While some people think that washing their hair every day is a necessity, I am a firm believer that it’s not. In fact, shampooing every single day will, in my humble opinion, do you more harm than good.
I have always had decent hair. When I was younger, everyone commented on it. As I got older, so did my hair, and it showed – it wasn’t as crazy shiny as it used to be, I started to notice split ends, and it became a little more temperamental. I didn’t invest in a good shampoo or conditioner, and my hair showed it.
I went to get my hair cut and highlighted, and I was going to a new stylist because my old one had moved. When I sat down in her chair, the first thing she did was comment on how dry my hair had been. She asked me if I washed my hair every day. I said yes, probably with a lip-curl and the whole “who doesn’t” attitude (as if people are crawling with dirt and bacteria).
I was chastised by my stylist and then set on the right track. Since then, my hair has bounced back a bit and is far shinier and healthier looking. There are a handful of reasons why you should skip washing your hair every day, on top of looking pretty.
1) Brittle hair isn’t cute.
Your scalp is made of skin. So are your hands. Think about what happens to your hands when you wash them a lot: they dry out.
Since your hair is fairly sensitive, and your scalp produces natural oils to moisturize your hair, washing it every day will strip your hair of crucial natural oils and leave your hair and scalp dry.
The drier the hair, the more brittle. Even pulling it up in a ponytail can snap your strands, so just think what washing it must do.
2) It styles better when it’s a little dirty.
It’s a fact. The extra oil is crucial for keeping styles in.
Ask anybody who gets their hair styled for any reason; it just doesn’t come out the same when your hair is clean.
3) It saves money.
This is a pretty silly reason to not wash your hair every day, if this is the only reason your doing it, but hey, if you are money motivated and super cheap, all the power to you.
Not only does skipping the wash save on shampoo and conditioner, allowing you to spend your hard earned money on the good stuff, which is really important, it also saves water.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t shower ever day. I do. But showering and shampooing takes double the time, if not longer, than just quickly exfoliating. Think about it: you have to get your hair appropriately wet, lather up the shampoo, then wait for forever for it to rinse out of your hair, then condition it. Leave that on for about 2 minutes, then finally take a few minutes to rinse the conditioner out of your hair.
Then, you have to blow dry it (if you have longish hair and want to style it). You are saving the environment if you only do so every second day, as a blow dryer (or any hair styling tool for that matter) sucks up a lot of energy.
4) Skipping a Shampoo is Green
See the reason above, as well as the fact that you would be saving water if you didn’t wash your hair every day and saving the environment from all of that extra harmful shampoo being rinsed down the drain. Bonus!
5) Washing your hair is dad for your color
If you have highlights, low lights, or any color, you know that it can be expensive and time consuming to keep up. Even if you don’t, your hair color could be much more vibrant if it wasn’t constantly exposed to the cleaning chemicals in water (lots of water has chlorine in it).
So this really ties into all of of the reasons above. You’d be saving your hair the damage of being coloured more frequently, plus you’d be saving your wallet money, plus plus the environment because of all of those chemicals.
So there you have it, friends. Three really great reasons for not washing your hair every day – hair health, environment, wallet, color and style. Plus, after awhile, your hair gets used to it and it won’t feel dirty after the first day.
Do you wash your hair every day?
I totally dig the no-poo movement and used to be an every-other-day shampooer. However, once I started working out every day, my hair was getting REALLY sweaty on a daily basis. I know you work out too, Daisy. You haven’t noticed any grossness from not washing every day while working out? I’m wondering if my hair will be okay looking if I simply rinse it on my no-shampoo days after going to the gym.
Ahh yes. I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago prior to working out, but it’s been a little difficult now to skip. This week I’ve been rinsing but I also kind of scrub at my scalp like I would with shampoo. It seems to work fine, my hair smells and feels clean. But my gym days arne’t always super vigorous – every second day, it’s a lot more vigorous. So I have shampooed on those days, and it’s worked out well!
Even on days I go to the gym. I only rinse and condition. I definitely don’t wash my hair everyday but I DO use conditioner every day. I’ve also discovered dry shampoo which may be something to consider on gym days. I don’t think it has the same drying effect that wet shampoo does.
Dry shampoo is AMAZING. I love it so much. I would marry it if I could 🙂 haha!
I definitely don’t wash my hair every day as i’ve heard this before as well and reading this verifies that for me! I also don’t wash my hair every time I wash it with conditioner, only once or twice a week.
Thanks for your help.
PP, x
I wash my hair 2 to 3 times a week roughly. And 2) is definitely true – it takes much longer to do my hair when I’ve washed it than when I haven’t washed my hair.
Also a time+shampoo saver: a drastic haircut! A few weeks ago I went to get a hair cut and now it is about 20cm shorter than it used to be.
Haircuts are wonderful for that. I never notice how long my long hair takes to style until it gets a good cut.
