No it isn’t. In fact, there are benefits to washing your hair every day. There are also benefits to washing it less frequently. So really the question is, “for the healthiest hair, how often should you wash your hair?”
There’s no harm in washing your hair every day. In fact, if you do any of the following things, you should always wash your hair, or at least rinse it before going to bed that night:
- Any exercise that makes your scalp particularly sweaty
- Use of gels or waxes (see does hair gel cause hair loss?)
- Use of hair sprays or any other cosmetics that contact your scalp
Cosmetics
If you’re doing any of the above you should always wash your hair before going to bed. You don’t want gels, waxes and other cosmetics in your hair when you sleep.
They’ll rub into your scalp as you sleep, get on your pillow and block your skin’s pores. Most common cosmetics contain mildly toxic ingredients (that you wouldn’t want to eat). However allowing them to absorb through your skin and into your bloodstream is effectively the same as eating them! So if you’re heavily using cosmetics (like gels, hair sprays, etc) on your hair, try to wash your scalp and rinse the cosmetics out of your hair before bed — or try to avoid getting too many chemicals on your scalp when you apply gels, waxes and other such products.
Take a look at these organic nourishing products for some alternatives to chemical-filled high street products:
- 12 Great Nutrient-Rich Organic Hair Waxes & Gels
- 10 Products that Prevent Split Ends and Protect your Hair from Damage
Sweat
Don’t leave your scalp covered in sweat because sweat contains lactic acid, which may cause hair loss in some people. Sweat can also contain DHT, or Dihydrotestosterone. DHT is a sex hormone that is thought to cause ‘calcification’ in the scalp, which restricts blood flow to the hair follicles, in effect restricting nutrient supply to the hair, starving it to death. If you’re suffering from hair loss you can learn how to decalcify your scalp and increase blood flow to your hair follicles using my ebook.
But what if you’re not engaging in exercise that makes you sweaty, or using hair gels, waxes, sprays or other hair cosmetics? Then do you really need to wash your hair every day? The short answer is probably not. If your hair is au-natural, without any products or sweat keeping it company during the day, then you can skip the daily shampooing.
Scalp Sebum
If your scalp and hair gets greasy during the course of one day consider washing your scalp well once a day to help keep your scalp pores clear. Sebum (the natural oil secreted from your skin) contains DHT, which can cause hair loss. Keeping scalp sebum build up to a minimum is advisable for anyone experiencing hair loss. High sebum levels can be a sign that your liver does not contain sufficient co-enzyme A levels or that it’s not operating at optimum efficiency. To learn how to cleanse and strengthen your liver and increase your co-enzyme A levels, check out my eBook.
Can washing Too Frequently Cause Problems?
Skin sebum is your hairs ‘natural conditioner’. It can make your hair shiny and protects your hair. Washing your hair too frequently may make your hair dry, making it appear unhealthy, due to lack of sebum.
If you use cheap shampoos or shampoos that contain harsh chemicals you may experience negative side effects from chemicals like sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), which is sometimes cited as a harmful chemical that may cause hair and scalp problems. If you’re concerned about SLS consider switching to an SLS free shampoo.
Is it bad to wash your hair every day?
Providing you pay attention to the advice in this article you are perfectly safe to wash your hair every day. It will not cause hair loss and in fact keeping your scalp clean and hygienic is important for healthy hair growth.
