I’ve received a few emails recently asking about how often a girl should wash her hair. I did a little research and it’s an interesting topic because there really seems to be a big divide in what people recommend.
So, how often should you wash your hair? Personally, I was always taught to shampoo my hair every day. Over the years, however, I’ve learned that daily washing really dries my hair out.
These days, because I get highlights and my hair is damaged, I only shampoo 3 or 4 times a week. This has definitely helped my hair a lot: it’s much less dried out without the constant shampooing and blow drying.
Celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves, who does Eva Longoria and Jessica Simpson’s hair, agrees that you shouldn’t wash your hair every day. According to Oprah.com, Ken says that “certain hair types and textures only require washing once a week, where others work well washing 2 to 3 times a week.”
Thursday’s New York Times style section had an article about hair washing frequency, only to the extreme. Of Course I Washed My Hair Last Year (I’m Almost Certain) talked about how lots of women wash their hair just once a week and some only wash once a month! The average seems to be around 3 times a week. Apparently it’s trendy to spend less time on your hair.
As someone whose hair gets oily after just a few days, I can’t imagine only washing your hair once a month, but maybe it would work well for those with dry hair? The idea does sound tempting – who wouldn’t want to spend less time doing their hair each week? I just don’t know how it would really work for the average woman.
What are your opinions on this? Do you wash your hair every day or do you think once a week is best? Leave a comment and take the poll below! I want to hear what you think!
I used to wash my hair at least once a day otherwise it would fell greasy and dirty. Now i wash my hair every other day and it feels a lot healthier. this is sort of of topic but i have frizzy curly hair, would chemically straightening it make it more managible? would it be damaged and dried out? and if so then how often would i have to wash my hair
I have big full, frizzy, 80’s hair! I could easily go a week or longer and it still be a huge poof.
The one thing I found thats GREAT for hair like mine… is:
JONATHAN SILKY DIRT
It comes in this tube… it smells like vanilla maybe? or coconut? or something like that can’t quite pinpoint the smell.
The trick is you barely have to use any… like not even close to a dime… usually I sqeeze the tube until it starts to come out like a milimeter (and i have really long full hair)… and just wipe that off onto my finger tip rub it in my hands and use that on dry hair (like you just need a little residue of it on your hands and thats enough)… it makes your hair shiny (the good shiny) and tames all the frizz… and gives the bottom just enough of a textury look.
But beware… you probably will use too much the first time cause you won’t be able to fathom how little it takes. The bottle will probably last me a decade… but I never found a product that works so well for my hair type.
If a lot of shampoos are stripping to your hair, I’ve heard of women using conditioner to wash their hair on most days and only using shampoo 1-2x/wk. That way if you want to “wash” everyday you can still keep some moisture in your hair. This works for me, but I had to find a good moisturizing conditioner that didn’t cause too much build up.
I normally have super dry, unmanageable hair (that had been coloured every six months or so since the age of 12, and sun parched for years) which I was washing every other day to keep in check. When I switched to a better salon about two years ago, my stylist recommended only washing when needed. Figuring I’d give it a try, I realised I only need to wash my hair every ten days or so, depending on the weather. I recently had a chemical straightening to try and gain some control over the bonkers tresses and now I find I’m having to wash it about every week or so.
What I can suggest to those with super dry hair is not to be afraid to not wash your hair every other day. Believe me, it makes dry hair even worse to handle. I found the best way to handle dry hair is with shampoos containing fruit extracts such as Garnier or Naturals (they seemed to work better than those without) and the same goes with product. I found the best for post-flatironed hair to be Garnier’s Sleek and Shine serum; it’s a tad oily but does a world of good for keeping the hair straight and frizz free.
Also, if you are thinking of a chemical straighten, I would suggest it if you’re not afraid of the chemical part. It was a three hour process that lasts a good six months and can help with problem hair. Now, when I leave my hair to dry, it is more manageable (and straighter!!) than ever before. Used to take a good one and half hours to straighten it properly, compared to the fifteen minutes it takes now. It’s made second semester much easier to wake up, brush it out and not worry about walking up two hours before class just for a nice style.
I definitely have problems with oily/greasy hair, especially in the bangs department. One thing I’ve noticed is that not only touching your bangs makes them oily, but your forehead has a lot to do with it as well. Having naturally greasy skin, it’s caused my fringes to look absolutely horrible while the rest of my hair may look great. And baby powder, etc never works for me. I have a strange hairline, so when my bangs get greasy, the hair sort of clumps together and my flawless “swoop” is ruined.
But most times, I’ve found what works best is to wet my bangs over the sink and add a little bit of diluted shampoo and work that in from the roots out, and then rinse and restyle with a hairdryer. It’s an extremely quick fix (as long as you get all the shampoo out, or it looks twice as dirty.) and it’s painless and easy. There’s my 2 cents away, =]
I wash my hair 3-4 times a week since I got bored and decided to cut my own bangs. My mom was so angry she went on the ‘your a minor and you gotta do what I say, college or not!’ rant.So now next week I’m going blonde, again. It looks natural even though my natural hair color is dark brown with reddish undertones. I’ve noticed that when my hair is light it’s almost never greasy, when it’s dark I have to wash it almost everyday. I know that there are certain shampoos for curly,straight and wavy hair, but I have a strange, catastrophic combination of all three, so I just end up buying whatever smells good. I’ve yet to find cherry blossom scented shampoo. I’d buy that in a heartbeat.
