Santa Barbara, Calif., has been named the best US city for “good hair days,” while Corpus Christi, Tex., ranks as the place where people are most likely to experience a “bad hair day,” according to an analysis compiled by TotalBeauty.com, which lists the top cities in each category.
The study examined average humidity levels, pollution, rainfall, wind speeds, water hardness and demographics, and took into account the number of beauty salons per capita to determine rankings for the cities with the best – and worst – conditions for healthy, stylish hair.
Top 11 Best Cities for Hair
Santa Barbara ranks first because it has consistently clean air, near-constant, hair-friendly weather, a young population, and not much rain or wind, reported TotalBeauty.
Climate isn’t the only determining factor, however. Cities at the other end of the weather spectrum made the best list too. While Anchorage, Alaska doesn’t have year-round warmth, it does have a lack of pollution and wind, as well as soft water. Similarly, New York, N.Y.’s clean, soft water and abundance of salons land it a spot on on the list, while Miami’s lack of pollution and hair-friendly water compensate for the city’s notorious heat and humidity.
Top 13 Worst Cities for Hair
For the least hair-friendly cities, TotalBeauty noted a number of factors that contribute to frizz, dryness and other common hair complaints. These include humidity, hard water and a dearth of hair salons.
The high humidity levels in Corpus Christi are one of the factors that make it the top “bad hair day” city in the US, while the dry, sunny weather and hard water in Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Phoenix are factors in those cities’ low rankings.
Places such as Pittsburgh and Fresno, Calif. make the worst-hair list because of their high levels of air pollution, while retirement haven Pensacola, Fla. has higher-than-average rainfall, high humidity and a lack of “hip” salons for younger residents, TotalBeauty.com said.