34 Responses to "How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?"

• Lindsay wrote on February 23, 2008 at 5:11 pm:

  I always wash my hair every day becasue it gets sooo greasy! If I dont wash it I just hate the way it looks. Any tips to make your hair less greasy?

• kendra wrote on February 23, 2008 at 9:19 pm:

  well it really does depend on your hair….i know black women are advised wash hair only once a week or every two weeks depending on the style. Its really just the diefference in texture. whereas people with a certain texture of hair wants to get rid of grease, black women with nappy hair want to keep as much as the natural oils in our hair that we can. too much washing strips our hir of those essential oils. people wearing natural hairstyles tend to condition between shampoos however…but for the most part, washing our hair every day is a big”no-no”

• Cadi wrote on February 23, 2008 at 11:34 pm:

  I REQUIRE washing daily. Honest to goodness, if I don’t wash daily, it SMELLS, and the slightest touch leaves yuck on my fingers. It’s quite nasty. It’s a royal pain, too, because my mane is waist length. The ends get a really good leave-in daily to make up for the constant washing.

• Meg from All About Appearances wrote on February 24, 2008 at 12:32 am:

  My hair gets yucky quickly — especially in summer. I wash it when I shower every morning (though sometimes I take a weekend day off). Even now, though, my bangs start looking greasy by the afternoon if not sooner, and my part looks greasy at night and definitely by the next day.

  Cornstarch is my friend.

  If I don’t have time to wash/rewash my hair, I sprinkle it in, then blow dry and brush out.

  It works really well if you’re blonde, I hear. I have to make sure that I get it out, though, because it makes my brown hair look grayish. I’ve heard that bronzer works well. I have a container of it that I don’t use, so maybe I’ll try it (maybe even mixing the two).

• Briana wrote on February 24, 2008 at 9:27 am:

  Lindsay - I know what you mean; I definitely have that problem at times too! A few tips to make you hair less greasy:
  1. Don’t run your hands through it (your hands have tons of oils and that grease rubs off on your hair)
  2. Use a clarifying shampoo
  3. Don’t use too many products on your hair
  Ultimately a lot of it is hormonal but luckily that means it might level off in a few years. Hope that helped!

  Kendra - That’s a really good point. When I was researching for this topic, I saw a lot of recommendations for hair texture and it really makes sense. Not everyone has the exact same texture and therefore not every washing schedule will work for everyone!

  Cadi - Wow, waist long hair? I’m impressed! I’ve always wanted my hair really long but I totally don’t have the patience to deal with uber long hair. And good call with the daily leave in for your ends. What brand do you use?

  Meg - Summer is the worst time for my hair too, and funny thing about bangs - they always seem to get greasy the fastest! I just got side bangs and was introduced to this phenomenon recently. I think maybe they keep getting greasy because you’re always touching them to get them out of your face, you know? And I’m with you on cornstarch idea, although I prefer baby powder or even translucent face powder (i’m a blonde.) Matte bronzer should work well for brunettes.

• Cadi wrote on February 24, 2008 at 5:47 pm:

  Briana: It’s hilarious, actually, the length is a product of inertia. I haven’t found any styles that I’ve loved enough to make the salon trip for, so I just let it grow. I did my quarterly trim the other day, 2″ off and it’s still 28″ long.

  Problem is it’s rather fine, so the roots get Pantene Volumizing mousse. Otherwise I use the Garnier Fructis Long and Strong stuff, and so far, so good. I dye my own hair too (Feria), so it should be a mess! So far so good, though :)

• Marleah wrote on February 24, 2008 at 6:37 pm:

  I usually wash daily because my hair gets greasy after a day also, but if I know that I’m not doing much that day, like if I only have one class, I just let it go. My question is though, if you don’t wash your hair everyday do you still wet it in the shower and re-style? or do you put it up in a clip or cap while you shower or it doesn’t get wet?

• kendra wrote on February 25, 2008 at 11:20 am:

  to answer your question Marleah, for those that dont wash their hair everyday, we wrap our hair up. Shower caps are ideal, but even just a simple plastic bag will keep the water out. for those that wear the “wavy” look, there is an option to re-wet the hair, but a spritzer is ideal.

• Briana wrote on February 25, 2008 at 6:33 pm:

  Cadi - Haha, I know what you mean with being indecisive about hairstyles. I always get scared that I’ll end up hating my new haircut after I get it done, but with the right stylist it’s always fine. And I’ve wanted to try that long & strong stuff, maybe I will now that I know it obviously works for girls with really long hair!

  Marleah - I wash my hair every other day and usually I just kinda work with whatever style it’s in on the second day, maybe using some baby powder if it looks greasy. Sometimes I will put it up in a clip in the shower and other times I will just rinse it and condition the ends.

