Is it normal to see scalp when hair is wet? Yes, but how much?

Is it normal to see your scalp when your hair is wet?

Every guy goes through this, standing in front of the mirror, just out of the shower, looking at your hair you notice something and ask yourself, “Is it normal to see scalp when hair is wet?”.

One of the first signs of balding is noticing more scalp than hair, especially when it’s wet. You wonder, is it your imagination or is it normal to see your scalp when your hair is wet? So I did a little research and found that yes, it is normal even men with thick heads of hair will see some parts of their scalp when the hair is wet, however, if you’re starting to notice wider gaps between the clumps of wet hair or if there is less overall coverage of your scalp when wet, then you are beginning to see the first signs of male pattern baldness. Let’s look into what all this means and what you can do about it.

Why does hair only look thin when wet?

The reason why your hair only looks thin when wet is because of two reasons. First off, hair tends to spring and expand in thickness when it is dry. 

For example, if you have a wavy or curly hair texture, which most people actually have even those with seemingly straight hair, you have some curve to the hair strands. Your hair will actually look more voluminous when it’s dry. 

However, all that changes with the weight of water or liquid. When water or any other liquid is applied to hair, it flattens out any curvatures that the hair may have. Making them appear thinner.

The other reason why your hair looks thin when wet is because hair tends to clump together under the weight of a liquid or water when it’s wet. So as hair clumps together pieces of your scalp are more visible than when the hair is dry.

The real question is how much of your scalp is visible when your hair is wet. Normally when hair is wet, even the thickest of hair, you can usually see where the hair is parted, lines of the scalp are also more visible when the hair is clumped together. 

However, if you see more scalp even where the hair is clumped together and you can see the scalp in between the wet strands of hair, that is when that is a good indication that your hair is actually finished. 

The more scalp you can see through the individual strands that are not the clumps, the more likelihood that your hair is actually thinning.

How much hair should you lose when you shower?

Seeing too much hair in the drain and not enough on the head does have some validity. But even people with thick heads of hair will find hair at the bottom of the drain.

Shedding hair is part of the hair growth cycle. Which means hair growth, loss and dormancy(rest), then regrowth. 

The question isn’t how much hair you lose or you find at the bottom of your shower drain after taking a shower. Because that’s very deceiving. 

The real question is how much hair are you finding on your head. Is it less? Don’t go by the amount of hair you find in the shower drain after you’ve taken a shower. It’s not an indication that you have male pattern baldness. Because it’s a very weak indicator.

Is it normal to see your scalp through your hair?

This all depends on the strength of the light, the angle and the direction at which it is pointed to. If you have a bright light over your head, you may see parts of your scalp that are shorter or more exposed to that light than parts that are not. 

I will go into this more in the appropriate section below. But generally, the closer you are to a person’s scalp the more of it you could probably see. But that’s not a real indicator of baldness or thinning hair either.

Is it normal to see the scalp when hair is short?

Actually yes, it is normal to see some parts of the scalp when your hair is short. Reason being is that the shorter the hair the more it tends to stand and not bend. It’s the thickness and the bend of the hair which shield it from light and visibility. 

However, in very short haircuts like buzz cuts for example, when the hair is standing up straight, scalp visibility is normal. 

Again, this becomes more of a question of how much scalp you can see when the hair is short, how close are the hairs growing from the scalp and how far spaced they are from one another.

Is it normal to see the scalp under light?

Now we are getting to the crux of the issue. It’s very easy to dispel and ignore thinning hair when you can see your scalp from wet hair. You can blame it on the water. It can also all be part of the denial game though. 

In fact, it’s easy to do even if you do have a thick head of hair. However, they say that nothing can hide from the truth once a light has been shone upon it. Even the darkness cannot hide under a shining light.

If you can see your scalp under light and you could see so much of it that you really do notice it, then I’m afraid you may have male pattern baldness, balding or thinning hair. 

