You might have heard that washing your hair every day isn’t the best idea, but the reasons behind this advice aren’t always obvious. If you’re unsure whether this guideline really matters, this article aims to clarify the issue. Below, you’ll find several reasons to reconsider your daily hair-washing routine.
Depleting Hair’s Natural Shine
Another important effect of your scalp’s natural oil is that it keeps your hair shiny, healthy, and lustrous. When you wash your hair too much, this can reduce the positive effects of these oils, causing your hair to lose its natural shine.
Time and Resource Consumption
No matter how much you enjoy showering and washing your hair, there’s no denying that it can take an awful lot of time and energy, especially if you’re washing and drying your hair every single day. This can also cause you to use a lot more water and energy than you really need to.
Weakening Hair’s Natural Defense
Your hair’s natural oils act as a defensive barrier that protects against damage and pollutants. Washing your hair every day will weaken this barrier, making it more susceptible to damage and environmental pollutants.
Potential for Increased Dandruff
As previously mentioned, over-washing your hair strips it of its natural oils, making your scalp dryer and more irritable. According to Healthline, this, along with the potentially damaging effects of using shampoo too often, can increase your risk for dandruff.
Tangles and Harder to Manage
Because the stripping effect of daily washing strips your hair of its natural oils, this can make your hair dryer, more tangled, and harder to manage. If you struggle with tangling, you may want to use more conditioner and invest in a wide-tooth comb to help you detangle your hair without causing too much damage.
Affecting Hair’s Volume
Excessively washing your hair can cause it to become more weighed down and thus appear more flat and less voluminous. This can be especially problematic for people with thin or fine hair types.
Disrupting the Natural Curl Pattern
It’s a pretty well-known fact that the curlier your hair, the less often you should wash it. This is because curly hair is naturally dryer, causing it to get greasy less quickly. Your natural hair oils also help protect and define your curls, keeping them moisturized and healthy.
Increased Use of Heat Styling Tools
If you usually blow dry, straighten, or curl your hair after washing it, this is all the more reason to avoid washing your hair every day. Using too much heat on your hair too frequently can be very damaging to your hair over time, causing increased breakage and split ends.
Scalp’s Overcompensation with Oil Production
When you strip your hair of its natural oils with excessive washing, this can cause your scalp to overcompensate by producing too much oil. As stated by Real Simple, this comes with the unwanted side effect of causing your hair to get greasy more quickly.
Cost-Effectiveness
Shampoos, conditioners, and styling products can be surprisingly expensive sometimes. As such, when you’re washing your hair every day, these costs can quickly add up to create a big and unnecessary hole in your wallet.
Environmental Impact
Daily washing isn’t only bad for you and your wallet, but for the environment too. The high use of water and power increases your environmental footprint, while your increased use of hair products will also cause you to create more waste in the form of shampoo and conditioner bottles.
Encouraging Dependency on Products
Washing your hair every day can cause you and your hair to become overly dependent on excessive product use rather than letting your natural hair oils do some of the work. While conditioner is moisturizing and mimics some of the effects of hair oil, it is not designed to replace it completely.
Undermining Long-Term Scalp Health
The drying, irritating effect of daily washing can lead to long-term scalp health issues. Your scalp is home to beneficial microflora, which helps to support hair growth and scalp wellness. Stripping this away too often can be damaging in the long run.
Stripping Natural Oils
Perhaps the most important reason why you shouldn’t wash your hair every day is that it strips your hair of important natural oils that keep your hair moisturized and healthy. When you strip your hair of these oils, it can also cause an overproduction of oil over time, making your hair get greasier faster.
Increased Hair Breakage
Wet hair is more fragile and prone to breakage, so it’s good practice to minimize the amount of time you spend with wet hair as much as possible. Furthermore, the stripping effect of daily washing gets rid of protective natural oils, which help protect your hair against breakage.
Fading Hair Color
If you have dyed or treated your hair in some way, daily washing will cause you to lose the effects of this treatment more quickly. Hot water and shampoo strip away the color of the hair dye, causing it to lose its vibrancy. Therefore, as noted by Madison Reed, it’s best to wash your hair less often to retain your color for as long as possible.
Scalp Irritation and Dryness
When you strip away your hair’s natural oils with daily washing, this can dry out your scalp and cause it to become flaky, itchy, and irritated. This can increase your risk of dandruff and other scalp issues. It’s best to use gentle shampoos without harsh chemicals to prevent this.
Overloading Hair with Product Buildup
If you use a lot of heavy conditioners or styling products every day, this can create excessive product buildup, weighing down your hair and making it appear dull and lifeless. Clarifying shampoo should also be used to remove this buildup, which can be drying and irritating when used too frequently.
Missing Out on Natural Volume and Texture
Natural hair oils help contribute to a beautiful natural hair texture and volume. When you strip these oils away every day, you lose out on this natural beauty, which can also make your hair appear flat, lifeless, or dull.