We recently debunked the idea that washing your hair every day is bad for it. Our in-house expert stylist, in fact, claimed that this idea is at least 25 years out of date, and based on older types of shampoo that would leave the hair dry and brittle—something that very few modern shampoos will do. With this in mind, it’s something of a mystery as to why, of the men we surveyed, two percent told us they only wash their hair every other week, and five percent said they did it less frequently than that. By contrast, only one percent of the women we surveyed said they washed their hair every two weeks, and none would admit to doing it even less often.
At the more regular end of the scale, 60 percent of guys said they wash their hair every day, while 15 percent wash it five to six times a week; 13 percent wash it three to four times a week; and six percent wash it once or twice a week. For women, the figures were more even: Just 29 percent said they gave their hair a daily wash; 15 percent did it five to six times a week; 37 percent—the highest percentage, in fact—did it three to four times a week; and 18 percent did it once or twice.
Now, everyone’s hair is a little different, so whatever works for you, stick with it. That said, here’s what our expert told us when we asked him, “How often should I wash my hair?”
“If you’re on vacation, binging Netflix on the couch, you could go days without shampooing. But if you’ve gone out to the club the night before, or you hit the gym that morning, it’s a good idea to wash your hair—if only for the sake of smell. Either way, depending on your sebum production [or how much oil your scalp produces], I would never go more than three to five days without a wash.”
As for those guys going more than half a month between washes, well, you be you, we guess? Maybe you’re bald; maybe you have dreads. One thing we’re pretty sure about is that they are a) definitely not among the four percent of men who spend longer than 15 minutes in their daily shower and b) probably not among the four percent of men who get their hair cut more than once a week. At least—in the latter case—for the barber’s sake, we hope not.