My Shampoo Confessional: How Often Do You Wash Your Hair?

This is my shampoo confessional. The truth is I don’t wash my hair every day. Now before you say how disgusting that is, hear me out. You don’t really need to wash your hair every day and if you don’t, your hair will actually look better. Since I have color treated hair, I can’t wash my hair every day and that led to me using dry shampoo between washes. Whether I’m at home or traveling, I really don’t need or want to wash my hair every single day and my hair looks and feels better than it has in a long time. As much as I love using the most beautiful and effective shampoos possible, for me, this is just not the best option for my hair. You don’t need to think that you’ve got to use your shampoo every single day because you spent so long on Reviewing This finding the best one possible. Whether you’ve invested in Oribe Gold Lust or any other shampoo, use it only as much as you truly need to for the very best results.

Your body actually will adjust over time to infrequent washings and as a result, it will do the exact opposite of what you might expect. I’ve brought up the whole fewer shampoos concept to people I know and everyone immediately assumes your hair will look greasy. Well, it might in the beginning, but then over time, like magic, your body adjusts and it won’t. Honestly — I promise, it won’t.

When you style your hair, what’s involved? First you wash it with shampoo, then probably use conditioner, a leave in product before styling, and other products to make your hair look great, right? All those products actually make your hair dirty, which was the opposite effect you were going for when you washed your hair.

Let’s go back in time and look at the history of shampoo:

The origins of shampoo dates back to the 16th century when British traders who stopped in India noticed that people were using soapberries, herbs, and flowers to wash their hair. They loved the idea so much that they brought back with them this new way to keep their hair clean.

In the 1800’s shampoo looked similar to bar soap and was typically available only to hairdressers. It was normal back then to wash your hair about once a month. Fast forward to 1908 and an article in The New York Times announced that it was fine to wash your hair every couple of weeks. Such progress!

Did you know that liquid shampoo didn’t appear on store shelves until the 1920’s? That allowed everyone access to shampoo along with advertising that suggested we should use it every day. Of course, if we use it every day, we buy more and the shampoo companies are thrilled about that.

Even dermatologists say that the average person can get away with washing their hair every 2-3 days instead of daily.

I travel a lot and so you might be asking yourself, “What does any of this have to do with travel?” The truth is that it has everything to do with travel. The less often I wash my hair, the fewer hair care products I have to pack. Don’t think that’s a big deal? Consider all the shampoo, conditioner, styling products including hairspray, styling sprays, and other assorted hair care products I don’t have to jam into a bag anymore. Now I just pack a small amount of shampoo and conditioner and that’s less time fussing with my hair while traveling.

Not washing my hair daily has made my hair stronger, healthier, and shinier. I’m not using a blow dryer to torch it or a flat-iron daily and that means my hair gets a break from all that torture. It also means when I’m traveling I’m spending less time doing my hair and more time out on new adventures.

Check out my travel tips section for more great tips. Do you shampoo daily? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments below and tell me whether you’ve joined the no-poo movement or not.