While it’s now common knowledge that cleansing your face too often can be detrimental to your skin, did you know that the same can apply to washing hair too? Yes, everyone’s hair is different and your hair-washing habits should be tailored to what your own locks need, but if you end up washing your hair more often than necessary, this could spell bad news for your mane.

What happens if you wash your hair too much, and how are you meant to figure out the correct frequency? Read on as Evalectric explains everything you need to know.

The Problem With Over-Washing

There’s no denying that it’s important to keep your hair clean. Not only will this save you from sporting a mane that looks limp and greasy, but dirty hair (along with a dirty scalp) is also more prone to dandruff, scalp irritations, clogged follicles, hair breakages, and even hair loss.

However, washing your hair too often comes with its fair share of problems too. Each time you shampoo your strands, you’ll be removing their natural coating of sebum. While sebum is what leaves your locks feeling oily and in need of a wash, it also acts as a conditioning agent. It’s produced by your scalp and then travels down the length of your strands, ensuring that your hair feels naturally moisturized and protected. If you wash this layer away before it has had the chance to make its way down your lengths (which can take time if your hair is long or curly), you’ll likely end up with hair that’s coarse, brittle, and difficult to manage.

Signs That You’re Washing Your Hair Too Much

How can you tell if you’re washing your hair too much? Here are some key signs to look out for:

Your Hair Always Seems to Look Greasy

While you may think that washing hair more often will help to prevent it from looking greasy, the opposite can often be true. Removing too much sebum from your scalp only encourages it to ramp up oil production. In the long run, this will leave your scalp and hair oilier than ever.

Your Scalp Feels Dry

While an increase in oil production is one of the long-term effects of washing hair too much, you’ll likely notice the opposite in the short run. Due to how you’ll be constantly removing the sebum that keeps your scalp moisturized, you’ll soon end up with a dry, and often flaky, scalp.

Your Hair Tangles Easily

Tangles are never fun to deal with, yet this is exactly what you’ll be facing if you’re over-zealous with your hair-washing efforts. Why? Firstly, because the sebum that you’re washing away helps to lubricate your strands and prevent them from interlocking. The dryness that you’ll be encouraging exacerbates this since dry hair tangles much easier than smooth, hydrated hair.

Your Hair Color Fades Quickly

If your hair is dyed, washing your hair too often will cause that color to fade much faster. Even if you use a shampoo that’s designed for treated hair, you’ll still end up stripping that dye away each time you wash your locks.

Split Ends and Breakages Become More Prevalent

We’ve already talked about how over-washing can lead to dryness and tangles. This leads to your strands becoming brittle and weaker, which will leave you much more susceptible to split ends and breakages.

You’re Experiencing an Increase in Hair Loss

It’s not just the ends of your hair that will dry out and break if you wash your locks too often. Visible hair loss will also become more of an issue. This is not only due to the dryness but also down to how the hair is much more fragile when it’s wet. The more you wash your hair, the more time it will spend in this delicate stage where it’s much more prone to damage.

Your Hair Lacks Shine

While not washing hair often enough will cause it to look dull and lackluster, over-washing can have the same effect. Those oils that you’re so intent on removing give your hair bounce and shine. Without this sebum, your hair will quickly lose its natural radiance.

So, How Often Should You Be Washing Your Hair? 

If you can relate to some of the above, then there’s a good chance that your hair-washing habits could do with an overhaul. The big question is…how often should you actually be washing your hair?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer to this question. It all depends on the following:

How Oily is Your Hair?

The biggest influencing factor when deciding how often to wash your hair should be how oily your hair/scalp is. Some people produce much more sebum than others, meaning that their hair needs to be washed more often. With that said, very few scalps produce enough sebum to warrant daily hair-washing.

How Old Are You?

Your age will usually have an effect on how much sebum your scalp produces and, therefore, how often you need to wash your hair. Sebum production peaks when you’re in your teens, 20s, and early 30s. After this, it slows right down, meaning that your hair-washing habits need to do the same.

