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 have to wash it every day because even though my hair is moderatly thick, it miraculously gets greasy over night. It doesn’t particularly bother me, taking me only about 10 minutes every morning to crouch over the bath tub and shower my hair alone. Another bonus is that i’m quite lucky as my hair drys into ringlets meaning that i dont have to bother with any hair products or blowdrying.
    To be truthful my hair did look very nice for the first 6 months since the start of my daily routine, but when we when the winter hit and it was time to take out the scarves and hats, i started getting absolutely terrible tangles and the base of my head, hidden under a layer of hair. They were so impossibly tangled that i could have teased them into thick dreadlocks if i wished and i started shampooing and conditioning over the tangles! After painful hours spent de-tangling my hair felt so frizzy and brittle i realised it was the abusive washing that had made my hair very susceptible to tangling (plus constantly putting on and removing my scarf). My dad (of all people) told me to brush my hair regularly, not to detangle it, but to spread the natural oils all around my hair. Hopefully with doing this i wont get greasy roots and all of my hair will be hydrated.

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  2. Helloo someone? ,

    I need help seriously ?
    I wash my hair everyday as i think my hair the next day will be greasy and i dont wanna be laughed at do i ?
    I have tryed everything like leaving my hair and not washing it when im at home and not doing anything but it dosent work , i see it dunt help as i push my hair across my face but i dont want to stop doing this as i really do like it :).

    Any tips how to make my hair not look greasy ?

    please reply as soon as …thankss sophie x

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  3. I usually wash my hair every other day,so do you thinks that good?
    Also my hair isnt thin but its not thick so its in between.

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  4. my hair is black, but after many times’ washing it turns brown or a little yellow. I’m really worrying about that. I think I have to wash hair per two days, that will be better.

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  5. I only wash my hair twice a week, and i thought before that it got to greasy, but then i noticed that it actually looked fine, you may think you’re hair looks gross, but trust me no one will notice if you don’t wash it everyday, and you will notice in a month how much healthier it is

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  6. I wash my hair every 3 days, but on the days in between I still rinse it in the shower. I find that helps stop it from getting greasy.

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  7. Recently, I’ve started washing my hair more often. Usually I only did it two or three times a week but then my hair got yuck oily the day after I washed. It’s gross. So I started washing my hair every other day and my hair tends to be less oily, look like it has more volume. Hahaha, and something I just tested was “Olive Oil Conditioner”. I gotta tell ya, my hair has grown long lengths since I started using it. Anyways… personally I think every other day is a decent to wash hair. 😀 USE OLIVE OIL CONDITIONER!!! (dont literally use olive oil itself… not sure what that’ll do to ya, use the actual conditioners for em)

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  8. i wash my hair every day cause i play soccer every day of the week very competitive and i am in high school i am dominican so i have some native american blood and my father is irish german polish he is a mutt so my hair is very smooth and i straighten curl and blow dry everyday for 2 years now and well my hair has not been damaged yet it is i perfect condition and it is also naturally curls and still curls beautifully i only use 2 heat protecters one when its wet and one when dry before you you use heat and i do not pt and conditioner on my scalp and i use clarifying shampoo once a month

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  9. I wash my hair everyday but now i must stop! i made myself a schedule [which you should do] and im washing my hair 4 times a week cause if i dont wash it for too long, it smells bad and looks kinda greasy. im OBSESSED with making my hair smell good 🙂 lol but yeah, 4 times a week is good 🙂

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  10. I have very curly hair that is dry. I can only wash it once a week, max, like most people with curly hair like this:

    http://www.lifamilies.com/chat/p/1045603_1.jpg

    Since most people have oily hair (straight or wavy) they don’t really get this, but my mother’s a hairstylist and so I’ve learned it’s so damaging to wash your hair so much. It will damage it.

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  11. except in teh summer. cause i swim everyday and thats when iwashed everday to get teh chorlie out. but i dont straighten my hair int eh summmer

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  12. i wash my hair sunday night. then i starighten it.
    most of the time i leave it lyk this all week. i am mixed so my hair is differnt. if you are black you kno what im talking about…

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  13. I wash my hair everyday. My hair is more on the dry side, however, i live in a big city with lots of air pollution and i spend a lot of time out. So every night when i clean my face the little cotton pads really turn GRAY because of the filth i take off! So imagine what gets in my hair! And im supposed to go to sleep like that, with it rubbing in my face all night and smelling like smoke and petrol? No way.

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  14. i can’t not wash my hair everyday, i tried it for a while but i just hated the feeling of my hair the next day. i don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s really thick or what but i just didn’t like it.

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  15. i used to wash my hair everyday, and secretly, i thought it helped my hair become glossier and healthier.
    recently, i was told washing it once every two days works.
    i do this, if it’s feeling greasy i use dry shampoo which works wonders and is pretty cheap!
    xxxxxxxxxxx

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  16. I wash my hair once every two days!
    i dont think it is good to wash your hair everyday :/
    but i suppose it just depends on what your hair is like!

    Reply

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