How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?

Although most people don’t need to wash their hair daily, many keep up the habit anyway. But if daily shampooing is unnecessary for most, how often should it be done? There’s no one-size-fits-all hair care routine, though certain factors should be considered in your decision-making process.  

1. Hair Type Matters
2. No Sweat

Hair Type Matters

Per Cleveland Clinic, a few important factors can help determine the best shampoo routine for you. Age has an impact on oil production from the scalp. Dermatologist Shilpi Khetarpal, MD, told the nonprofit that younger people usually have more active oil glands than older individuals because they have higher hormone levels. As a result, teens and young adults may feel like they need to wash their hair more often to combat an oily scalp. 

Hair type also plays a significant role in hair-washing frequency. For example, curly or coily hair is generally drier and more fragile than straight strands. This is because the natural oils produced by the scalp struggle to travel down the coiled hair shaft. Therefore, if someone with a curly or coily hair texture washes their locks too often, it’s likely to become too dry and break off. 

Those with long hair should also consider their length when washing it. Long tresses often come with dry ends because the natural scalp oil has to travel far to reach them. If you face this problem, Dr. Khetarpal advised only shampooing your roots to prevent the ends from getting too dry.

No Sweat

Exercise routines also impact your hair-washing habits, as Dr. Anthony Rossi, an assistant attending dermatologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told CNN. But even when you sweat from exercise, you can simply rinse your hair with plain water afterward. There’s no need to use shampoo unless bacteria overgrowth is present or if your scalp starts to smell.

It’s important to keep your hair clean to avoid oil buildup, but there is such a thing as overwashing. Washing hair too frequently can cause it to look overly dry and dull. You may also see more breakage and split ends. According to WebMD, many experts agree that only a small subset of people—usually those who have very fine hair, who live in humid climates, or who sweat excessively—may need to wash their hair daily. 

You also don’t want to go too long without shampooing. Angela Lamb, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told WebMD that you can stretch your wash routines to a week depending on how your hair feels or how you’d like to style it. She stated that hairstyles that require heat tools, like blowouts, tend to last longer on squeaky-clean hair. Some styles warrant less shampooing, and people may not want or need to wash more than once a week. As long as you don’t have scalp problems, that should be OK, according to Dr. Lamb. However, she suggested going no longer than two weeks between washes. 

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