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!
to answer your question Marleah, for those that dont wash their hair everyday, we wrap our hair up. Shower caps are ideal, but even just a simple plastic bag will keep the water out. for those that wear the “wavy” look, there is an option to re-wet the hair, but a spritzer is ideal.
“….i know black women are advised wash hair only once a week or every two weeks depending on the style.”
This part of your statement is true I commend you on that but the rest, not so much.
“Its really just the diefference in texture. whereas people with a certain texture of hair wants to get rid of grease,”
Some hair types are pin-straight while other have thick & tight spring curls. Texture doesnt have alot to do with the amount of natural oils in your hair.
A girl with pin-straight hair can have twice the amount of oil in their hair as the girl next to them with massive natural curls and vice-versa.
“black women with nappy hair want to keep as much as the natural oils in our hair that we can”
Black women arent the only women with varities of textures. From what I know for sure, hispanics are also included in this category are those who I can speak for. “Nappy” hair – just to let you know theres many different types of hair textures to categorizes them all as “nappy” is just shameful.
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From my knowledge ethnic have different hair types, i dont know much about other ethnicities hair type but this is what I can speak on.
There are many black women out there with oil-filled hair just not most.
We usually need more hair oils helpers because of the styles, and procedures we do to our hair. Most ethnic women dont always have genetically straight hair so we apply heat, chemicals (relaxers, and such) which is not good for the hair instead of using natural-healthy styles like braids, puffs, etc,. Then on top of that, sometimes we do use chemically altering hair procedures without any counter-acting healthy hair procedures and we can be stuck with what seems like never-ending damage.Which causes to strip out natural oils to even a long-term basis.
Genetics & hair lifestyles(“preferences and daily activities.”)
for the most part, are what determines amount of hair oils not the texture.
Just spreading some knowledge. Ciao.
Sarah – That’s exactly how it is with me. Washing every day just makes your hair feel really dry and brittle after a while. Do you highlight your hair? I think that’s what makes mine so dry.
Chelsea – From what I read on this subject, you are definitely doing the right thing by rinsing/conditioning after being in the pool. Letting chlorine and/or salt water sit on your hair for any period of time is definitely a bad idea!
Nina – I think what Kendra was saying is not that certain ethnicities of women have more oil in their hair but that in general, if you have rougher textured or naturally dried out or chemically processed hair, you might want to keep natural oils in there longer to condition your hair and reduce damage. I don’t think it had anything to do with texture being a predictor of amount of oil? Anyway, I don’t think it was meant to be offensive or anything.
I have thin, brown, straight hair. When I was 13 I started washing my hair everyday.I’ve been washing my hair everyday for 2 years now. It gets greasy and oily after 1 day of not washing. Does anyone have any tips on how to train your hair and fast. So it doesn’t get greasy and oily.
I wash my hair with shampoo everyday and one dayitry to skipped it only for one day my hair fall like 150 hair
I once had a very thick wavy black hair and i used to wash it everyday twice in the morning and night. It doesn’t last long after I dyed my hair red. My hair becomes more frizzy and dry. I change my shampoo method. i wash my hair every 2 days only at night with cold water. I will use the shampoo, conditioner and also the hair treatment mask. Whenever I feel uncomfortable with my hair smell, I will put on a leave on hair cream from the middle till the edge of my hair tips. It helps a lot. My hair is now more silky, smoother and it adds more volume to the wave of the hair. AVOID BRUSHING YOUR HAIR AFTER SHOWER OR DURING SHOWER AS OUR HAIR IS MOST FRAGILE WHEN ITS WET.
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I wash my hair usually every other day but I don’t use shampoo every time. I use too and I’ve noticed that if i don’t i don’t have as bad split ends and its a lot softer, shinier and looks healthier. I use hair spray but almost never use de-tangler because it makes my hair look greasy.
I think washing your hair every 2/3 days is good.(for me). I used to wash my hair everyday. then it started.to fall out. badly. Now i have super thin hair. when my hair gets greasy between those days i use baby powder where the grease is. it works great and doesnt leave your hair white looking or make it smell bad. it acually makes it smell fresh!
I have really oily hair. I can barely go a day without showering without my hair feeling greasy. Should I use dry shampoo or should I just wash my hair everyday? I’d really appreciate the advice, it would save my hair haha.
I wash my hair monthly…..I think thats the best
My super fine thin hair finally has body and sexy hold, because I quit washing it more than once a week. I let the product build up and so does my hairstyle. I protect it from my daily hot shower and wet it with cold water at the end of my shower, then restyle. Eventually I have to wash and have one day of limp hair, too clean to stay up… Took me 55 years to figure this out.
My hair used to get greasy really quickly, I used to have to wash it every day. But since I have sort of trained my hair and now I only wash it once a week. Don’t get me wrong it is like a chip pan by about the fourth day but it is a lot easier to work with as for the rest of the week I put it in a scruffy/styled bun. It’s much better for my hair and when I do wash it, it feels absolutely amazing and really light and nourished! I bleach my hair so it definitely does it some good, always helps to use a good shampoo and conditioner. I like to use the green loreal kerastase range, you only use a tiny bit and because I’m only using once a week it literally lasts about a year. So well worth the investment! 🙂
When I was around 12 years old my mother wouldn’t allow me to wash my hair more often than twice a week. To her mind, the more often you wash your hair, the quicker it gets greasy again…
Nowadays, I wash my hair every day or every second day. I tried to reduce the times of weekly washes, because it is said that your hair gets used to that rate and wouldn’t get greasy so quickly. However, it turns out my hair is of that kind of texture that requires frequent washing, so…
My hair gets greasy after two days, but I wash it in the evening of the 3rd day, because I love the way my hair looks on the “2nd-day hair”. The little grease makes my hair look really wavy, and I love it!
I was recently washing every other day, 4 times a week. But my hair started getting worse and worse on the second day, feeling greasy and unmanageable. I tried using the type of hair spray that’s supposed to clean and freshen your hair on the second day- well, it kinda cleaned out some oils, but left an unpleasant stiffness in my side bangs. I have awfully curly and puffy brown hair after it is dried, so I always straighten it.But since it feels weird on the second day, I should probably start to wash every day.
Funny thing is, when I was a little kid, my mom would wash my hair once a week. but now as I get older, I’m doing it more and more freqently, becuase it’s getting dirtier and dirteir Anyone else find that a little wierd? For most people it would be the opposite (they would start to wash less and less.)
Also, like I said, I always have to straighten my hair with a flat iron to make it look nice. But how do you do that if you shower in the morning? I used to do that, but even after I blow dried after my shower, it still wouldn’t be completely dry. So, my hair wouldn’t get very straight– and mostly puffy. But i couldn’t do much of a thing, since I’d soon have to leave for work. So I’ve switched to showering only in the afternoon, when i get home. I think it’s like that becuase straigtening right after showering and blow drying doesn’t give your hair enough time to self-dry, or air-dry. I always need at least a half hour to do that.
So as I’ve learned, it all depends on the person. I have a friend who is African American, and she straightens her hair, too. She says she can last as long as a month without washing, but she does it a few times a week to be ‘normal.’ It’s so funny how different people’s hair types can be. And I now that dark skinned people have dry hair, so they must have less oil in it, so it takes longer to get dirty.