How Often Should You Really Wash and Condition Your Hair?

When it comes to your precious tresses, how often should you really be washing and conditioning? We’ve all heard conflicting information from advice to shampoo everyday to shampooing twice a week and even to avoid shampooing altogether.

Experts say there's no single answer to how often people should shampoo, because it depends on a variety of factors: hair thickness, texture, lifestyle and climate. You may not need to shampoo as often as you think OR you may need to increase it. To figure out your personal hair wash frequency recommendation, take a look at your hair type and styling preferences.

Most experts say that going a few days without shampooing is fine for the average person, meaning those with hair that’s normal in terms of oiliness and has medium weight. This group should try to go as long as they can without shampooing because washing too often may lead to dull, dry, lackluster hair.

Daily Washers

Lather up daily if you can check off one or more of these boxes: you have baby fine hair, you have an oily scalp, you exercise and sweat a lot, or you live somewhere very humid. Also, dandruff sufferers can benefit from more frequent washing. Just make sure to use a light conditioner, as anything too heavy will weigh strands down.

Every Other Day Latherers

For the average person, every other day, or every two days, without washing keeps the hair and scalp balanced in terms of natural oil balance. Too much oil equals straggly strands and oily scalp, and too little leads to a dry scalp and straw-like hair.

Tip: If your hair is visibly oily or your scalp is itching or flaking, get thee to a shower! Use a medium-weight conditioner from the ears down.

Every Few Days Shampooers

The thicker and less oiler your hair, the less you need to shampoo, since you want to preserve the natural oil balance on your scalp without stripping it, which can lead to dry scalp and irritation. People with dry or curly hair can wash much less frequently without problems, since the lack of excess oil won’t weigh hair down the way it can with oiler, thinner hair. This group should also take care to use a deep conditioner once or twice a week to maintain a moisturized mane.

And for days when you need to shampoo, but just don’t have the time, spraying a powder-based dry shampoo to your roots will temporarily freshen your strands and absorb excess oil. For those of you who uses flat irons and curling irons regularly, make sure to use an intense conditioner on the ends, leaving it in a little longer before rinsing.