How Often You Should Wash Your Hair Depending on Your Hair Type

Washing our hair is one of those things we feel we’re never doing right. Some of us feel like we’re washing it way too much, while others feel like we’re not washing it enough. The answer to this dilemma is knowing your hair type.

Different hair types require different kinds of care. So, if you’re stumped on how often to wash your hair, read on for quick tips for shampooing your locks.

Daily / Every 2-3 Days:

For Fine Hair: Fine hair tends to absorb more oil than other hair types, which means you should be washing it more often. If possible. you can wash your hair every day, especially if you frequent the gym.

Time may be an issue, though, so a quick spritz or two of dry shampoo is a great alternative, helping to absorb any excess oil in your hair.

This suits a variety of groups including,

• very short hair (under 4 inches)
• daily exercisers or jobs involving a lot of physical activity/dirt
• oily hair (any length)
• for medical reasons (for example dandruff management)

Why: Daily washing can be very taxing to hair which is not oily. Oil plays a role in protecting hair from damage as well as protecting it from moisture loss. Daily washing can deplete this oil and additionally many shampoos and soaps can irritate the skin on the scalp.

Therefore daily washing is suited generally to oily hair as well as short hair where oil can be distributed easily to the full length of hair.

Daily exercisers can simply rinse their hair well with water to rid it of sweat but if a full wash is preferred, this is perfectly fine. Swimmers should ideally wash hair after swimming in chlorinated water.

Precautions : Consider alternating shampoo with co-washing for hair that is not particularly oily. For those with longer hair, consider protective styles or braiding/twisting free hair during the wash as well as during exercise to reduce the sweat contact.

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For Medium Hair: For in between hair texture, washing hair 2-3 times a week typically works. Your hair is not accumulating as much oil as finer hair, but isn’t hiding oil as much as thicker hair does. Try as best as possible to not wash your hair every day.

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By Weekly:

For Thick Hair: For girls with voluminous or curly hair, shampooing shouldn’t be your biggest worry.

Because of your hair type, the strands of your hair will most likely be able to avoid oil build up because it takes a while for oil from the scalp to travel down the stands of thick hair. It’s not exactly crazy to wash your hair once a week, thick haired ladies.

Why: Generally, thick or curly hair does not tend to get oily (there are exceptions!), as a result less oil means less dirt attracted to the hair and therefore less need to wash hair.

Precautions: For those who choose to co-wash, alternate with an occasional shampoo wash to avoid build up.

For people who are exercising frequently, again you can choose to just rinse your hair to rid it of sweat and stick to a weekly shampoo and condition.

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Fortnightly/ Every 2 weeks

For Natural Hair: If your hair is in its natural state, constant shampooing might not be what you need. Instead, adopt the “co-wash” method. This is the process of supplementing your shampoo for conditioner only.

Constant shampooing can dry out the hair, but conditioner keeps it clean without that effect. There are also several cleansing shampoos created just for this purpose — to cleanse and moisturize the hair without drying it out.

This is also suited to:

• medium length to long hair (9 inches plus)
• hair that is not oily (any length)

Why: Some people think that it is unhygienic not to wash hair at least once a week but in truth the frequency of washing should really be determined by how much oil/dirt your hair accumulates.

The reason why long hair can be washed less often lies in the fact that sebum produced at the root can take a while to travel down the full shaft of the hair. As long as the hair has less oil, it also has less dirt (which attaches itself to oil).

If you live in a fairly clean town/city, the chances are you may be able to wash your hair much less .

Precautions: Don’t ignore your hair if you feel that it is dry, there is no reason why you should not wet your hair as often as you like even if you are waiting two weeks or longer between washes. Additionally if hair requires extra softness, opting to co-wash in between is perfectly fine.

Quick Tip: Don’t ignore your hair if you feel that it is dry, there is no reason why you should not wet your hair as often as you like even if you are waiting two weeks or longer between washes. Additionally, if hair requires extra softness, opting to co-wash in between is perfectly fine.