Hats prove to be life savers, especially when we are having a bad hair day. Not only this, trendy hats elevate our overall look and personality. Especially for men, hats have become a style icon. Consistent hat wearing can damage your hair to some extent and might cause hair loss too. However, many people have associated their hair loss with wearing hats. Hat wearers believe that the hair loss they face is due to their hats. Can Wearing Hats Make You Bald? Let’s find out its answer in this article.
While many people have started wearing hats to hide their baldness or hair from people, plenty have left wearing hats because caps cause them to be bald. There is no scientific verification behind this myth that hats make you bald.
Do Hats Make You Bald?
Humans lose 50-100 hairs almost every day without even noticing. It is extremely normal to shed this much hair on a daily basis. On the other hand, if you feel that you have lost more hair, you might have been facing hair loss, leading to baldness in the future. Hair loss occurs for many reasons, but hair loss does not lead to baldness. Every one of us faces hair loss due to stress, hormonal issues, depression, and by using chemicals.
If you feel that you are facing baldness after wearing a hat, then the hat is not the only reason. Hats can be just a factor in making that process of baldness go faster, but they can’t be the sole reason.
Can Wearing Hats Make You Bald?
The answer is short, No.
Wearing hats can never cause baldness, as there is no scientific verification behind it. It’s just a myth.
In addition to that, wearing tight hats throughout the day does cause gradual hair loss, and there’s a valid reason behind it.
What’s that?
Tight Hats Cause Gradual Hair Loss
Our hair follicles need air and blood flow. Extremely tight hats can prevent air from reaching our scalp, which causes sweat and leads to hair loss. If you wear a tight cap on your head for a few hours, it will block the blood and airflow in your hair, causing them to be weak and damaged. When blood does not flow to our scalp properly, our hair dies from the roots and starts shedding gradually. Moreover, putting a hat repeatedly on your head makes your hair get tangled in them and break due to the pressure of pulling.
Can hats Cause Traction Alopecia?
As mentioned earlier, tight hats damage our hair from the roots because they cause a hurdle in blood and hair flow. On top of that, usually, people take their caps on and off throughout the day. This not only happens with hats. Rubber bands, scrunchies, or other hair accessories can cause hair fall, too, as our hair gets stuck in them. While taking off, a few of them breaks and start shedding.
Traction Alopecia is a condition in which we face hair loss by repeatedly pulling our hair. This can happen with hats, braids, buns, hair ties, chemicals, or harmful hair treatments. A tight ponytail pulls our hair to such an extent that they get broken from the roots. Although this does not cause rapid baldness, it can become one of the reasons for your baldness. Traction alopecia is a gradual process of hair loss that can lead to baldness in some areas of the head if we do not care about it.
Moreover, friction alopecia is a special kind of hair loss that causes due to hat stress. Wearing tight hats ends up damaging your hair and creating bald patches on your head.
What causes Baldness?
Baldness is not something we can face by pulling our hair or wearing hats. Baldness mainly causes due to genetic or hormonal reasons. Hair loss is completely normal, and it happens due to certain conditions. But, we need to know the root cause of our hair loss. If it happens due to reasons such as wearing tight hats, tight ponytails, or chemicals, then it can be prevented. However, if there’s any other reason behind your hair fall, including genetic disorder or hormonal imbalance, you must only consult your doctor.
If you have noticed that you are getting bald, then these must be the reasons behind it;
- Genetic or Hormonal Reasons
- Hair Pulling (Hair-ties, braids, buns, hair treatments, hair extensions, etc.)
- Tight ponytail
- Wearing a tight hat or cap
- Using chemical-based shampoo
- Chemical-filled hair treatments
- Harmful Hair Dyes
- Unhealthy diet
- Aggressive brushing
- Hot combs or oils
Some people are naturally gifted and have strong and thick hair genetically. Hats or ponytails don’t cause extreme damage to their hair. On the other hand, some have sensitive hair roots, and their hair starts shedding even from light pulling.
No matter if you have strong hair or not, you must not wear any such hat that causes a hurdle in blood and airflow in your head. Tight hats are a big no. Furthermore, even if you love hats, do not wear them for more than a few hours. Let your hair and head get some fresh air.
Hats are not going to make you go bald. However, if you are already getting bald, they will speed up the process of your baldness via gradual hair loss. And, if you are lucky enough not to have a problem with hair loss, wearing hats can cause hair loss to some extent.
In both cases, it’s better to be careful and let your hair breathe.
Note that; loose hats will not cause any hair loss. Try getting hats a little bigger than the size of your head.
So, Can Wearing Hats Make You Bald?
No, but they can be one of the reasons for your baldness.
The Takeaway!
This is just a myth that has been revolving around for decades that wearing a hat makes you go bald. We cannot say that baldness and hats are connected. Direct baldness is caused due to other serious reasons. However, hair loss or traction alopecia can be caused by wearing hats that won’t let your hair breathe. You can wear loose, breathable caps to counter this issue. I hope this article cleared your concepts and now you know the answer to Can Wearing Hats Make You Bald? better.
Thanks for an interesting article!