How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?

     There are many opinions as to how often you should wash your hair.  History denotes that it was very acceptable to only wash your hair once a month.  Of course this was back in the 1800's!  In the 1970's the common woman would frequent the beauty salon once a week and would attempt to manage that hairstyle all week long.  Today, people associate unwashed, greasy hair as being uneducated and unclean.

     Your scalp is covered with sebaceous glands that are attached to each hair follicle.  These sebaceous glands are constantly secreting sebum (oil) which is the direct component for the natural ability to moisturize your skin and hair.  We all have secretory cells that absorb fats from our body and expel these fats up through the hair follicle and onto the scalp.  These fats are pushed up onto the scalp in the form of sebum.

     Now to answer the question at hand.  Generally most people wash their hair every other day.  People with fine hair tend to wash their hair more often, because the oil they produce on their scalp can make their hair feel heavy and clumpy.  People with thick, curly hair can go a week or longer because their hair has a harder time pushing the sebum up onto the hair shaft.  Allowing the sebum to distribute into thick course hair will actually make the hair healthier, more manageable, and lustrous.

       What about the shampoo?  Shampoo's that lather really well contain sulfates that contribute to unhealthy, dull hair.  It's the sulfates in the shampoo that create the lather.  Many people associate the lather of the shampoo as to how clean their hair is after shampooing.  There are many shampoo's out there that do not contain sulfates, of course you will have little to no lather depending on the manufacturer.

     People who do not shampoo their hair every day often condition their hair even though they haven't applied shampoo.  This makes their hair have less tangles and makes the hair smell nice and clean.  There are also dry shampoo's that are actually sprayed onto the root of the hair.  They absorb the oil and then the product is brushed out of the hair dragging the excess oil with it.  Two products that come to mind are Redken's "Powder Refresh" and L'oreal's "Fresh Dust".

     So you determine how often you wash your hair as to how clean you feel.  I personally wash my hair each day, as I can't stand the littlest amount of oil on my scalp or face.  As a result, my hair does lack the luster it could potentially have, but that is a problem I am will to face each day when I look in the mirror.    

Check out this video for Powder Refresh by Redken