How Often Do I Need to Shampoo?

Health

How to Go Longer Between Washes

In recent years, more and more products have become available to extend how long you can go between washes. And people are coming up with different methods to keep hair looking good.

“Powders actually do work to absorb oil, so it doesn’t sit on the scalp as much,” Lamb says.

“If you still need to style, leave-in conditioners can help. You can also re-wet your hair and condition it more often, too,” Lamb says. This is sometimes called "co-poo" for using conditioner to shampoo.

For the most part, it’s somewhat of a personal preference for just how clean they want their strands to be.

“Everyone has a different threshold for how oily or texturized they want their hair to feel,” Webb says. “I tell people, ‘Sweat is like salt, right?’ You’re getting texture, some of which is totally natural and you can get away with it, but that is also the beauty of dry shampoo. It freshens, and gives you a burst of volume at the roots.”

To re-energize your style, Webb says to spray dry shampoo where oil and dirt tend to accumulate: roots only. Spray at the hairline and nape of the neck, and then lift and spritz small sections of hair. “Spray about 3 to 4 inches from your head,” she says.

You can also use dry shampoo as a sort of preventive step. “I’ll have my stylists use it on a perfectly fresh blowout for lift,” she says. “You can also spray before you go to bed, and it will absorb some of the excess oil overnight. It’s like being proactive about preserving your style.”

So how do you know when it’s time to shampoo?

“If it’s Day Five and your style is falling apart, wash,” Webb says. “Otherwise, do something fun to change it up. Part your hair in a different place, go for a side braid, go for a bun. Use dry shampoo. If you can camouflage, great, and often you get the most compliments when you do something different.”

The Trend and the Stigma

In recent years, it has become trendier to let hair go longer without shampooing, with more and more people going a week or more between washes.

“Many of my patients worry about washing their hair too frequently, yet they really need to wash it more often!” Goh says.

But longer can be totally acceptable. Caroline Lynch, an IT consultant from Michigan, feels like she can put the shampoo bottle down most days. “Since I have thick and curly hair, and more hair than most people, I started shampooing less frequently a few years ago,” she says. “I just kept pushing the date off further as I saw that I could.”

She shampoos about once a week. “Less-frequent shampooing has improved the quality of my hair, because I am not damaging it or drying it out with shampoo, and then with styling tools like blow dryers and flat irons and curlers,” she says. “It also saves money, so I can buy higher-quality shampoo and conditioner since I use it less frequently.”

Lynch does likes to keep hush-hush about her once-a-week habit, though.

“I get a lot of compliments on my hair, and stylists are always telling me how healthy it is, so I think I am in good shape,” she says. “But I still am nervous to tell people about the frequency because of the stigma, or people thinking I’m dirty for not shampooing more often.”