How Often Should I Wash My Hair?

Head of man with soapy lather balancing Dollar Shave Club's Shampoo and Conditioner products on his head.

How Often Should I Wash My Hair?

We’ve all wondered, when waking up too late for a proper shower, “How often should I wash my hair, anyway? Won’t it just, like, wash itself eventually?” If you turn to the internet for grooming advice, you’ve probably read that shampooing your hair every day strips it of essential oils and leaves it feeling dry and brittle. At least, that’s what this article, and many, many others claim.

We did all the hair care research so you don’t have to. Keep reading to learn more about how, and how often, to wash your hair based on your hair type. 

Let’s Get an Understanding of Hair and Scalp Health 

We asked stylist and all-around hair guru, Cleve McMillan, whether he believes the hype, and if he can answer once and for all: How often should I wash my hair?

“The whole concept of not shampooing your hair to let the natural oils do their job is a complete and utter fallacy, based on the dish soap-like shampoo we used 25 years ago,” McMillan says. “If you’re using a decent shampoo nowadays, it won’t strip your hair. If anything, it’ll leave it softer and healthier than it was before.” 

And now for a teeny tiny anatomy lesson: hair edition. A strand of hair is made up of three sections. The shaft: which is the visible part that comes out of our heads, what we’d traditionally label our “hair”. The root: which is the part beneath the skin, that keeps our hair securely in place. And the follicle: which is our body’s connective tissue that keeps the root safely where it needs to be. As for your scalp, it’s actually working pretty hard. Other than being the important layer protecting your skull and the place your hair lives, the scalp is doing a lot of work on thermoregulation. The scalp can create and release heat as needed to help your body stay at a healthy temperature. One of the main ways the scalp does this important regulation work is through the production of sweat. 

Which takes us right into why washing your hair matters. A big tool in your scalp’s temperature-regulating toolbox is sweat. When that sweat builds up, things can get oily, matted, just generally yucky. Moreover, the natural oils that our hair makes, as well as any styling products we use, can add to the yuckiness. Keeping your hair and scalp clean is super important. They don’t need to be super squeaky clean every second, but clean scalp and hair generally begets healthier scalp and hair. 

There are other reasons, too, one of which is a general misunderstanding of the science behind the “self-cleaning” myth. “It would take about a month for the natural oils to make their way from your scalp to the tips of your hair — even if it’s just a few inches long — and do what conditioner can do in 20 seconds,” McMillan explains. “Plus, you’d have to brush your hair about five times a day to help the oil along.” Then there's stuff like dandruff, which can require a special anti-dandruff shampoo to deal with effectively. 

How Often to Wash Your Hair… Based on What Your Hair is Like

So if leaving a day or two between washes doesn’t, in fact, do our hair a solid, how often should we be shampooing our manes? It all depends on how active you’ve been lately, according to McMillan. “If you’re on vacation, binging TV shows on the couch, you could go days without shampooing,” he says. “But if you’ve gone out to the club the night before, or you hit the gym that morning, it’s a good idea to wash your hair — if only for the sake of smell. Either way, depending on your sebum production [i.e., how much oil your scalp produces], I would never go more than three to five days without a wash.”

Daily 

While daily washing isn’t always entirely necessary, there are definitely a few groups of people who could benefit from it. If you experience very oily hair or scalp, daily washes could be of use to you. Letting the overproduction of oil sit and accumulate will give your hair a flat (sometimes even wet) look, but could also impact the health of your scalp and hair. 

The other group who could benefit from a daily wash is the daily exercisers. We’ve already touched on scalp sweatiness and temperature regulation, and if you’re working out daily that sweat can absolutely build up. It’s worth it to give it a wash.

If you’re washing your hair daily, consider a shampoo and conditioner combo that’s not too stripping, but also not too heavy. You don’t want to strip all the natural oils from your hair if you’re washing every day, but you also won’t need something super heavy and hydrating, especially if you’re already oily. 

Every Other Day

If you have “normal” (What’s normal anyway? This mostly means hair types that range from not-at-all oily, to not-so oily), every other day hair washes are totally great for you. 

Pick products that work for your hair. Do you use a lot of styling products? Pick something clarifying. Do you color your hair? Make sure your shampoo and conditioner is color safe. 

Once or Twice a Week

If your hair is dry, curly or textured, less washes are for the best. This type of hair does  well with allowing some time for your natural hair oils to do their thing, and they don’t love being over stripped by cleansing products. 

If you are looking for a boost of freshness between washes, dry shampoo will be your best friend. There are an array of dry shampoos with different benefits and scents out there to choose from. 

Making Your Routine Work for You

McMillan also suggests shampooing if you start to notice your hair clumping up as if it has product in it, since that means it’s actually filled with dirt and gunk. And unless you’re the creature from the black lagoon, there's literally no situation in which you want the words “dirt and gunk” associated with your body. (If you are the creature from the black lagoon, thanks for reading, and especially for wondering “how often should I wash my hair” when you don’t even have hair. You’re a champ.) 

We’ve been in the hair game for a long time. Here’s a few final tips from us to you:

  • Listening to Your Hair: Recognize what’s happening on top of your head and make your hair product choices accordingly. Do things look greasy, sweaty, maybe even stinky? Time for a wash. Is it curly, dry, crispy, maybe even looking a little damaged up there? Hold off for a few days. Our hair and scalps change, and our routines can too. 
  • Trying Different Products: There are hair cleansing products for every want and need out there. Shampoos and conditioners formulated for daily washers and not so often washers. Shampoos that contain ingredients to stimulate hair growth, to control oil, to infuse hydration, you name it. There’s dry shampoo, refreshing sprays, and loads of other concoctions to keep your hair looking fresh and clean, no matter how long it’s been since your last wash. Keep an eye out for new products, consider searching keywords related to your hair online. There’s a wealth of helpful resources out there for you to discover.
  • The takeaway: feel free to experiment with your hair care routine. Finding the hair products that work best for you is often a game of trial and error, and your hair will tell you what it likes (and it’ll do that by looking amazing, although we wish your hair could talk). Feeling stuck on where to start? We make a shampoo and conditioner that we happen to really love, just sayin’.