Looking for the signs that you don’t wash your hair enough? It’s not always that simple.
Is there a better feeling than freshly washed hair? Probably not. But as much as we all love having clean hair, depending on the amount and length of hair you have, washing it can be such an exhausting and time-consuming task that it feels like a chore. The simplest solution is often to bridge the gap with heaps of dry shampoo. However, as it turns out, this isn’t always such a good idea. If you wash your hair too infrequently, you risk scalp problems that can even lead to hair loss.
How often should I wash my hair?
It’s difficult to generalise. It depends on a few factors. If your scalp is dry and you use few styling products, it may be enough to wash your hair just once a week — it’s said that Julia Roberts actually follows this routine. You may have even heard that this is good for your hair. However, this is not a universal rule.
Do you style your hair a lot? Do you use a lot of dry shampoo? Do you already have dandruff? Is your scalp oily? These are all factors that might mean you should be washing your hair more often, i.e. every two to three days. While washing your hair too often can damage it, washing it too infrequently can also have less-than-desirable consequences.
Five signs that you aren’t washing your hair enough
From obvious signs such as greasy hair to scalp problems and even hair loss, here are five signs that you might need to wash your hair more regularly:
1. Greasy hair
The most obvious sign that you are washing your hair too infrequently is a greasy root and a lack of volume. If you don’t regularly wash the excess sebum from your scalp, your hair will become stringy and heavy. For some people, this happens just two or even one day after washing. For others, it takes longer. Incidentally, oily hair is not only visible, but can also be “smelled”; the mix of dead skin cells and sebum on the scalp actually forms an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, which can lead to an unpleasant “head odour”. Yikes.
2. Dandruff formation
Dandruff is not (!) necessarily a sign of infrequent hair washing, but our scalp continuously produces sebum, an oily secretion that protects and moisturises the skin and hair. If the hair is washed infrequently, sebum can accumulate on the scalp.
At the same time, skin cells die and are constantly renewed. When hair is washed infrequently, these dead cells remain on the scalp for longer, leading to a build-up of dirt, oil and dead skin particles. This accumulation creates an ideal environment for the proliferation of microorganisms, such as the yeast fungus Malassezia, which lives naturally on the scalp. Increased sebum production and a lack of cleansing can cause this fungus to multiply.