Nothing can escape the truth of the light, including the fact that you are balding. Putting a light over your head is the easiest way to tell if you have thinning hair. It’s as simple as that. 

Even denial is not strong enough when light shines on it.

In fact, just check yourself under a light, you don’t have to usually go out of your way to find one either. You can even use normal overhead room lights and just look in the mirror. 

You may notice that your hair appears to be like a Halo, causing your scalp to glow. This can be referred to as “scalp glow”. It’s interesting because when you are under a light it negates all the time and effort you put into hiding your thinning hair.

Actually, you don’t even notice the hairstyle or whatever products you’ve applied to your hair. All you can notice is that beautiful glow emanating from your scalp. 

It is the truth that mother nature has deemed to be your destiny, that is shining. And that destiny is the beauty that is glowing under the light, your great looking scalp. 

So the sooner you embrace this fact of mother nature has been bestowed upon you, faster you will learn to embrace it and eventually own it and make that great looking, glowing scalp your own. 

Show it off for the whole world to see by shaving your head.

Can hair grow back after thinning?

There are treatments out there that not only help prevent, or at least stop temporarily, hair loss, but can quite possibly regrow some of that lost hair back. 

These are well known and most are available without a prescription nowadays. But are proven to stop hair loss and regrow some lost hair in an overwhelming majority of individuals. 

However, the rate of success or failure in using these is in mostly slowing down your hair loss. Even this factor is determined by your own particular DNA. 

These treatments for hair loss are of course minoxidil, natural DHT blocking supplements and shampoos as well as the prescription DHT blocker called Propecia. 

Then of course you have more extreme options like hair transplants and scalp reductions, to less extreme options medically but more extreme cosmetically, like hair fillers and fibers as well as hair systems. Take your pick.

If you’d like a quick fix to thicken up your hair and fill in your scalp once you’ve dried off, try these hair thickening fibers below:

Top Hair Thickening Fibers From Amazon!

How can I thicken my hair?

You can thicken your hair in a number of ways nowadays. 

Top Premium Hair Thickening Products From Amazon

All are quite effective, but unfortunately none can really stop hair loss permanently, maybe slow it down to a degree by strengthening your hair, thus preventing premature breakage. And when hair breaks it’s lost, right? 

Also these hair thickening products come in shampoos, conditioners and serums. The main ingredients which thicken hair are Biotin or B7, Keratin and Panthenol.

Top Premium Hair Thickening Shampoos & Conditioners From Amazon

These hair care products contain one or more of those key ingredients that can help strengthen and thicken your hair.

Thus, preventing breakage while adding some volume to thinning hair. 

There’s also hair fillers and fibers that are made from Keratin that you can shake over the thinning areas of your scalp.

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These keratin filaments attach themselves to the thinning strands of hair and thicken them.

Here’s a great post goes into more detail on how they are used you can check out below.

• Here’s how men can thicken thinning hair today!

What vitamin should I take for hair loss?

There are some excellent vitamins and supplements that are formulated you can take for hair loss. Just how effective depends on you.

However, there’s plenty of anecdotal testimonies that you can read as well as reviews for these products. 

Will highlights hide thinning hair?

This is an interesting question. Highlights can be used to great effect on making the hair look more voluminous. 

When you combine highlights and when the highlighting job is done well, they will add the appearance of texture and make the darker hairs look thicker in contrast the the lighter, highlighted ones. 

When thinking about adding highlights in order to help create the illusion of thicker hair which is what it does, seek out a highly reputable hairstylist to do so. 

Get a consultation, then try it out for yourself. 

Just don’t go too overboard. I don’t know what looks worse, thinning hair or a bad hairstyle? Do you?

Finally, if you’re getting a little paranoid because you’re seeing more of your scalp after taking a shower or a swim. Relax, it might be nothing. But then again, it’s better to be safe than sorry. 

So be vigilant, catch it early and stave off your male pattern baldness for as long as possible by using any number of treatments that I have written about here under “Fighting Baldness”.