You probably feel like you know it pretty well, and that includes knowing how often it needs to be washed. And even though you've heard that daily shampooing is just the worst — it strips your natural oils! it makes your hair frizzy!
Shampooing too much.
“Shampooing hair too often can dry and dull hair, leaving it frizzy,” she says. Your shampoo's formula can also play a part. According to research, shampoo with too high of a pH level can actually cause frizziness and breakage.
Shampooing too often strips your hair of sebum, the natural oils produced by your scalp. Sebum helps protect your strands from moisture loss. Washing it all away can lead to a tight, dry scalp and dry, coarse strands prone to breakage.
The experts agree: Only a small group needs to shampoo daily, like those with very fine hair, someone who exercises a lot (and sweats), or someone living in very humid place, Goh says. “If you have oily scalp, then daily washing is needed,” she explains.
Rossi generally tells his patients they should wash their hair once or twice per week. But if you've had chemical treatments that can make your hair drier — such as bleach, perms or relaxers — you might want to wash it less than once weekly to avoid breaking or brittle hair or split ends, he said.
Hair Washing Frequency and Tips
“I recommend washing your hair two to three times a week,” Dr. Icecreamwala says. “If your hair is dry, you may only want to wash it twice a week. If it is on the oilier side, every other day is recommended.”
Daily showers can lead to two main dermatological issues. First, when you shower, you typically wash your hair. When you do this every day, it can cause your hair to become dry and brittle. “If you shampoo your hair every day, you can lose the cuticle oil,” says Dr.
There are four primary factors that cause frizz: the environment, diameter of the hair fiber itself, level of curl, and the amount of damage. Avoid long and hot showers, excess exfoliation, and hot tools like traditional hairdryers and flat irons to prevent frizz.
If you scan their ingredient lists, many shampoos contain harsh chemicals that strip your hair of its natural oils. Some red flags to look out for are parabens and sulfates. These are common culprits of hair frizz, a dry or itchy scalp, and excess oil production.
If you have frizzy hair
Frizzy or curly hair hardly ever gets greasy and its texture doesn't absorb products very well, so it's often dry and fragile. You don't need to wash it more than once a week (you can even stretch it to every 15 days!).
Depending on your hair type, you can wait three to five days between washes, and we've got the scoop on how to survive the process while you're waiting for sebum production to slow down. We'll admit, the first two weeks are the most difficult, but after about week four, you should see a significant difference.
In general, people with fine hair will probably want to wash their hair 2-3 times per week, while those with coarse and curly hair can probably shampoo only 1-2 times per week. If you have natural or textured hair, you may want to shampoo less than once per week.
It may be surprising, but in general, try to shoot for washing with shampoo no more than three to four times a week. This doesn't mean the hair can't get wet, though. Continue to massage and exfoliate the scalp during showers to remove excess dead skin and dirt.
Washing too frequently can lead to stripped, straw-like hair, dried-out scalp, inflammation, and irritation, so let your scalp and hair strands tell you what they need each day.
Dermatologist Recommends Shampooing Less
As she washed less, her sebaceous glands began producing less sebum oil. "If you wash your hair every day, you're removing the sebum," explains Michelle Hanjani, a dermatologist at Columbia University. "Then the oil glands compensate by producing more oil," she says.
Prolonged periods of not washing can cause cause buildup on the scalp, damaging hair and even impeding its ability to grow, Lamb said. Grime from dirt, oil and hair product can show up within four to six days for people with finer, straighter hair.
Q: How often do celebrities wash their hair? Shampoo your hair 1-2 times a week, max. If you go to the gym and sweat, you can rinse the hair and run a light conditioner through the ends, but don't use shampoo.
Aptly titled, reverse hair washing is simply the technique of conditioning your hair first and shampooing second. It's the inverse of what you're used to doing in the shower—and may feel a bit strange at first—but comes with all sorts of potential benefits.
While some may need to wash their hair more regularly than others, washing your hair every day is considered a bad thing. Over-washing on any hair type will remove important natural oils, known as sebum, and will leave your hair feeling dry and brittle.