How Often Should I Wash My Hair?

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being freshly showered. However, there is one downside to your comforting morning or evening ritual: if you’re shampooing every time you step into the shower, you’re stripping your hair of important natural oils. Most shampoos contain sulfates and other chemicals that strip away the oils that your hair needs to stay healthy and soft. Our team of expert hair stylists at 18|8 Chicago men’s hair salon recommends that you wash your hair only a few times a week – at most every other day, and ideally every third day.

But What If I Exercise Daily?

Working up a sweat can definitely give you the desire to get clean, but that doesn’t mean you need to shampoo after every gym session or run. You can still hop in the shower on a daily basis – in fact, we highly recommend it! Just abstain from shampooing every day. Instead, wet your hair and exfoliate your scalp by rubbing your fingertips and running your nails against your scalp. This helps you get rid of excess buildup such as dirt or dead skin cells, and as an added bonus, it feels incredible!

Natural Oils Make Your Hair Healthier & Easier To Style

In many areas of life, it’s easy to ignore the effects of our not-so-healthy habits. The ramifications of your shampooing schedule, however, are something you can’t hide.

Most often, because it removes oils from your hair and scalp, daily shampooing leads to noticeably dry, brittle hair – not exactly something you’d want to run your fingers through. The flip side of this dilemma is that, even though it ultimately dries out our hair, daily shampooing actually also signals to our scalps that they should produce more oil, since the natural, necessary oils it’s producing are being whisked away! This means that your shampooing schedule spirals: the more often you wash, the faster your scalp learns to replace those healthy oils, and so on until you’re stuck in a cycle of having greasy hair that needs to be washed every day.

It’s time to break the cycle! Washing your hair every 2-3 days not only makes it healthier, but also easier to style, as the natural oils throughout your hair make it easier to style and can even protect it against being damaged by heated styling tools & products.

Shower Smarter

On the days that you do shampoo (which should be every 2 or 3 days), make sure that you’re using a shampoo with scalp-friendly ingredients, such as tea tree oil. And remember, what is in your shampoo is equally as important as what isn’t: work with your 18|8 stylist to find a sulfate-free shampoo that’s better for the environment, your scalp, and your overall health.

Visit 18|8 Men’s Salon In Chicago Today!

Your at-home hygiene routine plays a vital role in in the health of your hair, but it’s also important that you’re visiting your Chicago men’s hair salon on a regular basis to keep your hair looking and feeling its best. Regular men’s haircuts from your trusted Chicago stylist will help you avoid split ends, monitor the health of your hair, and get expert recommendations on how to continue to care for your hair at home.