• Sarah wrote on February 26, 2008 at 8:44 am:

  I have to wash my hair every other day. If i wait longer my hair gets really gross feeling but if i wash it every day after 3 or 4 days it starts to feel really dry and brittle.

• Chelsea wrote on February 26, 2008 at 12:31 pm:

  Good suggestions; as you guys said, we’re all different with our textures, preferences and daily activities. For those that run/swim daily, what do you do? I’m in the pool or ocean or running daily; I can leave the pool water on for a day but I worry it might do something funky to my hair dye. The ocean saltwater I have to rinse out, as with the running sweat. I’ve been rinsing/conditioning daily and shampooing about 2 times a week. Anyone else in a similar situation with suggestions?

• Cadi wrote on February 26, 2008 at 9:20 pm:

  Chelsea, do you wet down beforehand? I started doing that before I swim, and it makes a big difference.

• Nina wrote on March 1, 2008 at 1:45 am:

  “….i know black women are advised wash hair only once a week or every two weeks depending on the style.”

  This part of your statement is true I commend you on that but the rest, not so much.

  “Its really just the diefference in texture. whereas people with a certain texture of hair wants to get rid of grease,”

  Some hair types are pin-straight while other have thick & tight spring curls. Texture doesnt have alot to do with the amount of natural oils in your hair.
  A girl with pin-straight hair can have twice the amount of oil in their hair as the girl next to them with massive natural curls and vice-versa.

  “black women with nappy hair want to keep as much as the natural oils in our hair that we can”

  Black women arent the only women with varities of textures. From what I know for sure, hispanics are also included in this category are those who I can speak for. “Nappy” hair - just to let you know theres many different types of hair textures to categorizes them all as “nappy” is just shameful.

  Note famous people you may know: Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Lauryn Hill, Kat DeLuna, Jenifer Lopez, Vanessa Williams.
  Just to name a few.

  From my knowledge ethnic have different hair types, i dont know much about other ethnicities hair type but this is what I can speak on.

  There are many black women out there with oil-filled hair just not most.
  We usually need more hair oils helpers because of the styles, and procedures we do to our hair. Most ethnic women dont always have genetically straight hair so we apply heat, chemicals (relaxers, and such) which is not good for the hair instead of using natural-healthy styles like braids, puffs, etc,. Then on top of that, sometimes we do use chemically altering hair procedures without any counter-acting healthy hair procedures and we can be stuck with what seems like never-ending damage.Which causes to strip out natural oils to even a long-term basis.

  Genetics & hair lifestyles(”preferences and daily activities.”)

  for the most part, are what determines amount of hair oils not the texture.

  Just spreading some knowledge. Ciao.

• Briana wrote on March 1, 2008 at 11:43 am:

  Sarah - That’s exactly how it is with me. Washing every day just makes your hair feel really dry and brittle after a while. Do you highlight your hair? I think that’s what makes mine so dry.

  Chelsea - From what I read on this subject, you are definitely doing the right thing by rinsing/conditioning after being in the pool. Letting chlorine and/or salt water sit on your hair for any period of time is definitely a bad idea!

  Nina - I think what Kendra was saying is not that certain ethnicities of women have more oil in their hair but that in general, if you have rougher textured or naturally dried out or chemically processed hair, you might want to keep natural oils in there longer to condition your hair and reduce damage. I don’t think it had anything to do with texture being a predictor of amount of oil? Anyway, I don’t think it was meant to be offensive or anything.

• Yola wrote on March 5, 2008 at 4:37 pm:

  I don’t know if this applies to everyone, but I find that my hair can adjust to how often I wash it.

  When I was a kid I used to wash my hair everyday, but later on I read that that can really dry it out. So I started washing every 2-3 days. At first, my hair felt really greasy and gross the day after washing, but after about a week of this I found that it started to look better and better.

  There was one period of time when I switched back to washing everyday and then switched again to washing every 2-3 days. My hair went through the same process of feeling gross to feeling fine.

• Cadi wrote on March 5, 2008 at 9:09 pm:

  See, it’s that adjustment period that I just can’t hack. WAY too vain to go around with a lanky mess of stringy hair (and I’m not exaggerating, it really does get nasty QUICK). I may try the baby powder thing though. Can’t hurt!

• Briana wrote on March 6, 2008 at 9:12 am:

  Yola - That’s a really good point. I think most people’s hair will adjust to washing less frequently, although I’m not sure if it’s actually possible to make your hair produce less oil. The article I posted above says it’s not, apparently we just “get used to having greasy hair.” Idk if I agree.

