The opinions on the subject of how often to wash your hair vary widely. All I can do is share my opinion and experience, as well as others I know anecdotal evidence of “what works” to keep your hair (and let’s not forget the scalp) as healthy as possible.

After all, if we have healthy scalps, the health and appearance of our hair will naturally follow suit. We’ll also throw in a little information about frequent micro-trims, which I’m becoming increasingly convinced play a major role in keeping hair in tip top shape. Especially as we age. Related: Why Does My Hair Looks Bad Between Washes?

Theories and Opinions Vary Widely on Ideal Shampoo Frequency

If you put this topic into any search engine, you’ll come up with a full array of varying theories. Some say that washing hair every day is not healthy, others say that limiting your hair washing to once or twice a week is ideal while yet others think this would spell doom for your hair.

Some advocate for something called the “no poo” movement which is phasing out the use of traditional shampoo all together. It favors using things like baking soda and other common household ingredients in place of shampoo, and only treating it with these ingredients periodically.

Some say that shampooing every day is fine, but switching up the choice of hair care products every so often, even if something is working fantastically on your tresses, is important. So as you can see, it’s a pretty widely varied range of theories on what is best for your hair.

A lot of this also depends greatly on personal experimentation on what works best for YOUR HAIR. We all have different textured hair. We all have different skin types which means we also have different scalp types. Some of us have a scalp that tends to be on the dry side.

Others have an oilier scalp that may perhaps be more prone to impactions of debris and oil. Others may be prone to fungal infections (which results in itchiness and dandruff). The list goes on. Like finding the right products for your hair, it will take a little experimentation to also find the right wash frequency.

Why Might Infrequent Hair Washing Lead to Hair Loss?

The logical theory behind the linkage of infrequent shampooing and hair loss would be the effect this has on the scalp. Multiple factors can affect scalp health. They include the natural oiliness of your skin, tendency toward fungal infections, product buildup, excessive sweating, use of chemical treatments and more.

If you have an oily scalp, use a lot of products, or have a tendency toward dandruff and fungal infections, then you may be a candidate to wash your hair more often. Impaction of oils, dirt and everyday buildup of sebum can lead to an unhealthy scalp and even promote hair loss. Washing at least every other day can help prevent this issue.

If you blow your hair dry every time you wash and are concerned about increasing the frequency of heat treating that comes with increased shampooing, then try letting your hair air dry every other time. You can also switch to a low heat setting or buy a dryer that focuses on less damaging drying. This might be a tourmaline dryer, or a dryer that comes with cold and low heat settings. Related: Dyson Dryer Review

Your hair will likely take longer to dry (of course, this can be an annoyance), however you’re exposing it to less heat. Micro-trims can also be a fantastic way to beat the damage that comes from every day styling. Micro-trims just involve snipping off the very tips of the hair every month or so, between real haircuts. It helps to keep them fresh and healthy and helps to prevent split ends.

I’ve heard and experienced a lot of anecdotal evidence that waiting too long between washes can actually exacerbate hair loss and thinning. It has been my experience that this theory is true, at least for myself and my husband and a few others that have made this observation as well. This can be hard news to take, especially if you really don’t like to wash your hair.

It’s not just washing either, most people have a little follow up work to do after washing, like blowing it out and/or styling or applying products, or waiting for it to air dry. For me, the actual act of washing isn’t annoying, it’s the stuff I have to do afterwards that takes time and energy, something that I’m sometimes short on at the end of the day.

If this is true for you, try shifting your wash times to the time of day when you have the most energy, it can really help improve not only your outlook on washing, but also your results. For example, I used to wash at night before bed. Even though I would blow dry immediately after, it was never 100% dry when I hit the hay.

So, even if I went to bed with smooth hair, I’d often times wake up to kinky, unruly waves that needed further taming (more annoyance and styling). However, if I shift the hair washing to earlier in the day, say at the end of the work day or morning, my hair has a few hours at least in order to finish the drying process. The mere fact that it is laying flat in these crucial drying hours helps to increase the manageability of it all. Related: Remedies for Porous Hair