Last Updated on September 21, 2023 by Louise Carter
Sometimes, no matter what you do, your hair looks and feels greasy.
Greasy hair can be due to environmental factors, but it’s usually caused by excessive sebum secretion. Sebum is an oil produced by the sebaceous gland beneath the scalp’s surface.
The hair follicles are attached to the sebaceous gland. When there’s an overproduction of sebum, it travels through the hair follicles, giving the hair a greasy appearance.
One person’s hair may look greasy the day after washing it, while another person may go a week or longer before grease accumulates in their hair.
Does Going to Sleep with Wet Hair Make It Greasy?
The fact that the hair is wet isn’t necessarily what’s causing greasy hair by the time you wake up. However, there are reasons why hair may appear greasy after sleeping with it wet:
High Temperatures
Skin Research & Technology found higher temperatures increase sebum excretion, causing oiliness. A hot shower can activate the sebaceous glands, so they excrete excessive oils onto the hair.
If the ambient temperature in the home gets too hot while you’re asleep, the sebaceous glands could be activated. By the time you wake up, the hair looks and feels greasy.
Pillowcase
While you sleep, the oils secreted from the sebaceous glands in your face can transfer to the pillowcase. The hair may absorb those oils, giving it a greasy appearance.
Hair Towel
Sleeping with your hair wrapped in a towel can help or hinder the hair. Your head may overheat and cause more oils to be released, making it greasy by morning.
The towel keeps your hair in place while sleeping, so you may wake up with fewer tangles.
Flattened Hair
When you go to bed with wet hair and wake up with greasy-looking hair, it may only appear greasy due to the pressure of the head flattening your wet hair against the scalp.
How To Tell If Your Hair Is Greasy When Wet
When the hair is wet, it’s hard to tell if it’s greasy because wet and greasy hair makes it appear thinner and weighs down your hair, so there’s no volume to it.
You’ll have to wait until it dries to see if it still looks greasy.
Hair that has been washed shouldn’t be greasy. Even with overactive sebum excretion, it should take at least a day before your hair shows signs of greasiness.
If the hair looks greasy after you’ve washed it, here are some reasons why:
Washing Too Much
You’d think that if your hair is greasy, you should keep washing it to remove the greasiness. However, that can have the reverse effect.
When you wash your hair too much, it dries out the sebaceous glands. The sebaceous glands produce even more sebum to relieve the dryness, worsening the greasiness.
Wash your hair less frequently to see if your hair becomes less greasy.
Conditioning Too Much
Conditioning the hair too much can make it heavier and increase sebum production. Because the oils are at the root of the hair, try only conditioning the ends.
Not rinsing out the conditioner can make the hair appear greasy unless it’s intended to be left in.
Brushing Too Much or Too Little
If you brush your hair too much, it’ll stimulate the sebaceous glands to produce more oils.
If you fail to brush your hair sufficiently, the oils will sit and build up at the roots of your hair, causing excessive greasiness.
Overuse of Products
Using too many products on your hair can result in a buildup of products combined with oils and cause your hair to look greasy.
Skin Problems
You might naturally have overactive sebaceous glands, which can quickly make your hair appear greasy after washing.
When you have too much oil production, dirt can easily cling to the oils, making your hair look greasy and clumped together.
According to the University of Engineering and Health, if you notice you’re experiencing hair loss or dandruff, these issues could be due to the overproduction of oils blocking the roots of your hair.
How To Sleep with Wet Hair Without Getting It Greasy
It’s frustrating to go to bed with newly washed hair and wake up with hair that looks like it hasn’t been washed in a week. It’s even worse if you’re in a hurry and lack time to wash it again before leaving.
There are things you can do to go to bed with wet hair without it getting greasy:
Switch Shampoos
If waking up with greasy hair is a regular occurrence, you may need to switch shampoos. Try using one specially formulated for oily hair to reduce the oil on the scalp.
Style Hair into a Bun
Putting your wet hair into a bun before you sleep will help reduce the greasiness overnight. With the hair up, the oils will be unable to penetrate the hair, so you’ll wake up with grease-free hair.
Satin Pillowcase
Cotton pillowcases absorb the oils, sweat, and dead skin cells from the face. Unless you change your pillowcases, your wet hair will accumulate everything while sleeping, so you’ll wake up with greasy hair.
Try switching your cotton pillowcases for satin ones to see if that makes a difference.
How Do You Sleep with Wet Hair So It Looks Good in the Morning?
If you’re like most people, when you go to bed with wet hair, you wake up looking like you stuck your finger in an electrical outlet.
Then, it takes you forever to tame your hair into something halfway presentable, which usually consists of a ponytail or messy bun after you’ve tried everything else.
How do you go to bed with wet hair and wake up with it looking good?
Deep Conditioning Mask
If you’re battling the frizz left behind from your wet hair, use a hydrating deep conditioning mask.
Skip conditioning your hair in the shower and use the deep conditioning mask. This will allow for maximum absorption by the mask.
Braid Your Hair
Braid your hair while it’s wet, and go to bed. You’ll have beautiful waves when you wake up and take out the braid. You can have fun with this one because there are many ways to braid the hair.
Twist Hair into a Bun
Towel dry your hair, twist it into a loose bun and secure it with bobby pins. In the morning, remove the bobby pins and shake out your hair. Spray on some volumizer, and you’re all set for the day.
