In todays society, people want to look their best. The natural blemishes of the human body are looked at now as “ugly” or “gross”. One of these blemishes being oily looking hair. I myself shower just about every day to maintain good hygiene and to look good. Although our hair may look good after we shower, are we doing it more harm than good by washing it everyday? Across the board there are many different opinions suggesting several different ideas of how often we should wash our hair.
Scott Cornwall a top hair consultant said “A good benchmark for hair washing should be twice a week or when you feel your hair needs it. If you have very thick, long and curly hair and need to spend a considerable amount of time blow-drying or styling, a good weekly wash would suffice.” Now, there are different variables that are brought into play. According to Mr. Cornwall we must take into account the type of hair we have when thinking about how often we should wash it.
A very different opinion comes from Marilyn Sherlock the Chairman of the Institute of Trichologists who states “Wash it every day. We wash our bodies every day and clean our teeth twice a day, why should hair be any different?” Marilyn is a part of the minority in her opinion about hair washing amongst trichologists. However, she does support the same claim as Cornwall when she said that African-Carribean hair should be washed two to three times a week because it is more porous and needs oiling.
These two opinions start off very differently however, they both conclude with somehow saying that different types of hair require different types of treatment. Longer and thicker hair can go longer between washes than short and thin hair because the sebum (oil produced by sebaceous glands) does not move across the hair shaft as rapidly.
Ultimately how frequently an individual washes his/her hair is his/her choice. An experiment could be conducted with two people who have similar hair styles. One person would wash his/her hair every day and the other would was his/her hair two to three times and week. This experiment would be extremely long but, it could help in leading to answers.
References:
http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-skin/features/how-often-wash-hair?page=2
http://www.webmd.com/beauty/shampoo/how-often-wash-hair
I really like your post because I have recently been looking into this. I can totally tell that the thickness of your hair correlates to how often you have to wash your hair because I have really thick hair and both my sisters have really thin hair and their hair gets greasier faster than mine does. What I started thinking was since most people do shower and wash their hair everyday, how do different shampoos affect our hair? Some people suggested using organic shampoo instead of regular shampoo. JuJu Organics suggest that organic shampoo is better for our hair because it does not contain some of the chemicals found in some regular shampoos and because it helps our hair follicles in creating soft and glossy hair. I will still probably stick with my regular shampoo though because organic shampoos tend to be more expensive and I am a broke college kid.
This is the article and it has more pros and cons for both organic and regular shampoo –
http://www.jujusalon.com/organic-vs-regular-shampoo/
Interesting post. I agree with you when you say it does depend on the persons choice. I personally have very thick and curly hair. When my hair feels dry and spraying with some water doesn’t help. I will co wash it. Co washing is when a person cleanses their hair with conditioner. Washing your hair with shampoo all the time can actually strip the hair of its natural oils and make it even more dry. I shampoo when I feel that my hair really needs a wash, which is about every 2 weeks. I personally can not wash my hair everyday because washing and styling my hair takes me about a good two hours which is a pain to do and prefer not to go through that every single day. Overall good post!
This article is very interesting! I do believe with the idea that hair washing routines are different for everyone, depending on the type of hair we have. I myself have very fine and thin, straight hair. Because of it’s lack of thickness, my hair becomes oily up to 12-15 hours after washing. I wash my hair everyday to avoid this greasy look, however, I have noticed that my hair has become very damaged and brittle. I never thought that over washing could be the culprit, but it does make sense. I also agree that our hair washing routines depends a lot on the types of shampoos we use. For instance, I was getting my haircut one day and my hairdresser asked me what type of shampoo I was using. At the time I was using Pantene, and my hairdresser warned me to switch immediately. She said that it was the worst shampoo to be using for my hair type because it has silicone in it, which adds excessive and unneeded oils. You can read more about avoiding grease by switching up your shampoo in this article
I agree that the amount someone needs to wash their hair, in order to keep hair healthy, varies among the type of hair each individual has. However, it could also depend on the type of shampoo and conditioner someone is using. Not just the curly haired people should use the shampoo for curly hair, but it could be that certain products to aid with the care of certain hair could be more damaging than other products. It could also vary on the company too. One study that came up with an experiment like this is having a control hair product with a test shampoo product, and see the different reactions the two shampoos have on someone with the same hair and a normal scalp condition.
http://www.albascience.com/services/efficacy/hair-grooming-studies/hair-washing-study
I like this post! Before read your article, I asked the same question like a hundred times on the internet, but there’s obvious no clear answer, even in your post. However, there’s one thing we can be sure is that washing hair everyday is harmful to our hair, but we cannot just keep it. I think this relates to our own habit. Like my roommate, she is the classic girl who feel extremely uncomfortable without hair washing in the morning. If we cannot stop ourselves washing our hair, at least we can figure out ways to try to reduce the harm we bring to it. Here are some tips about hair caring in the bottom, I hope it can help you to protect your hair from everyday’s washing
http://healthmeup.com/photogallery-healthy-living/20-best-tips-for-hair-care/18504
Posted wrong article before, here is the correct article
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/how-often-should-you-wash-your-hair
I have long thick hair and would love to only wash it once or twice a week. However around the second day, it is obvious that my hair needs washing, and so I usually wash my hair every other day to keep it looking healthy and clean. This article also states that it just depends on the person and type of hair that they have to determine how long they can go between washes.
http://www.hercampus.com/health/physical-health/blacking-out-why-it-s-more-dangerous-you-think
I think that your idea of getting two people with similar hair styles and having them wash their hair more/less than the other is a great idea! This experiment could give people an idea of how long they should go in between washing their hair. I think that it would be even better if you had subjects with curly thick hair, and thin straight hair so that you could compare results.
Interesting! I wash my hair daily just because I like the way it smells after, but I rarely consider the health factors for my hair. WebMD details that many dermatologists agree with you, in that hair does not need to be washed daily. The article details this idea in a different manner though, relating hair to a fiber. Paradi Mirmirani, dermatologist, was quoted in the article saying “Hair is a fiber. Think of a wool fiber: The more you wash it, the worse it’s going to look. There’s no need to wash your hair every day either.” Just another way of thinking about hair I suppose!
http://www.webmd.com/beauty/shampoo/how-often-wash-hair