moist

damp.

It's hard to think of a rule for this.

Very generally speaking - moist if the liquid is contained/soaked inside something. Damp if the liquid is coating/on the outside of something.

Therefore, a moist cake is nice (the sponge is soft and not too dry to eat) but a damp cake sounds nasty (has someone left it somewhere wet?).

Lots of exceptions to that 'rule

Natural progression: dripping > wet > damp > dry [for hair]; gooey > moist > dry > stale [for cakes]

stale?? I can't see how it fits in the degree of wetness. Isn't stale equal to not fresh?

New2grammarstale?? I can't see how it fits in the degree of wetness. Isn't stale equal to not fresh?

So dry that it has gone stale. Some people use stale bread [because it is so dry] instead of fresh to make French toast.

PhilipSo dry that it has gone stale

I see. Thanks.

To me "moist" sounds fine for hair... And I just looked at a hair dye kit the instructions of which say "moisten the hair before application". I do agree with Nona's generalisation though.

If I come out of the shower before I have a chance to grab a towel, I would say my hair is wet, not “damp” or “moist”. The towel I dry myself with will be damp. I just can’t relate the usage of the word “moist” to a shower at all.

I believe the assumption is that the hair was not washed in this shower. It was incidental contact with water and steam that made the hair damp.

I believe the follwoing is right

The nose of the dog is damp. (not moist).
The ground is moist (not damp)

The difference is, men don't wear shower caps as the ladies do, so our hair is usually wet out of the shower.