How Long Do I Wait to Wash My Hair?

Every girl wants to have beautiful, lustrous and clean-smelling hair. Hair must be washed regularly so that it stays beautiful and clean. Washing helps to keep the scalp clean and free from dandruff, lice and other diseases. Many women ask how long do I wait to wash my hair so that it does not undergo oiliness or dryness.

How often you should wash your hair depends on some factors like your type of hair i.e. dry or oily, length of hair i.e. long or short and the activities that you take part in. It also depends upon your race and ethnicity as people of different races and ethnicities may have different hair care routines.

A very common mistake that most people do is shampooing their hair every day. They think that the doing so every day will make their hair soft and silky, which is untrue. It actually makes the hair rough and dry. Think of your hair as a wool fiber… it will get worse if you wash it too frequently. Our body excretes fats and sebum from the cells and it is removed through the hair follicles. Sebum, produced by the sebaceous glands, is crucial for our hair as it helps to moisturize and waterproof it. Over-shampooing your hair will strip your hair of the natural oils that are produced by those glands. As a result of that it will make your hair coarse and dry. The shampoos that are available on the market are made up of water, foaming agents, fragrances, and different amounts of detergents depending upon hair types. Shampoos made for non-oily hair have lesser amount of detergent as compared to shampoos made for the oily ones. Though the detergents helps in removing the extra layer of sebum, overusing the shampoos will result in removing total amount of sebum causing hair to become brittle and dry.

As over-washing is not healthy for your hair, under-washing is not desirable either. If you refrain from regularly washing your hair fearing that you might damage the protective layer of sebum then you should think twice. Not washing your hair regularly will make your hair oily as a thick layer of sebum will cover it up. Thus your hair will look oily and sticky. If you have oily hair then you might shampoo your hair after every other day or after every 2-3 days. People with dry hair should shampoo their hair once or twice a week. This way they can maintain the health of their hair.