How Often Should you Wash your Hair

We all wonder about how often should you wash your hair, and certainly fail to find any factual reason for it. As a conventional practice, we wash hair one a week or twice. We follow the old school theory without even knowing if it is right or wrong for our hair health.

Hair stylists and experts do not state any set rule for how many times one should wash their hair. It is more about the hair quality and type than about anything else. Some hair textures may require a lot more washing than others. Some skin types perspire a lot thus prompting more hair wash.

The shampoo contains harsh chemicals and washing with water causes the hair to lose its natural oils and moisture. So it is better to go without hair wash for a few days. If you wash your hair everyday or once in 2 weeks, this is not same for everyone. You may skip a few days. But how many days, is a question we will learn about here.

How Does Hair Wash Work On Our Hair:

Before learning about how often to wash hair, let us learn what impact does washing have on our hair.

• Washing hair is a process where you put shampoo and conditioners once or multiple times. You can use hot or cold water and pick anytime of the day to wash you hair.
• Using shampoo helps in trapping oils from hair follicles. Sebum is the natural oil in our pores and follicles. When we put shampoo its washes out all this sebum
• Shampoo acts as an emulsifier which traps dirt, grime and grease in hair. Shampoo removes them all but we need some amount of sebum to keep the hair hydrated
• Conditioner helps in hair softening and moisture to bring back the benefits of lost sebum.
• Hot or warm water damage the hair shaft and making it brittle over time
• Drying hair using a dryer makes the hair damaged
• Shampoo removes dead skin from scalp along with infections.

Should I wash my hair everyday:

Washing hair everyday is damaging and bad for hair health. It removes necessary oils and moisture content too. Shampooing everyday can be an option only for a selected few who have a specific hair texture. Some situations where you may wash your hair everyday or in twice days:

1- You workout and sweat badly everyday:

Post gym hair if gets too sweaty and you have a habit of working out everyday, then you must wash your hair everyday. Sweat can damage your hair and you need to clean it well. Thus shampoo is the only option for you everyday.

2- You have thin hair and too oily texture:

When you have too thin hair and too oily scalp you must wash your hair more to keep them off infections. Wash you thin hair daily if you like them soft and shiny without oily greasy patches

3- You have a huge dandruff problem:

For women with huge problem of dandruff, you may have to wash them a lot more. As dandruff makes the scalp shed skin and get dehydrated. Washing will help in soothing the itch on scalp

4- Your environment is too humid:

In humid environments it is very difficult to keep your hair clean except by washing them often. Washing hair regularly is the best way to beat the environmental humidity.

5- You want long and shiny hair:

When you want long and shiny hair you must wash them regularly and keep the oil and dirt away

6- There is immense pollution in your area and it is causing damage to hair

Some important factors which decide how often should you shampoo your hair:

There are several factors which help in deciding how often should you shampoo your hair. Some such factors are:

1. Hair texture: The hair which is curly and thick is naturally stable and does not need too much washing. But hair which is thin and straight needs more washing.
2. Curly haired people should not wash your hair too frequently and avoid harsh chemicals of shampoo
3. Hair which have been artificially colored must not be washed regularly as it reduces the hair color too quickly.
4. If you sweat more, you will have to wash your hair more
5. If you drink too much body heating foods, you may dehydrate your body internally which may cause hair shaft to thin down. This hair must not be washed regularly.
6. Washing hair everyday removes the good oils, proteins and natural minerals from hair scalp.
7. Frizzy hair must not be washed more than once a week, and apply more oils
8. Find your hair details: You must figure out which shampoo plus conditioner combination works best for you. This will help in better hair quality. For oily hair conditioner is not that good. As it makes the hair quality bad.
9. Environment also plays an important role in determining how often to wash your hair.
10. Dry hair requires more washing of hair but less of shampoo.
11. Hair which are permed or curled must not be washed much at all, as it will open the curls

[Read: Aloe vera for hair loss treatment]

How often to shampoo hair:

After all the above factors let us learn how much are you supposed to wash your hair. Base on your hair type you may have to wash them more or less. But one thing remains certain despite you wash more than once a week, the shampoo must be applied only once a week.

• Shampoo dry hair once a week
• Shampoo oily hair twice a week
• Normal hair must be applied shampoo with, when need be
• Women with artificial hair colors should not shampoo hair too often as it reduces the hair shades
• Brunettes must wash hair twice a week using shampoo\
• Long hair must not be applied shampoo more than once a week
• People with sweat problem must wash hair everyday but not shampoo more than twice a week.
• Use natural shampoo for washing more than once a week, this will have least damage on your hair

How often should I condition my hair:

Conditioners give nourishment and strength to hair from follicles. Conditioning must be done when ever you use shampoo on hair to keep the hair moisture regained and intact. But using conditioners on a daily basis not only damage the hair but cause immense hair fall too. Use oil before hair wash to minimize the need for conditioning. Use mild and natural based conditioners for your hair.

For hair which are colored, you need more nourishment and care thus more conditioners. For hair with dry scalp, you need more conditioning. For oily hair, you need less conditioning.

How are you supposed to wash your hair:

Some tips on washing your hair without damaging the hair qualities are:

• Use cold of mildly warm water to wash hair, this prevents harsh effects on hair
• Use a gentle shampoo
• Never use a concentrated shampoo, first dilute with cold water.
• Shampoo twice to remove all the dirt and grime. If you wash your hair everyday don’t use shampoo everyday
• Leave shampoo and conditioner for at least 5-7 minutes before washing them away.

Conclusion:

The above compilation on How often should you wash your hair is to help you keep the hair quality intact and prevent cosmetic or chemical harm on them. Take a healthy diet and have proper 8 hours of sleep every night to enrich hair and health. Share ahead and keep writing us, we love hearing from you!

Minu Manisha