Is Cold Water Better For Your Hair?

There's a lot that you need to consider in order to have healthy hair — from the right products to use, to how often to wash your hair, to whether or not you should be using heat on it — but did you ever think that the temperature of the water was something you needed to think about? Oh yeah, it totally is. So what's the deal — should you be washing your hair with warm or cold water? If you want healthy hair, there's a definite routine you need to be following.

If you're using all the right products and laying off the heat but still find yourself with dull or frizzy hair, it could all boil down to your water temperature. So do you have to swear off your super hot showers and shiver every time you want to wash your hair? Absolutely not. It turns out, both warm and cold water are good when you're washing your hair — it just boils down to the order in which you use them.

When you start out washing your hair, go ahead and rinse with warm water, Blo Blow Dry Bar's stylist Brittany tells Bustle. It opens the hair's cuticle, which is great to help your shampoo and conditioner better do their job on your hair — but that's where the benefits end.

When you're rinsing your products out, you want to switch to cold water. Cold water seals your hair cuticle back up, which keeps your hair looking shiny, frizz-free, and seals in moisture from your conditioner, so it's extra hydrated.

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While both definitely have a place in your shower routine, if you have colored hair, you might want to lay off the hot water altogether (or at least keep it lukewarm). Heat lifts the outer cuticle layer of your hair, which can cause your color to fade much faster.

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The moral of the story: You can definitely still use hot water, as long as you finish with cool water. But when in doubt, or if you just don't feel like constantly readjusting the temperature, then stick with cool.

Images: Isla Murray/Bustle