How often do you have to wash your hair, according to science
All your life listening that you have to wash your hair more often to discover that, perhaps, and without knowing it, you were partly right. Surely more than once you have asked yourself what is the true frequency with which we should wash our hair. This is what science says .Zeitun Natural Shampoo For Oily Hair - Clarifying Shampoo for Men and Women - Clean and fresh - Oily Scalp Tretament - Silicone Free - Myrrh Extract 8.5 oz
The truth is that from the moment you get out of the shower, your hair begins a gradual process where as the days go by it becomes brighter, dark and greasy. This happens for the same reason that your face becomes greasy: the glands of the skin produce an oily substance called sebum. Sebum is what moisturizes the hair and prevents it from drying out.
The glands that produce sebum (called sebaceous glands) are found next to the roots of the hair in the layer of skin called dermis. The channels of the sebaceous glands lead to the hair follicle, and this is how the sebum leaves the skin and reaches the scalp as we can see in the following image:
"The key to sebum is that each of us produces a different amount. All this, from genetics and hormones, affects the amount of sebum we produce at a given time."
In addition, the hormones responsible for the production of extra sebum soar during puberty, which is what causes many people to have more oily hair and acne during those complicated years.
Knowing this, how often do you have to wash your hair? Although the answer can not be universal, since it depends on each person, we can find some common places. The first and most obvious: experts indicate that no one should have to wash their hair every day, a myth that has been repeated many times over time.
Moreover, according to the dermatologist and director of the Boston Medical Center hair clinic, Lynne Goldberg, washing too often can do more harm than good:
It is paradoxical, but people who wash their hair a lot to get rid of dirt, dry the scalp and produce more oil.
In addition to avoiding washing your hair (with shampoo, it is understood) every day, there are other things to keep in mind when trying to determine the correct amount of washing for each one. These are the most important factors:
The type of skin: obvious. Experts explain that if your skin and hair are somewhere in between (you do not have super fat or very dry hair) at the time of drying, you probably only need to wash it once or twice a week, as indicated in a research from Columbia University. On the other hand, if you have a fatty scalp, you will probably need to wash your hair more often, 3 to 4 times.
The texture of the hair: this point is very important because it affects the speed with which the sebum acts from the roots to the length of your hair. Rough or curly hair slows the spread of sebum, so if you have this type of hair, you may only have to wash it once a week, experts at Columbia explain .
However, people with thin, straight hair probably need shampoo at least twice a week or even three.
Use of treatments: the last factor includes all those treatments and products that you use (or do not use) daily or very frequently. In that case, and if your hair undergoes enough transformations of style or is damaged, experts recommend that you should wash it less often.
Having said all this, probably the best way to find out which side your hair is based on these experts' recommendations is to try washing days without them. No one better than you and common sense to know what is best for your hair.