Why Not Shampoo Everyday

SoZo HAIR Salon Tips

As stylists, part of helping you care for your hair is recommending an at-home regimen of products that will keep you looking fabulous in between salon visits. Recommendations on shampoo, conditioner, and styling products are fairly normal to hear from your stylist at each appointment, but what about how often you should shampoo? Lately, myself and other stylists at SoZo HAIR have been hearing this question more and more often. So here it is ladies and gentlemen, the breakdown on why you shouldn’t shampoo every day.

At one point in my life, even I shampooed my hair every day. I figured it just made styling easier to start from scratch each day, but what I didn’t know was that I was actually doing more harm than good to my hair.

Benefits Of Natural Oils

Your scalp creates natural oils that are great for your hair, and letting those oils get onto the length of your hair is going to not only increase the health of your hair but the look of your hair as well. These natural oils not only protect your fragile hair strands, they also increase the shine of your hair. When we wash every day we don’t give these oils a chance to do their job in our hair. Brushing hair with a natural bristle brush will help distribute these oils throughout the length of the hair.

We can also cause our scalp to go into hyper production mode and wind up with greasy looking hair much sooner than we should. Your scalp thinks that there is a shortage of natural oils being produced when we wash them away every day, and so it will begin to over-produce oil in an attempt to make up for what we are washing away. When my clients rebut my shampoo less suggestion with “my hair looks greasy by the next day” this is why.

Itchy Scalp

If you find that Itchy scalp is your reason for shampooing every day, try using a tea tree shampoo to soothe your scalp but still skip everyday shampooing. Shampooing every day can lead to a dry scalp as well, which causes itching and flaking, yet another reason why those natural scalp oils are so important. Letting your scalp produce some oil in-between shampoos and using the correct shampoo to soothe your scalp when you do shampoo will make a huge difference.

Product Buildup

If you feel that product build up or flaking is your challenge, try asking your stylist for product recommendations that will not flake in your hair or leave a large amount of build up. Switching your products may also alleviate some of the itchiness you may feel on your scalp as well. Many store bought styling products contain large amounts of panthenol, and alcohol derivative, that will dry out your hair and scalp and cause itching, flaking and that feeling that you need to shampoo when you really don’t. While salon products are more expensive, they are much higher in quality and they last much longer. I switched myself and my family to SoZo Hair care products about three months ago and I am buying shampoo, conditioner and styling products less than half as much as I was prior to switching, plus my hair and my family’s hair looks and feels better than it ever has!

Dry Shampoo

So how do we make not shampooing every day feasible? While it is challenging at first, and it was for me too, you have to train your hair and scalp to recognize the need for a shampoo, and only shampoo when your hair truly looks and feels dirty. Start by investing in a good dry shampoo. This product is sprayed at the scalp and combed through the hair. It’s purpose is to absorb excess oil and give the appearance of freshly washed hair along with freshening the smell of hair. It will also give you added volume which is always a plus in my book! If you really feel the need to start your style from scratch, because sometimes we need to, try rinsing your hair, but not shampooing.

Use a leave in conditioner after you rinse to aid in combing through your hair, and then blow-dry and style as usual. Most good quality salon styling products are water soluble and will rinse out of your hair without shampoo. The little bit of product that may remain will actually help you have better control over your blow-dry and style and will help your scalp to feel clean without washing away all of those wonderful natural oils that your hair needs.

The bottom line really is that you should only wash your hair when it truly looks and feels dirty, which is usually about every two to three days depending on how you style and what products you are styling with. I am able to shampoo as little as once a week at times, but this has taken me years of working with my hair and finding the right products to achieve. Learning to restyle your hair without shampooing can take some time to master, but once you figure out what works you will never go back to shampooing every day, I promise you!