If you go out with wet hair, will you catch a cold?
As youngsters, we were warned to never step out of the house with wet hair - and especially if it was raining or freezing outside.
No
As youngsters, we were warned to never step out of the house with wet hair - and especially if it was raining or freezing outside.
The reason? The dampness of your head combined with the bone-chilling air could leave you more susceptible to a cold. But the idea that you can fall sick from being outdoors with wet hair is false, says Dr Winnie Mui, a general practitioner at Doctor Laura Bramley & Partners in Central.
The real cause of the common cold, which affects the upper respiratory tract, including the sinuses, is exposure to one of more than 200 viruses, the most common of which are called rhinoviruses.
The virus attaches itself to, and attacks the lining of the nose and throat, causing inflammation in these areas. Once you have been infected, you become contagious for a couple of days before the actual symptoms begin and remain contagious until all the symptoms disappear.