Washing your hair more often has benefits

I recently had an interesting conversation with a friend regarding hair washing. She is Tanzanian, with 4b hair which she had in braids the day we spoke. Now, this is not the first time I’ve had this type of conversation, but this time I realized there are things in our hair community that we really need to start unlearning. One of those things is how often you should wash your hair.

In the African and curly hair communities it is more likely that the hair is washed less often because coily/curly/wavy hair is more fragile, or more cumbersome to wash. This can translate to washing your hair 1-3 times a month. As a curly girl myself, I used to wash my hair once a week. But that changed and here’s why.

My wash schedule before

I dealt with, dry, frizzy and damaged hair plus hair loss for the longest time. Aside from the many errors I was making, when it came to washing my hair, I thought it was damaging to wash your hair often. Especially because of the hair loss, I felt that if I continued to touch and handle my hair, that would encourage more hair to fall out. I also believed that shampoo was damaging because it was drying and stripped the natural oils from your scalp. When I think back to that time, I realize how much damage this thinking was doing to my scalp and subsequently, my hair. I then opted to wash my hair 2-3 times a week and I noticed a positive difference in the overall health of my scalp and hair.

Wash your hair at least once a week.

When I told my friend that she needs to wash her hair at least once a week, she stared at me blankly. It was a combination of “umm no thanks I’ve never done that”, coupled with “you don’t have my type of hair, you can’t understand it”. I get it. While my hair texture might be different, one thing remains the same, you have a scalp and I have a scalp. And the science of the scalp is something I understand and am passionate about.

A study on African American hair practices have shown that

“Individuals with more tightly coiled or complex hairstyles may shampoo less frequently, often at intervals greater than once every 2 weeks. Inadequate cleansing of the hair and scalp leaves a build-up of damaging styling aids and may exacerbate seborrheic dermatitis. Proper shampoo frequency and product selection are an important part of the maintenance of healthy hair”

Which correlates directly with a study published last year where

“it was proven that those washing with a higher frequency experienced less flaking as judged both by experts as well as self-perceived less flaking, itch, and dryness.”

In fact, every single clinical study performed on hair washing has proven, over and over again, that washing your hair more often is beneficial. Click here to learn how you can build the perfect wash schedule for yourself.

Why is cleaning your scalp important?

Your scalp is skin. We’ve discussed this in a previous article which you can read here. We cleanse our body every day, we cleanse our face every day. Your scalp is skin too and it requires to be cleansed. Aside from the sebum your scalp produces there are other external factors such as pollution, dust, and styling products. These all settle on your scalp mixed with your sebum to create a very unfavorable environment. When your scalp isn’t happy, you’ll experience itchiness, dryness, scalp flaking which will result in weaker hair, can exacerbate hair loss and can stunt your hair growth progress.

Here are 3 simple tips on how to get the most out of your wash day

It’s more important to find the right products for your wash days vs. skipping wash days altogether.

Was this helpful? Do you have any questions, let us know in the comments below!

References

Punyani S, Tosti A, Hordinsky M, Yeomans D, Schwartz J. The Impact of Shampoo Wash Frequency on Scalp and Hair Conditions. Skin Appendage Disord. 2021 Apr;7(3):183-193. doi: 10.1159/000512786. Epub 2021 Feb 15. PMID: 34055906; PMCID: PMC8138261.

Roseborough IE, McMichael AJ. Hair care practices in African-American patients. Semin Cutan Med Surg. 2009 Jun;28(2):103-8. doi: 10.1016/j.sder.2009.04.007. PMID: 19608061.

Kobayashi M, Ito K, Sugita T, Murakami Y, Yamashita R, Matsunaka H, Nakamura M. Physiological and microbiological verification of the benefit of hair washing in patients with skin conditions of the scalp. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2016 Dec;15(4):e1-e8. doi: 10.1111/jocd.12228. Epub 2016 May 26. PMID: 27229771.