I would absolutely love to not have to shampoo everyday, but I can’t. My hair is super oily and after 24 hours of no washing, you can tell.
Plus I work outside most of the week so I sweat alot! Plus I sweat alot from running and working out….to sum it up, I’m usually an oily sweaty mess.
But I LOVE dry shampoo. I use it when I have to go back to the office after a day in the field. It helps so much!
Haha! Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out where you can wash only every second day. Dry shampoo is the best!!
I wash every day. I don’t put any products in my hair, nor blow dry it, and it still gets greasy overnight that it looks bad. Washing is a must!
I wish I could skip days! And I do when I can (with a water scrub and light condition) but my super fine very straight hair shows off the oil like no other and then the chlorine (3-4 days a week) strips it.
Yeah, I have a bit old hot mess and I’m fairly certain my hair hates me.
I unfortunately have to wash it everyday maybe 2x a day. I have very oily scalp (thanks dad) so it gets really muffy if it’s hot out. I can’t stand the dirty hair feeling either so to be able to have a good day I have to have clean hair
I am so with you, Daisy! I wash my hair at most every other day, and it’s super healthy.
Quick tip, too: If you’ve got bangs, and it’s summer, instead of washing your hair constantly to keep them from looking all greasy and sweaty and weird because of the heat, pick up some dry shampoo. Got 3 b sells a good one at Shopper’s for like, eight bucks, and it’s AMAZING. It sprays on like hair spray, and you just brush your hair after and it appears totally clean. It’s the best thing ever.
Ditto, Daisy. I’m an every-other-day shampoo kind of gal too.
I’m using Rene Furturer brand dry shampoo, but it’s kind of pricey and has a weird smell. What brand of dry shampoo do you use?
I saw another article on someone’s blog about not using soap or shampoo, and one thing the author pointed out was that, when we strip our hair of its natural oils every day, our hair adapts by producing MORE oil. He noticed a significant change in a few weeks, aka his head stopped producing as much oil once he wasn’t shampooing every day. Just a tip for those who think their hair is too oily to try it. It probably is now, but it will adjust. (It’s just finding that time to adjust, lol. Who wants to go to work with oily hair for weeks while they wait for their scalp to adjust to the new shampoo schedule?)
I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried! But i have very thin, coarse and GREASY hair. I simply have to wash it every day, especially if I’ve been exercising or it’s rained. I have done the every-other-day thing and kept it up for a couple of weeks, even, but it just does not work for me. I get even limper, sadder hair that people comment on – to say nothing of how gross it feels. Depends on your hair type, I guess.
Totally agree with not washing your hair everyday. I actually only do mine once or twice a week, any more than that just dries it out. Agreed though that it needs to be done more often when I work out (which doesn’t happen as often as it should haha )
Honestly, I’m down to shampooing once or twice a week, and I have a friend who is down to just water (guy, short hair). I used to do it every second day. I find the shampoo you use makes a big difference in whether you need to do it every day or not.
I used to shampoo every day and I’m ashamed to say that I usually just pick up whichever one is on sale. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I heard that good quality conditioner is what counts not shampoo.
Recently, I’ve cut down to every other day – only on gym days. My workouts are intense and I can’t get away with just rinsing… I’ve tried and it wasn’t cute.
I’ve been meaning to try dry shampoo but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I have very thin hair and if I wash it too often it looks quite gross within hours of me cleaning it. I have been doing it for years and it works great, although I will usually put my hair up on day 2.
oh my goodness. I stumbled upon this and even though this discussion took place months ago, i just had to right some wrongs. To everyone to washes their hair everyday because it gets oily if you dont: washing your hair daily is exactly what makes it greasy! When you wash everyday you strip your hair of its natural sebum oils and to compensate, your oil glands over produce oils. I wash my hair once or twice a week and it rarely rarely gets greasy. The trick is to train your hair. Yes, you can train your hair. When your hair gets greasy, rub some baby powder in your roots and dont wash it for a day or two. The more often you dont wash your hair, the less oil your glands will need to produce. If you have a weekend where you know you wont be doing anything, try doing from thursday night to monday morning without washing. The less you wash your hair the healthier it will be. Stylists and dermatologists agree you should wash your hair two or three times a week at the very very most. Think of beautiful spanish or italian women with long luscious healthy hair…. Thats because on average they shampoo about twice a week. Daily shampooing ruins your hair i promise.
I wash my hair everyday. I know that’s supposed to be bad. I started using the Shielo Hydrate Shampoo, my hair looks and feels so healthy. I barely need to use any shampoo, a quarter-size only, and I have a ton of hair. Typically I’ve had to rinse and repeat , but with Shielo – I use just the quarter-size and its perfect. Feels soooo good and its super hydrating.
I would recommend this to any gal with thick hair prone to getting dry.