How often should I wash my hair?

How much should I be washing my hair?

In the health and wellness world we sometimes we hear differing answers on the age old question - am I washing my hair too much, or not enough?

We wanted to dig in on this question to find the answer that promotes the healthiest hair.

It turns out the answer, unsurprisingly, is that it depends - both on the type of hair you have and how active you are.

Why is washing your hair important?

When we wash our hair, we not only clean our hair, but also our scalp. Our hair follicles are surrounded by both oil glands and skin cells which produce an oily substance called sebum. This helps protect our hair follicles, and prevent against moisture loss from the scalp (and skin!).

However, like anything, too much sebum, or too little sebum can impact our hair health and growth. Shampooing your hair also helps remove any dirt, hair care product build up, and sweat from your scalp and hair shafts.

General rules of thumb to follow

• If you hair is oily, or you exercise a lot, you can wash it every day or every other day.

• If you have drier hair, curlier hair, or chemically treated hair, you may not require washing as often!

• As we age, your scalp produces less oil, so you may not need to wash as frequently.

• If you aren’t washing as often - take note for flakes which may indicate dandruff or other scalp issues.

• Remember when you are shampoo-ing to concentrate the shampoo on the scalp itself rather than the entire length of the hair shaft, which can dry out the length of the hair.

• Use a conditioner to help improve the health and look of the hair shaft - concentrating the conditioner just on the hair length and not on the scalp.

• Protect your hair when swimming - either by wearing a swim cap, conditioning before, or deep conditioning afterwards.

Curious about more hair health tips - or want to investigate any changes to hair health? Book an appointment with one of our naturopathic doctors or nurse practitioner to discuss further!