How often should I wash my hair?

This is a common question in my office.  The answer is not one size fits all, but here are some general tips for guidance.

First, let’s talk about some common reasons why some people don’t wash their hair very often.

-Too much work.

-Styling is easier when hair is dirty (YUK!)

-Too much hair falling out.

-Scalp is too dry.

-Scalp is too oily.

And the list goes on and on.  

It is very rare for me to tell a patient to wash their hair less.  Very rare.  Why, because washing our hair serves an important function.  It removes dead, scaly skin on the scalp. It helps control oiliness on the scalp.  It reduces the unwanted growth of bacteria and yeast on the scalp.  And, it just plain makes you smell better.  

A general rule of thumb for hair washing is three times a week minimun.  However, this can change in certain skin conditions.  Here’s my most frequent tips.

–If your scalp is scaly, wash it more.  A lot of patients assume they are “drying out their scalp”, but a scaly scalp generally needs washed more, up to every day, to remove the scale.

-If your scalp is super oily, wash it more.  There are tons of articles and social media that suggest that washing away oil causes hair to produce even more oil.  Now, that’s plain silly. Excessive oil allows growth of bacteria, yeast and fungus and causes hair to smell offensive.  Using a shampoo designed for oily scalp will often help reduce excess oil.  

–If your hair is falling out, washing it less won’t help.  This is one I must remind myself of frequently.  When losing hair people often start washing their hair much less because they don’t like seeing the shedding hair in the drain or the brush.  However, the number of hairs shed in a given week will not vary with washing frequency.  For example, if you are going to lose 700 hairs a week, you will lose all 700 at once if you only wash once a week.  If you wash every day, you will lose 100 hairs a day for 7 days.  I know it is stressful to see all that hair in the drain, but washing frequency wont change it.  

–Focus on washing your scalp not your hair.  Wash your scalp and given it a good invigorating rub to exfoliate dead skin on the scalp.  Dandruff shampoos are often best applied to the scalp, and left on for a few minutes before washing it out. 

Happy washing everyone!

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