How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?

Wondering how often to wash your hair? We found out how often the average woman shampoos her hair, and we’re sharing the answer.

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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!

287 thoughts on “How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?”

  1. I wash my hair everynight because I have cheerleading and it gets REALLY oily if i don’t, I think if you’re not cheerleading every night twice or 3 times a week would be good. :]

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  2. but i do have a question…..does any body know how to do an “elephant braid” or a website that teaches me how to do it maybe????

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  3. I wash my hair everyday, I want my hair to smell good all the time! But like once a week I put olive oil in my hair for like an hour and it really keeps it moisturized.

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  4. Hi, i wash my hair every other day. My hair is thick and bushy, but thats okay. The problem is, its very brittle. I try conditioner but that just makes my hair greasy!! Somebody,help me!!!!

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  5. @maddie,

    if you do one or more of the following, that will cause split ends….
    only using shampoo (to fix, add conditioner to routine)
    blowdrying or excessive heat on hair (instead, try letting it dry naturally after combing thru leave-in conditioner)

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  6. …also, I am in my fortys, and I do have my hair colored to get the gray out. It is very long and if I leave it alone for 1-2 days, the ends get really knotted and it looks like it has been that way even when I brush it out. All I can say is help!!

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  7. I wash my hair every other day as well! I used to wash it everyday but it got so brittle even though I used a lot of conditioner and I’m a teenager. 🙂

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  8. I always wash my hair everyday & it seems to like it, it only ever gets greasy if i don’t wash it properly but other wise it’s fine.
    But i do find sometimes that i catch dandruff easy and i don’t know what to do, i don’t know if i should wash it again and try get rid of it because that means i’ll be washing it twice a day which i know is really bad for my hair. But all the hairdressers ive been too say my hair is healthy and loves being washed every single day. I think it’s to do with what type of hair you have (:

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  9. my hair takes an hour to flat iron….if i had to wash it everyday id go nuts!! lol
    But there is a product called rockaholic sold on amazon.com it is AMAZING it takes the oil out of you hair kinda like baby powder just less messy. : )

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  10. I think you should wash your hair every other day and dont brush it after you wash it and dont put anything in your hair and dont use the flat iron or any other irons.So you should do this routine for 1-2 weeks and after thats over if you use the flat iron or anything heat related use a heat defendant.

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  11. i have natural curly hair so i have to wash it every day and if i dont it gets frizzy and puffy but i heard that washing it every day makes it worser what do i do???

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  12. I have dry hair, so I tend to wash only 2x’s a week. But i’ve been working out lately and I sweat so I’ve had to wash everyday, and add leave in conditioner’s. Now, my hair is thinner. Comes out alot in the shower. What can I do to fix this problem?

    Reply

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