# Long wet hair outside in frigid temperatures **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-wet-hair-outside-in-frigid-temperatures/646061 "2013-01-04T15:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-wet-hair-outside-in-frigid-temperatures/646061/21 "2013-01-05T21:13:28Z")
And back to the OP - nor will sitting by an open window cause you to catch a cold, or many of the other things your aunt told you when you were a little girl. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-wet-hair-outside-in-frigid-temperatures/646061/22 "2013-01-07T09:28:31Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > If your mustache is badly in need of trimming and you go out when it’s wet and it freezes your mouth closed, opening your mouth stings like the dickens while simultaneously solving the need for a mustache trimming. I regularly get ice in my mustache when being out in cold weather but never have I had my mouth frozen closed or the hairs in it broken off. Talking about facial ice, here’s a photo of Swedish skier Thomas Wassberg after a race: [http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&tbo=d&as\_st=y&biw=1024&bih=645&tbm=isch&tbnid=xFEmGMjqHjg1mM:&imgrefurl=http://kaostik.wordpress.com/tag/thomas-wassberg/&docid=iZecXH1LGFxx3M&imgurl=http://kaostik.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/wassberg.jpg&w=469&h=378&ei=-ZPqUOaAEvD64QS1zYCgCA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=337&sig=105506887690432708382&page=1&tbnh=132&tbnw=196&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:92&tx=141&ty=64](http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&tbo=d&as_st=y&biw=1024&bih=645&tbm=isch&tbnid=xFEmGMjqHjg1mM:&imgrefurl=http://kaostik.wordpress.com/tag/thomas-wassberg/&docid=iZecXH1LGFxx3M&imgurl=http://kaostik.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/wassberg.jpg&w=469&h=378&ei=-ZPqUOaAEvD64QS1zYCgCA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=337&sig=105506887690432708382&page=1&tbnh=132&tbnw=196&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:92&tx=141&ty=64) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-wet-hair-outside-in-frigid-temperatures/646061/23 "2013-01-07T11:07:47Z")
Hop in a hot tub on a cold night after skiing. Yes, ice forms around groups of hair, so you end up looking like an ice-man rastafarian. You can snap the icicles, but the hair inside does not break. If ice forms on the skin, there is a burning sensation. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-wet-hair-outside-in-frigid-temperatures/646061/24 "2013-01-07T16:59:41Z")
I grew up in Ohio and walked to school from grades 7-10 (11 and 12 I had a car). Since then my morning routine has consisted of: wake up, take shower, get dressed, go to school or work. All through middle school, high school, and college, I walked to class with wet hair in freezing cold temps for half the year. I never once got sick from that, but have gotten sick from viruses and bacteria many times. I still go to work every morning with wet hair. I haven’t gotten sick in a couple of years. My secretary used to give me hell, “You’re gonna get sick!” I whirl around on her and explain that colds and flu come from germs, not exposure. Now. Live or get stuck outside, all day, every day? Yeah, I might die of hypothermia or exposure, but I probably won’t get a cold from wet hair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-wet-hair-outside-in-frigid-temperatures/646061.md?page=1)