We are often asked whether wearing a hat can prevent your hair from breathing. The answer is no. The first fact is that hair doesn’t breathe, it has no nerves and isn’t really alive at all. The root of your hair is where the action takes place and that is supplied by blood from the scalp blood vessels or capillaries as they are called.
So wearing a hat doesn’t starve your hair of oxygen. However, as you will read below, it may not always be good for your scalp.
Is a hat bad for hair?
Depending upon the overall health of your scalp, wearing a hat for a long period of time may create the sort of warm, damp environment where bugs flourish. It has been proven for a long time that the bug associated with dandruff is yeast, which can be thought of as a type of fungus. If this bug grows strong it will create a problem for your scalp and once dandruff is established it is very difficult to get rid of permanently.
So wearing a hat certainly does not starve your hair of oxygen, but it may exacerbate dandruff or other scalp problems. The scratching of the flaky skin will certainly make your scalp less healthy.
We are not saying that wearing a hat is bad for you. In fact, if it is very cold, it is probably a good idea since the blood vessels in your head which supply your hair roots will narrow to conserve heat, but this in turn will reduce the flow of blood to the hair root. So it is a balancing act.
Wear a hat to keep your head warm on cold days, but don’t wear a hat on days when your head will become hot and sweating, but either way, you are not starving your hair of oxygen.