Yola – That’s a really good point. I think most people’s hair will adjust to washing less frequently, although I’m not sure if it’s actually possible to make your hair produce less oil. The article I posted above says it’s not, apparently we just “get used to having greasy hair.” Idk if I agree.
Cadi – I know right? It definitely is a pain at first when you stop washing daily, but if your hair is damaged you just can’t always wash it every day unless you want to get tons of split ends and dryness. Baby powder is definitely a life saver!
See, it’s that adjustment period that I just can’t hack. WAY too vain to go around with a lanky mess of stringy hair (and I’m not exaggerating, it really does get nasty QUICK). I may try the baby powder thing though. Can’t hurt!
I don’t know if this applies to everyone, but I find that my hair can adjust to how often I wash it.
When I was a kid I used to wash my hair everyday, but later on I read that that can really dry it out. So I started washing every 2-3 days. At first, my hair felt really greasy and gross the day after washing, but after about a week of this I found that it started to look better and better.
There was one period of time when I switched back to washing everyday and then switched again to washing every 2-3 days. My hair went through the same process of feeling gross to feeling fine.
Good suggestions; as you guys said, we’re all different with our textures, preferences and daily activities. For those that run/swim daily, what do you do? I’m in the pool or ocean or running daily; I can leave the pool water on for a day but I worry it might do something funky to my hair dye. The ocean saltwater I have to rinse out, as with the running sweat. I’ve been rinsing/conditioning daily and shampooing about 2 times a week. Anyone else in a similar situation with suggestions?
Cadi – Haha, I know what you mean with being indecisive about hairstyles. I always get scared that I’ll end up hating my new haircut after I get it done, but with the right stylist it’s always fine. And I’ve wanted to try that long & strong stuff, maybe I will now that I know it obviously works for girls with really long hair!
Marleah – I wash my hair every other day and usually I just kinda work with whatever style it’s in on the second day, maybe using some baby powder if it looks greasy. Sometimes I will put it up in a clip in the shower and other times I will just rinse it and condition the ends.
I usually wash daily because my hair gets greasy after a day also, but if I know that I’m not doing much that day, like if I only have one class, I just let it go. My question is though, if you don’t wash your hair everyday do you still wet it in the shower and re-style? or do you put it up in a clip or cap while you shower or it doesn’t get wet?
Lindsay – I know what you mean; I definitely have that problem at times too! A few tips to make you hair less greasy:
1. Don’t run your hands through it (your hands have tons of oils and that grease rubs off on your hair)
2. Use a clarifying shampoo
3. Don’t use too many products on your hair
Ultimately a lot of it is hormonal but luckily that means it might level off in a few years. Hope that helped!
Kendra – That’s a really good point. When I was researching for this topic, I saw a lot of recommendations for hair texture and it really makes sense. Not everyone has the exact same texture and therefore not every washing schedule will work for everyone!
Cadi – Wow, waist long hair? I’m impressed! I’ve always wanted my hair really long but I totally don’t have the patience to deal with uber long hair. And good call with the daily leave in for your ends. What brand do you use?
Meg – Summer is the worst time for my hair too, and funny thing about bangs – they always seem to get greasy the fastest! I just got side bangs and was introduced to this phenomenon recently. I think maybe they keep getting greasy because you’re always touching them to get them out of your face, you know? And I’m with you on cornstarch idea, although I prefer baby powder or even translucent face powder (i’m a blonde.) Matte bronzer should work well for brunettes.
My hair gets yucky quickly — especially in summer. I wash it when I shower every morning (though sometimes I take a weekend day off). Even now, though, my bangs start looking greasy by the afternoon if not sooner, and my part looks greasy at night and definitely by the next day.
Cornstarch is my friend.
If I don’t have time to wash/rewash my hair, I sprinkle it in, then blow dry and brush out.
It works really well if you’re blonde, I hear. I have to make sure that I get it out, though, because it makes my brown hair look grayish. I’ve heard that bronzer works well. I have a container of it that I don’t use, so maybe I’ll try it (maybe even mixing the two).
well it really does depend on your hair….i know black women are advised wash hair only once a week or every two weeks depending on the style. Its really just the diefference in texture. whereas people with a certain texture of hair wants to get rid of grease, black women with nappy hair want to keep as much as the natural oils in our hair that we can. too much washing strips our hir of those essential oils. people wearing natural hairstyles tend to condition between shampoos however…but for the most part, washing our hair every day is a big”no-no”
I always wash my hair every day becasue it gets sooo greasy! If I dont wash it I just hate the way it looks. Any tips to make your hair less greasy?