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!
as a women of color i think our hair should wash once a week. and trim every two weeks
okay. i was planning to not wash my hair but it seriously smells. how can i not wash it if i sweat my head scalp?
I wash my hair about once a week. I don’t really pay attention to when the last time I washed it was… mainly just how my hair looks. I just wash my hair when it looks greasy!
Most of the time, i don’t use very much product, so I don’t need to wash it often. But I do occasionally use mousse, hairspray, and cream combination to try to tame my waves, and all that product usually results in me needing to wash my hair.
I also have a fairly dry scalp, and live in a dry climate (Gotta love Colorado, where 30% is extremely humid!), so just combing my hairs natural oils through really helps my damaged hair!
SOmetimes though, when it’s time to wash my hair, my scalp gets really really itchy, does anyone else have this problem? Or know what causes it? I don’t want to have to switch to a “Head and Shoulders” product, because I have color treated hair and I’m scared it would fade it.
i wash my hair everyother day it seems to work. my hair looks great. i get a lot of complments on my hair
I wash my hair about 3 times a week when I have a bath or shower, I have quite short hair so it dries quite quickly. If I go swimmimg I shower and wash my hair too as it starts to dry out if I don’t wash it owing to the chemicals in the pool. I used to wash my hair more often but found it went very stiff and dry so I stopped washing it to often. My hair doesn’t get greasy at all but I like to keep it clean and looking nice, you have to find a happy medium really some people need to was their hair more often than others.
I am an african american female,and i have 12 inches of thick relaxed hair,i wash my hair everyday following cantu leave in conditioner,i stay away from heat styling.and my hair is free from split ends and not dry at all.i just cut my hair two weeks ago,it was 16 inches long .i have always washed my hair quite often.and i love it.I find that ethnic people are being miseducated.
I am quite shocked about how little you people know about your hair! You must be insane if you are washing your hair everyday or trying to kill it.
I have super fine blond hair and I only shampoo twice a week and very few people have fine hair. Most people have medium hair and really only need to wash once a week. If your hair is coarse or kinky your natural hair oils take extra long to get to the ends. I nice little board bristled brush can help you spread the oil from you roots to the rest of your hair.
My roots can get oily but that is what DRY SHAMPOO is for. Ever heard of this magical little product? I live in a little town in Wisconsin and even we have a store that sells it. Most brands carry a blond or brunette version but some even have ones for people with black hair. Check out drugstore.com I promise you there is a dry shampoo for you!
NO ONE needs to wash their hair everyday. If it is “smelling” funky most hair products now a days are scented….just a little FYI. Please become more educated about your hair. I am sure you are all fairly educated about your skin…at least I hope so. Spend the same time getting to know your hair and give it a reprieve from your daily washings.
Chelsea- It is called a swim cap I suggest you invest $5 in one.
I have to wash my hair everyday. I am blonde and my hair is a natural disaster, it curls around my face and then frizzes out everywhere else. It’s about halfway down my back too. I wash it every day because it starts to feel gross after awhile, especially the parts around my face because I never pull it back. So it’s daily washing and straightening for me. I haven’t noticed my hair being dried out or anything, but I do get split ends a lot so when that happens I just get it trimmed and problem solved.
lady3
Dry shampoo is basically a powder spray, you spray it in your roots and it absorbs the oils.. its amazing rockaholic is a good brand : )
Its perfect for people who’s hair gets oily and they feel like they should wash it everyday (which actually washing your hair everyday makes your hair produce more oil, so they are just making it worse) these people should also try a light conditioner!!!!!!!
I’m here to talk about Hair Growth really quick. try only DNC Spectuarl for hair and the shampoo dnc.. you will see big changes.. also we will have stem cell grow hair for good in 2010… last headach we need. please if any doctor or anyone states of hair not growing back if your fully bold. thats a full of b.s crock. take raw vitamines the vitamine code. nothing else.. take women’s or men’s dht blocker. in studies of dec 5th 2009 recent studies have just found that it’s actually proceia which shocked most people. which is a good thing. but dht blocker is aslo something the helps stop the hair loss, we are thrilled about the stem cell research thats been so popular and so happy that we have finally found a cure to rebuild the body. more information on this soon. thank you
I usually wash my hair every other day, depending on whether I work out or if I’m being lazy, I have really thick hair so this might be part of the reason I can go a day or two without washing, I’ve als found that f you brush your hair into the right place and dont mess with it or lett it move on it’s own it tends to look less greasy.
Sohpie: My friend has the same problem, and since she has red hair it really shows if its greasy, she washes her hair every morning and uses plenty of shampoo and blow dries it so it wont look greasy!
also I’ve heard that there is stuff you can put in your hair to make it look less greasy but I’m not sure what it is?
i have a big problem in my hair. i have a kinky, oily, dry hair. i use a lot of chemicals but it doesnt work.. can you help me or give me an advice??
please!!
im 15 and im a cheerleader so i put my hair up alot and use LOTS of hairspry and gel
my hair stylist said when your in the shower do this:
1.wet hair with cold water
2.shampoo(gets oils out)
3.shampoo again ( actually cleans)
4.condition only use alittle and barely on roots and brush it in
out of shower.
1.dont play with your hair
2. when you sleep at night use a new pillow every so often
on saturday i have all this hairspray in my hair and when i took it out of a HIGH ponytail my hair looked so pretty and i didnt wash my hair the next day it looks wonderfull still
so i shower 3 times a week
its disgusting at first but it gets better wear it up if you have to the 2ed day
Just wanted to share my experience especially after seeing so many people say they HAVE to wash their hair every day…
I’ve always noticed that my hair looks and feels best the day AFTER I wash it. Or even the day after that. The day I wash my hair, it is always a little frizzy (Yes I do use conditioner, and GOOD conditioner too, but it still does it). The day after, it is softer, more manageable, and the frizzies disappear. But when I was a child and teenager, I never really took it past noticing that, and still continued to wash my hair somewhere between every day and every other day.
Lately, however, I’ve been really noticing that I can go quite a while longer without washing than I’ve been told I should wash. I can even go a week without washing and my hair looks great. It starts to feel disgusting after that though, so I think a week is about my limit for how long I can go. I have been pushing it longer and longer so now I’ve come up with 1 week for about how long I should go between washings.
You would never guess, because my hair is pretty thin, but I have a lot of it. That’s what my hairdressers always say. They’re always very surprised, because the texture of my hair is thin, but I have lots of hairs. I think it’s because I’ve stopped washing my hair so often. Ever since I cut down on washings, my hair’s texture has improved and I get compliments.
Anyone with frizzy or dry hair should try washing it less often. It really helps.
This is a great question. Maybe 2 – 3 times a week at least. You don’t want to go around people with your hair smelling sour or stinky.
I wash my hair every 3rd fay. The firstday i wash…i allow it to dry natuarally rather than blow dry. Blow dry almost causes split ends and damages the hair cuticle. Just towel dry for 2-3 minutes. It takes couple of hours to dry completely …but it looks like i applied gel or something for a while. After it dries, i just comb it and style it. The second day it looks more awesome . I just wait for the second day… the 3rd day…it gets a bit greasy and then I wash it. Always conditioning after shampooing as the weather is dry. if its humid…conditioning is not required.
For too greasy hair…avoid too much conditioning , or just try not conditioning.Also using a herbal shampoo will help