my head. Ppl just desperate to have long hair they’ll go to any extreme. Next thing you know cow manure will grow your hair long ctfu. God makes your hair grow! Eat right and drink water. Exercise and massage your scalp. Take biotin and take care of your hair! Wash and deep condition. Trim when necessary and keep your hair moisturized.
That’s it!!! Period.
AMEN. i am loving my new short cut..i never cared about length. my hair grows no matter what…and it has been through a lot. eat right, drink water, green smoothies, exercise, and a good multiple vitamin..basically take care of your body and your hair will grow,
No thanks. Don’t care about length.
uhmm not true for me i live in the tropics and i only bathe and wash my hair in cold water due to the humidity and it still sheds a lot #myexperence
I can’t stand showering in cold water
me neither
This is a really good way to catch pneumonia, too.
Not true.
No thank you.
My baby loves me to wash her hair in cold water. I cant do the cold water
Where do these silly ideas come from. SMH
Not today!!!!!
Ab Ster is dead on !!! Why not just do a heads down scalp massage every day 1
Maybe warm water but not cold
Makes my curls pop…my hair actually has definition and isnt nearly as frizzy when i rinse in cold water.
Oh I dont think so!
Maybe Cold shower in the Caribbean not here!!!
For natural black hair cold best and it seals in the conditioner and oils and really defines the curl paternity making it soft and manageable. ….living witness
I thought that the cuticle needs to be open for your conditioner and oils to penetrate. If you rinse your hair in cold water before you apply your leave in and oils how can they penetrate? I would try it if someone can explain that to me. Wouldn’t the cold water close your cuticle?
Stop the madness!
moisturize, oil and conditioner, clip ends period. If my hair grow, it grows, if it don’t, it don’t. It’s a slow process and I’m ok with that. I do rinse my hair with cold water, but no cold showers.
Been taking it for eleven yrs after i went back to Caribbeans, and my hair never been better. Back in France. I never went back to hot shower. Never caught a cold. But guess its not for everyone
I took cold showers for the first 18 yrs of my life because my dad would refuse to turn on the water heater until after Christmas or whenever the water froze in the pipe. My hair still shed and had issues growing properly.
I already have tight cuticles so cold showers really do not help me other than making my hsir very shiny but will not allow any products in afterwards.
It makes sense. When I go to the hair dresser, that is what they do. They wash my hair with warm, heat deep condition, then cold water rinse out. My hair doesn’t shed after. If I do it myself, I only use warm water and just put a shower cap on with deep conditioner and it will shed.
I hate cold showers! Having said that as a hair lover and entrepreneur I might try this. It’s gonna take a while to work up the courage though, so it might not happen this year…lol
This article was very helpful for me in combating my excessive shedding. Maybe it can help without resorting to this extreme (to say the least) method.
http://curlkit.com/all-about-shedding/