For those with fine hair, it’s easier to accumulate grease and buildup, so fine hair requires more frequent washes than thicker, coarser hair, which distributes moisture more evenly than thin hair.
How often someone has to wash their hair also depends on their hair type, says Simone Kogen, a celebrity hair stylist and groomer who has worked with Jonathan Bailey and Nicholas Hoult.
For this reason, rinsing your hair with just water has to be done more frequently. Dr. Wang recommends those with thin hair to do it five to six times a week, while those with thicker hair can do it two to three times a week.
“With washing your hair less and letting the time between hair washes go longer, there’s more time for sebum accumulation, and the composition of that sebum, that oil, changes once it’s exposed to air, once it’s secreted by the oil glands,” says Dr. Weng. “It’s exposed to oxygen in the environment, it gets oxidized, and some of that can cause skin irritation and inflammation, and also microbial overgrowth and fungal overgrowth.”
Why You Should Focus on Your Scalp, Too
DeZarate, Kogen, and Weng all emphasize the importance of scalp health when it comes to shampooing hair.
“It’s just more so at a certain point you just gotta get in there and, like, scrub your scalp,” says DeZarate.
If you see redness, flaking, excessive greasiness, thick buildup, or even breakouts, that means you need to be washing your hair more often. It’s not a one-size-fits-all and depends on your body’s own intrinsic production of sebum.
“If you’re actually cleaning your hair and your scalp properly, you’re preventing hair loss, you’re preventing possible infections,” says DeZarate. “You’re preventing pimples from even forming on your scalp, right? That’s like the main thing people forget—under the hair, there’s still skin that needs to be taken care of.”
Kogen recommends focusing more on scalp-specific products that are designed specifically to cleanse the scalp and clean out any impurities, versus just focusing on the hair strands like people usually do.
“When using products, really focusing on the scalp and not just washing the hair itself, but rubbing it into the scalp, and actually letting it sit, rather than immediately rinsing it off, makes a big difference,” says Dr. Weng.
On the flip side, it’s possible to wash your hair too much. DeZarate says washing hair more than once a day, along with deep conditioning, can overhydrate the skin on the scalp, which can cause breakouts and bumps.
Ultimately, all three agree that the most important thing is to pay attention to the way your scalp feels.
“We say don’t wash your hair too much, but you want to make sure you’re washing it enough. It’s a fine line, and you need to figure out what’s best for your hair type,” says Kogen.
