There are some clear tell-tale signs when you under-wash your hair: greasy roots being the main one, but how do you know if you’re over-washing your hair?
As a nation, and even amongst our friendship groups, there’s a pretty wide sliding scale when it comes to how regularly we hair wash. A survey undertaken by Philip Kingsley found that only one in 10 women report washing their hair daily, 21% say every other day, 45% say they shampoo two to three times a week, then there’s 24% who wash it even less frequently.
So… who’s in the right? We spoke to Anabel Kingsley, brand president and lead consultant at Philip Kingsley to find out what the trichologists recommend.
How often would you recommend washing your hair?
This can depend upon differing factors like your hair type and your lifestyle. For instance, “your hair texture can impact how oily your scalp is,” explains Anabel. “Those with fine textured hair tend to have more hairs per centimeter on their head than those with thick, coarse, or coiled hair textures and therefore they have more oil glands producing more sebum. This is the reason those with fine hair often feel their hair gets greasy quickly, and why they feel the need to wash it daily to avoid the appearance of flat, limp roots.”
As a general rule of thumb, if you have fine hair, you should ideally be aiming to wash your hair daily. “ If you have medium textured hair, try to shampoo daily to every other day,” says Anabel. And, “ideally coarse and curly hair textures should leave no more than three days between shampoos,” she says.
Lifestyle factors can play a part, too. For instance, if you’re going to the gym and sweating lots or if you’re applying products that build-up like hair gel or dry shampoo, you should be making sure you’re cleansing your scalp regularly.
What are the problems that can arise with over-washing hair?
You may have heard the old wives tale that washing your hair too regularly can make it greasy, but when done correctly, hair washing shouldn’t be responsible for making hair oily, says Anabel. “You can’t train your hair to become less oily, but you can minimize oil production through topical scalp toners and serums that help to balance the scalp,” she says. Likewise, “avoiding oily, fatty or sugary foods can also have an impact,” she notes.
Hair washing has also been held responsible for fading hair color quicker, encouraging frizz and split ends, and stripping scalps of moisture, but this, Anabel says, is less down to the act of washing your hair and more to do with the products you’re choosing. “Using the correct products for your hair texture that deliver the correct levels of moisture should not be stripping,” she says. “If regularly shampooing makes your hair feel dry you are simply using the wrong shampoo.”
The takeaway? “You can’t really wash your hair too frequently—although I wouldn’t recommend more than once daily,” says Anabel.
How can you tell if you’re over-washing your hair?
This is a trick question since, as Anabel alluded to above: “There are no pros to not washing your hair,” she says. “You take your hair and scalp to the same places you take your face, and it gets just as dirty. Your scalp is a living tissue: It sweats, produces oils, and sheds skin cells. You wouldn’t leave more than three days between washing your face, and you likely wouldn’t wear the same outfit more than a few times before washing it—apply the same thinking to your hair and scalp.”
