Sleeping with wet hair give you chronic headaches?

I need a urgent response to this.

My mom gets really irritated when I go to bed every night after a shower because my hair is all wet. She ways that as soon as I fall asleep, my body relaxes and the pores in my head expand a bit, letting the cold from my hair seep into my head, causing headaches. I never got a headache from doing that, but she said that it'll start when I get old and last.

I'm really skeptical about this because there's just about no evidence that's attriuted to support this claim.

Someone help before she litterally pins me to my bed and blow dries my hair for me.

I've never heard of that...though when you're older, it certainly could cause you to catch cold....but headaches from cold water in your pores? Hmm...seems like an old wives tale to me....

I won't try and refute this. But I'm elder to you and have gone to sleep a many of time over the years with wet hair..the worst this has ever done to me is cause a severe case of 'bed head' LOL.

This is interesting nonetheless and should perhaps be validated by someone of the pro nature.

My mom's friends have reported to have headaches, but they all have one thing in common, they were enlisted in the Navy.

The harsh living conditions must have caused it.

Does it really make you catch cold Gaz? The cold is caused by a virus, not by temperture itself. Maybe it doesn't exactly cause a cold, but just makes yoou feel miserable for a little while.

Ahh, I don't know these things as well as you old people do.

Does it really make you catch cold Gaz? The cold is caused by a virus, not by temperture itself. Maybe it doesn't exactly cause a cold, but just makes yoou feel miserable for a little while.

I know it's a virus, but it's also a known equation....

old people + cold + wet = they catch a cold

I suspect that's part of the origin of the name for the ailment...

[Edited on 6-1-2004 by Gazrok]

Might make a difference if you have long hair. I think it's too uncomfortable.

It doesn't give you headaches, I do it all the time...

Your mom is making a big deal because she probably believes you'll get sick, which isn't true either...


some people hate the sound of nails sliding down a black board, some people get that skin crawly feeling seeing people go to bed with their hair wet.

My husband actually hates it. But I don't mind. I sleep on my stomache so my cheek is usually against the pillow..

It sounds like a load of____ to me. but if you really want to find out for sure the next time you go to the doctor, just ask, Let him/her know that this is what your mother has said and you would like him/her to tell if it is true or not

not true, I do it often and i haven't notice any correlating headaches or even colds that can be attributed to it.

I know that if you go to bed when drunk and have wet hair it helps reduce the hangover effect... which means as far as my experience goes its the opposite effect... but then again when your drunk everything is kinda topsy turvy

I have to admit I'm rather skeptical. I read somewhere that it's more of an Asian thing? Is that true? My parents also say that going to sleep with wet hair will give me headaches in the future...actually, my parents have given up on me but my aunts and grandma still say the same thing.

Anyways, I would like to find out for real. I for one don't mind sleeping with wet hair...is it odd that I'm used to it and actually like it now? (Except for getting my blankets and stuffies and pillow damp.) I don't see why sleeping with wet hair would give me headaches.

My mother used to tell me this too. I think it's definitely an old wives tale.

We had a friend at school who said HER mother would tell her never to have a shower at "that time of the month" as it could be dangerous. We would laugh at her. But my mother had her own too, a couple being;

never put new shoes on a table (as if old, dirty ones were ok apparently)

if you drop a knife, get someone else to pick it up.

Mothers eh?

I've had chronic headaches off an on for almost 20 years and rarely do I go to bed with wet hair. I've heard a lot of theories regarding headache triggers but never once have I heard anyone mention a link between sleeping with wet hair and headaches!

I agree with one of the other posters that the next time you see a doctor you should ask them if they have ever heard of this connection, but I believe you should take it a step further. Have a sheet of paper that has three lines on it ... first one should read "sleeping with wet hair can cause headaches", second should read "sleeping with wet hair does NOT cause headaches". Have a blank next to each so that the Dr. can put a check mark next to the statement that he believes to be true and then have an area where the Dr. can sign the paperwork. Hopefully the Dr. will say there is no connection and you can give the paper to your Mom and maybe she will get off of your back ... MAYBE.



Jemison

I've never heard of that. It just makes my hair flip out all funky in the morning.
Also if you did it everynight I might be worried about your pillow case getting moldy or something lol I don't know really.
I always liked sleeping with wet hair though...kept me cooled off.

My mother was always the only thing giving me a headache.

[edit on 11-8-2008 by PixelMePretty]

Yes, I always get headaches if I go to bed with wet hair. That's how I found this question because I was browsing the internet for why this occurs...

LOL yes I remember about 2 yrs ago my hair was over 2ft long,if I fell asleep with it wet would wake up with a real bizarre Do

I do get head aches If I leave my hair wet for long time irrespective of day or night.

Well i was talking to my doctor and she said one of her patients all the sudden when crazy. The doctor is doing investigations about if it is caused by sleeping with wet hair. She had a habbit of only sleeping with wet hair. Now i am sleeping with dry hair. Doesnt hurt to be safe.

I felt obliged to point out the obvious, the human body functions at 37 C so therefore it’s common sense that by not drying your hair in cold temperatures you are lowering your body temperature; the water on the hair evaporates and this evaporation process is scientifically proven to have a cooling affect, hence this drops the body temperature and this drop in the body temperature can lead to many health related problems etc headaches, Hypothermia.

Hypothermia is most likely at very cold temperatures, but it can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40°F) if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, submersion in cold water or wet hair.

SO therefore it is best to keep your body at the temperature that it functions best at, and to conclude wet hair in cool temperatures is a health risk, and for those that are adamant that wet hair does not have any adverse effects on them, I would say it may not show any effects now but who knows what the long term effects may be????.

Don't know about headaches, but it does give me 30 extra minutes in the mornings...

I think it balances out!

[edit on 7-2-2009 by quitebored]