What’s Your Hair Type and Length? 

Generally, straight hair needs to be washed more often than wavy or curly hair. Why? Because it’s much easier for the sebum produced by your scalp to travel down straight strands, as opposed to having to navigate all of the bends and kinks in wavy/curly hair. As a result, straight hair gets oilier faster than those with waves or curls.

The length of your hair affects this too. Your scalp’s sebum won’t have as far to travel to reach the ends of your hair if your locks are short. Therefore, shorter hair often needs to be washed more often than long hair.

How Often Do You Use Styling Products? 

As you can imagine, the more styling products you slather onto your locks, the sooner your hair will need to be washed. Those products quickly start to build up and too much of this can lead to irritation and damage. Cutting back on your use of styling products will enable you to reduce how often you wash your hair.

How Active Have You Been?

The more active you are, the more you’ll likely need to wash your hair. Why? Because this means that you’ll be sweating more. Not only does sweat give hair an unpleasant smell but it also causes sebum to spread. This is why it’s advisable to wash your hair after a particularly sweaty workout.

What to Do If You’ve Been Washing Your Hair Too Much

So, if you suspect that you’ve been washing your hair more than necessary, what should your next step be? Here are a few options:

Start by Cutting Out One Wash Per Week

While you don’t want to make any drastic changes to your hair care routine, cutting back on one shampoo a week would be a good place to start. Spread your remaining shampoo sessions out so that you’re still washing your hair regularly, but not quite as often.

Use a High-Quality Shampoo

The shampoo that you use can have a big impact on how healthy your hair looks and feels. Some shampoos are much more astringent than others, meaning that they remove even more oil with each use. 

Ideally, you should always be using a high-quality hydrating shampoo, just like the Evalectric Moisturizing Shampoo. With an infusion of argan oil, it will leave your hair feeling beautifully silky.

Always Condition After Washing Hair

One way to prevent your shampooing habits from harming your hair is to always follow up with a conditioner. This will replenish some of the moisture and lubrication that you’ve just removed, leaving your hair feeling less vulnerable and better protected.

Again, pick a high-quality formula, such as the Evalectric Moisturizing Conditioner. Just like our shampoo, it contains argan oil. Research shows that the ingredient’s fatty acid content enables it to leave the hair feeling much stronger and less susceptible to breakages.

Save Your Shampoo for Your Roots

Do you often apply your shampoo from root to tip? If so, this will be exacerbating your symptoms of over-washing. When shampooing your hair, you should be focusing the product on your scalp since this is where the excess oil is. The run-off as you rinse the shampoo away will be more than enough to clean the rest of your lengths. 

Alternate With a Dry Shampoo

While dry shampoo doesn’t actually wash your hair, it can be useful if you want to try extending the amount of time between each shampoo. The way in which it absorbs oil and prevents hair from looking limp and greasy will buy you an extra day or two.

Try Co-Washing

Co-washing is a technique that recently went viral. It involves washing your hair with a conditioner rather than a shampoo. The purpose of this is to save your strands from the harsh detergents that many shampoos contain. After all, those are the ingredients that lead to the symptoms of over-washing. Going without them will enable you to remove excess grease and dirt, although it won’t be quite as effective at tackling product buildup.

If you want to give this trend a try, opt for a conditioner without any silicone-based ingredients. Silicones are notorious for contributing to buildup, which is the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve with co-washing.

Summary

As you can see, figuring out how often to wash your hair is a very personal endeavor. While some people will need to wash their locks every other day, others can get by with washing their hair just a couple of times a month. The key is to ensure that you don’t fall into a hair-washing routine that you haven’t properly thought about. Spend some time considering all of the above so that you can pick a hair-washing frequency that leaves your hair looking and feeling its very best.

Click here to elevate your hair care routine with more bestselling products from Evalectric.