Are you washing your hair wrong?

Are you washing your hair the right way? Photo / Getty Images
Many of us plan our social lives around our hair-washing routines, but how often do you really need to wash your hair? Here Auckland hairdressers reveal the right way to shampoo and how to keep it looking and feeling clean and healthy in between washes.
You probably know the dreaded feeling of arriving at work or a social function and realising you should have taken the time to wash and dry your hair instead of hitting the snooze button.
The routine looks different for everyone – maybe you wash it every day, maybe you can go a week without touching a shampoo bottle – but how do you know it’s the right one for your hair?
Here, Kelly Manu of Kingsland salon UNA and INCO Ponsonby’s Zoe Clark reveal just how often you should wash your hair, according to your hair type.
Washing your hair every three days is the “general rule of thumb”, according to UNA’s Kelly Manu, but it depends on your hair type. Those with fine, straight hair will need to wash it more often than those with curly hair, which tends to be drier.
“It also depends on the density of it, whether it’s thin, medium or thick. For any of the thin to straight ones, if you can get two to three days, that’s perfect,” she tells the Herald.
“Some people try to train their hair and no matter what they do, they just can’t go longer than one day.”
While it won’t work for everyone, “When you’ve got curly or coily hair, you definitely want to leave it a little bit longer. A week is ideal, but anything more than three to four days is pretty good.”
Some hair types take longer to wash, dry and style, which can influence how often you have the time to wash it.
Your ideal wash routine doesn’t just depend on your hair type, but also your lifestyle, INCO owner Zoe Clark adds.
How often we exercise, whether we use products, and how dry or oily our hair and scalp are can all influence the frequency of washing.
“Depending on your individual needs, you can wash your hair daily or even once per week. I always like to consider what I am doing through the week as my head lands on my pillowcase thinking of hair, scalp and skin.”
You can find out your hair type by looking at the thickness of a strand, and seeing how your hair dries.
It’s a simple test you can do at home. Manu recommends taking a strand of hair and comparing it to sewing thread.
“If it’s smaller then you’re typically on the fine side. If it’s bigger, you’re on the thicker side, and then anywhere in between is normally medium,” she explains.
How can you tell the difference between straight, wavy, curly or coily hair?
“If your hair dries straight, typically [it’s] straight hair. If your hair dries naturally with any sort of a slight curve in it, then you’d typically fit into that wavy category,” she says.
“If your hair dries with a defined curl, and then if your hair dries to form really tight spirals – think of the thickness of a pen – you fit into that coily range. And the coilier you get, the more hydration you need.”
“You can definitely go too often, and that’s when your hair, your scalp goes into a little bit of an overdrive and starts producing more oil than it needs to,” Manu explains. “That’s why people find it hard to train going back the other way.”
Clark adds that this also depends on the hair products you’re using. “Some products can cause irritation while others can remove natural goodness from the hair and scalp. It’s always a great idea to chat to your hairstylist and get a diagnosis of what you should be using for your hair type and your scalp condition.”
“Every time you wash your hair you should be shampooing it twice,” Manu advises. The first wash will only remove surface dirt and residue, while the second will cleanse and nourish it more deeply.
If you’re not properly removing the extra oil and dirt on your scalp, the effect of washing won’t last long. “It’s going to make you oilier,” Manu explains. “It could also damage your hair follicles in the long run.”
And while it doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, you can “train” your hair to need fewer washes in a week by trying to go an extra day without washing it.
“The more that you try to push out that extra day, the more that your scalp will actually adjust producing the amount of sebum and oil that is needed.”
Does shampooing twice mean you’ll go through twice as much product – and spend twice as much money?
“If you’re shampooing your hair twice with a fifty-cent piece-sized amount and it lasts you longer until you need to wash it again, you’re actually not using more products, because it equals out.”
Clark agrees that a double shampoo is non-negotiable, and helps keep your hair cleaner between washes.
“This will maximise the cleanliness between shampoo cycles,” she explains.
Styling it differently between washes can also help.
“Having a routine on how you wear your hair in between shampoo days is also beneficial. I like to go down, down, then up with my hair in between shampoo cycles.”
Manu recommends investing in a good quality dry shampoo to help maintain cleanliness.
“Not all dry shampoos are created equal. Some cause a lot of bad buildups, but if you’re using salon-quality dry shampoo recommended by your hairdresser, then that makes a massive difference.
“Put it in the night before you feel like you’re going to need it, because then it just gives it overnight for that dry shampoo to soak up that oil instead of putting it on five minutes before you’re running out the door, as most of us do. It will work better if you put it in the night before and sleep with it.”