Have you ever noticed that hair when wet clumps together?
It happens with dog fur too, you’ll notice that their fur clumps together when it gets wet.
Why does this happen?
It’s actually quite an interesting concept.
I’ve never found the answer online so I decided to do some research and answer it in this post.
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Why does my hair clump together when it’s wet?
Hair clumps together when it’s wet because of cohesion.
Water or H2O which is comprised of 2 hydrogen molecules and 1 oxygen atom is responsible for your hair clumping or sticking together.
When hair is wet, it is coated with water molecules. Water molecules like to stick together so the water droplets in the hair attract one another and sit together closely.
This concept is called cohesion.
H2O molecules are pulled in all directions equally when it’s in the middle of the droplet. However, on the edge, the H2O molecules are attracted to the inner molecule.
This is what holds the entire water droplet together.
So basically it’s not your hair that’s sticking to each other – it’s the water on your hair that’s doing that.
If you have highly porous hair, you’ll have more defined clumps.
High porosity hair means that the hair cuticle (which is the outer layer of the hair strand) is very frayed and open.
It allows hair to absorb moisture and release it very quickly.
So if you have highly porous hair and your hair is wet, your hair will absorb a lot of water and stick together better forming clumps.
This is the same reason why dogs’ fur clumps together when it’s wet too – because of cohesion.