  Cadi - I know right? It definitely is a pain at first when you stop washing daily, but if your hair is damaged you just can’t always wash it every day unless you want to get tons of split ends and dryness. Baby powder is definitely a life saver!

• Juls wrote on March 21, 2008 at 10:08 pm:

  I wash my hair 4-3 times a week, normally but when I get it straight (I have extremely curly and unruly hair) I wash it 1-2 times a week.

• Stephanie wrote on May 20, 2008 at 3:33 am:

  I wash my hair 3-4 times a week since I got bored and decided to cut my own bangs. My mom was so angry she went on the ‘your a minor and you gotta do what I say, college or not!’ rant.So now next week I’m going blonde, again. It looks natural even though my natural hair color is dark brown with reddish undertones. I’ve noticed that when my hair is light it’s almost never greasy, when it’s dark I have to wash it almost everyday. I know that there are certain shampoos for curly,straight and wavy hair, but I have a strange, catastrophic combination of all three, so I just end up buying whatever smells good. I’ve yet to find cherry blossom scented shampoo. I’d buy that in a heartbeat.

• Mhazz wrote on May 20, 2008 at 11:02 pm:

  I definitely have problems with oily/greasy hair, especially in the bangs department. One thing I’ve noticed is that not only touching your bangs makes them oily, but your forehead has a lot to do with it as well. Having naturally greasy skin, it’s caused my fringes to look absolutely horrible while the rest of my hair may look great. And baby powder, etc never works for me. I have a strange hairline, so when my bangs get greasy, the hair sort of clumps together and my flawless “swoop” is ruined.

  But most times, I’ve found what works best is to wet my bangs over the sink and add a little bit of diluted shampoo and work that in from the roots out, and then rinse and restyle with a hairdryer. It’s an extremely quick fix (as long as you get all the shampoo out, or it looks twice as dirty.) and it’s painless and easy. There’s my 2 cents away, =]

• Danielle wrote on May 24, 2008 at 12:02 am:

  I normally have super dry, unmanageable hair (that had been coloured every six months or so since the age of 12, and sun parched for years) which I was washing every other day to keep in check. When I switched to a better salon about two years ago, my stylist recommended only washing when needed. Figuring I’d give it a try, I realised I only need to wash my hair every ten days or so, depending on the weather. I recently had a chemical straightening to try and gain some control over the bonkers tresses and now I find I’m having to wash it about every week or so.

  What I can suggest to those with super dry hair is not to be afraid to not wash your hair every other day. Believe me, it makes dry hair even worse to handle. I found the best way to handle dry hair is with shampoos containing fruit extracts such as Garnier or Naturals (they seemed to work better than those without) and the same goes with product. I found the best for post-flatironed hair to be Garnier’s Sleek and Shine serum; it’s a tad oily but does a world of good for keeping the hair straight and frizz free.

  Also, if you are thinking of a chemical straighten, I would suggest it if you’re not afraid of the chemical part. It was a three hour process that lasts a good six months and can help with problem hair. Now, when I leave my hair to dry, it is more manageable (and straighter!!) than ever before. Used to take a good one and half hours to straighten it properly, compared to the fifteen minutes it takes now. It’s made second semester much easier to wake up, brush it out and not worry about walking up two hours before class just for a nice style.

• Jenni wrote on May 28, 2008 at 11:36 pm:

  If a lot of shampoos are stripping to your hair, I’ve heard of women using conditioner to wash their hair on most days and only using shampoo 1-2x/wk. That way if you want to “wash” everyday you can still keep some moisture in your hair. This works for me, but I had to find a good moisturizing conditioner that didn’t cause too much build up.

• Juls wrote on June 17, 2008 at 2:45 pm:

  I have big full, frizzy, 80’s hair! I could easily go a week or longer and it still be a huge poof.

  The one thing I found thats GREAT for hair like mine… is:

  JONATHAN SILKY DIRT

  It comes in this tube… it smells like vanilla maybe? or coconut? or something like that can’t quite pinpoint the smell.

  The trick is you barely have to use any… like not even close to a dime… usually I sqeeze the tube until it starts to come out like a milimeter (and i have really long full hair)… and just wipe that off onto my finger tip rub it in my hands and use that on dry hair (like you just need a little residue of it on your hands and thats enough)… it makes your hair shiny (the good shiny) and tames all the frizz… and gives the bottom just enough of a textury look.

  But beware… you probably will use too much the first time cause you won’t be able to fathom how little it takes. The bottle will probably last me a decade… but I never found a product that works so well for my hair type.

