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If your hair is looking like it needs a little TLC, it might be your sleep routine that needs adjusting. Hairstylists say that a simple mistake–like sleeping with your hair in a ponytail–can lead to damage and breakage if you are not careful.
Keep reading for more details.
Sally-Kate Duboux, hairstylist and founder of Hair by Duboux, explains that keeping your hair in a ponytail while you sleep could put your strands through unnecessary strain.
"By continued wear of your hair up, particularly at night, you can cause tension on the follicles," she tells SheFinds. "This tension can cause breakage where the strands snap at the weight of the elastic and movements made when sleeping."
Ghanima Abdullah, cosmetologist and hairstylist at The Right Hairstyles, has a similar warning about unfortunate breakage.
"As you toss when you sleep, your hair moves, even though it's contained. Elastic stretches, so as your hair is moving within the hair tie, the elastic band inside it is working too. The friction this creates can snap your strands right off," she explains.
A constant ponytail could also result in hair loss, which can become a longterm problem.
Sally-Kate explains, "This can contribute to hair loss where the tension forces the follicle out at the root. Continued tension from sleeping in a ponytail and through wearing your hair up everyday can also add to the stress and tension of the scalp resulting in long term hair loss."
If you want to keep your hair back while you sleep, a good alternative is a braid.
Both hairstylists say that a braid can keep your hair manageable while you sleep without causing damage. Plus, with this method, you might just wake up with gorgeous, beachy waves.
