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Can coronavirus stay in my hair or in a beard? Should I wash my hair every day?
Coronavirus can stick to hair, said Dr. David Aronoff, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Touching contaminated hair and then touching your mouth, eyes or nose could increase your risk of infection. “Like on the skin, this coronavirus is a transient hitchhiker that can be removed by washing,” Aronoff said.
But that doesn’t mean you have to wash the hair on your head multiple times a day, said dermatologist Dr. Hadley King.
That’s because “living hair attached to our scalps may be better protected by our natural oils that have some antimicrobial properties and may limit how well microbes can attach to the hair,” she said.
“If you are going out into areas that could possibly be contaminated with viral particles, then it would be reasonable to wash the hair daily during the pandemic. But it’s not the same as hand washing – the virus infects us through our mucosal surfaces. If your hair is not falling into your face or you’re not running your fingers through it, then there is less of a risk.”
If your hair does fall into your face, you may want to pull it back to minimize your risk, King said.
As for facial hair, “washing at least daily if not more frequently is wise, depending on how often they touch their face,” Aronoff said.
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