• laura wrote on July 10, 2008 at 8:39 pm:

  I used to wash my hair at least once a day otherwise it would fell greasy and dirty. Now i wash my hair every other day and it feels a lot healthier. this is sort of of topic but i have frizzy curly hair, would chemically straightening it make it more managible? would it be damaged and dried out? and if so then how often would i have to wash my hair

• Florencia wrote on July 11, 2008 at 10:14 pm:

  I wash my hair once a week, and it’s not about don’t wanna wash it or something, it’s beacuase I have curly hair, but the one with too much that looks all messed up. So I make it straight and it tooks lot of time and I get tired easily.

• Colleen wrote on July 17, 2008 at 5:04 pm:

  I have long, really thick hair.. so i wash it every other day (unless i work out or something). Since it’s so thick it doesnt get greasy. But sometimes if it randomly looks greasy, i put baby powder in it. it works so well. the powder makes your hair look really clean because it soaks up the grease i guess you could say… i know it sounds gross but it works!

• Kim wrote on July 28, 2008 at 1:46 am:

  I always felt bad about not washing my hair everyday…I just never needed to…it’s good to know I don’t have to embarrassed as times goes on :/

• tissue wrote on July 28, 2008 at 4:15 am:

  I have Asian hair (the naturally straight and long type)
  and have to wash it every day or else it looks greasy/smells

  However, I think it’s thinning on top. Any suggestions?

• beth wrote on August 4, 2008 at 12:51 pm:

  I have to wash my hair everyday. It even gets greasy at the end of the day. I have brunette hair so it looks dirty when it’s greasy. I don’t color my hair either. (not anymore since a bad hair fry 2 years ago) I only use Burt’s Bee’s Shiny Graipfruit Shampoo and Conditioner. I always get compliments on how natural my hair looks. I guess all that hair coloring all those years (about 15 years I colored) really dried my hair. Going natural looks much more natural. Who would have thought.

• stephanie wrote on August 5, 2008 at 2:09 am:

  I have Asian hair of the thick (it’s too big for my head), dry and coarse variety and I find washing it every 4 days really helps to weigh it down, so I don’t have to wear it tied back all the time. It helps that I have dry skin (eczema), so not washing my head too often is really good for my scalp. Personally, I think it really depends on the condition of your scalp, and not so much your hair. My mom has the same hair as me, but she has a normal scalp that greases up after a couple of days, so she’s just invested in a good hair care system rather than letting her natural oils aid her hair.

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• victoria wrote on August 10, 2008 at 6:27 am:

  (english is not my first language, but i hope you can read it)

  im also asian, and i have thick hair in a medium lenght ;)
  I usually wash my har at least every second day,
  ´cause i do alot of sports.
  But I wanna start to try to wash it every third day, ´cause i´ve just been in the hair salon, and my hairdresser told me to try that
  have tried it, but my hair looks so greasy the third day
  i´ve just started, but i don´t know if i should continue
  should I ?

• mandy wrote on August 11, 2008 at 3:39 pm:

  I wash my hair every day because if i don’t it looks so greasy. even by the the end of the day my hair will start looking greasy. i wish i could wash my hair less. i don’t know what to do.

• Nikhita wrote on August 14, 2008 at 7:21 pm:

  Well my hair is the most problematic thing ever. I have a nice face, nice features..and when I straighten my hair I feel like a model. However, my natural hair type is a huge bombardment of unruly and crazy frizzy curls. I love it when it’s just washed because it looks so nice wet, but I have tried every “wet look” product under the SUN and nothing works to keep that “wet look” for long. So I was reduced to straightening my hair right after I wash it, and then I would keep that style for 2-3 days {by wearing a shower cap while im showering} and then wash it again. So basically I straightened my hair twice every week, and I washed it 2-3 times every week {Sunday, Wednesday, Friday}. When I was younger, I used to wash my hair once every week {Sundays}. I never felt it was a problem, and I never felt gross and my hair was still frizzy, but I had no split ends. But then I learned that everyone around me {with straight hair, mind you} seemed to wash their hair everyday, so I, like a fool, started doing the same. Now I feel the grease in my hair if I don’t wash it atleast 2-3 times a week, and it feels gross, so I am not comfortable washing it once every week. However, because I wash my hair so much now, combined with having to straighten it, I have split ends, and my long, previously split end free hair is now riddled with split ends. Please help me. My hair type is crazy insanely curly {and not the good, Beyonce/Vanessa Hudgens/Alyssa Milano curls} and I just want some advice, or hair products to make my curls look NICE so I can finally get my hair cut and have it look nice without any straightening. Not only does straightening take so much time in the mornings, its the reason I have split ends and my hair is so dry and brittle. I hate the split ends in my hair and the dry brittleness. Please PLEASE help me. I need good curl products!

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