When it comes to proper care, washing your hair is an important step in keeping it clean and healthy. Hair professionals are frequently asked how often men should shampoo their hair and the answer is that you probably don’t need to wash it daily.
While some guys may need to shampoo and condition everyday, most experts say that you should only wash your hair 2 to 3 times a week. Shampooing too often can damage your hair and remove the healthy oils that protect and nourish your locks. Whether you have straight, wavy, curly or oily hair, there are many factors to consider when determining a hair washing schedule.
To help you, we’ve compiled this guide on how often men should wash their hair with shampoo. From everyday to once a week, let’s explore the right hair care routine for guys to determine when to shampoo and condition hair and how much product to use.
Contents
How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?
Most professional barbers and stylists recommend that men should wash their hair two to three times a week for best results. If you’re washing your hair with shampoo daily, you might be damaging your strands, drying out your scalp and stripping your locks of the oils that make it soft, shiny and healthy.
While some guys don’t need to use shampoo every day, you should wash your hair more often if you apply heavy styling products, workout regularly, work outdoors, or have naturally greasy hair.
Is Washing Your Hair Everyday Bad For Guys?
It can be tempting to take a relaxing shower at the end of each day to wash your troubles away. However, washing your hair too often is one of the worst things you can do for scalp health. It may sound implausible, but shampooing every day is one of the quickest ways to disrupt your scalp’s natural microbiome.
This complex ecosystem isn’t visible to the naked eye, but your scalp happens to be packed with good bacteria that keep your skin healthy. Washing too frequently threatens to remove these good bacteria, giving fungi and inflammatory bacteria the perfect environment to breed.
Naturally, there are exceptions to every rule. Men who exercise regularly or have excessively oily hair may need to wash their hair daily to keep it clean and healthy. If you use heavy styling products, you may also want to shampoo your hair daily to cleanse your skin and remove buildup on your scalp. Thick pomades and gels can clog up pores and damage your hair, resulting in breakage, greasiness, and flakes.
If you are used to washing your hair daily but are determined to reduce your frequency, dry shampoo may prove a decent alternative for managing grease and keeping hair fresh. Simply spray your hair with the product, leave it to sit for a couple of minutes and comb through.
How Much Shampoo Should You Use?
How much shampoo you should use depends on the length and texture of your hair.
For short hair, you can use a dime-sized amount of shampoo for a good lather that will clean your entire scalp. Guys with medium-length hair can use a nickel-amount for an adequate wash.
For long hair, men should try to use a quarter-size dollop of shampoo to cover every strand. If you have textured or curly hair, you may need to apply more product to ensure you properly wash all your hair.
The truth is that most guys use too much shampoo and conditioner, and you should invest in high-quality hair care products with concentrated solutions that lather easily and are effective. If you’re still unsure about how much shampoo you should use, simply experiment with different amounts and see how little you can use.
You may get an impressive lather with a large amount of shampoo, but you only need to lightly coat each strand to get the job done.
To ensure you’re getting a decent lather, get your hair soaking wet first and work your shampoo between your palms before applying it to the hair.
Be aware that applying too much product will do nothing but weigh your hair down and dry it out. While thick hair may handle this more resiliently than thin hair, all textures will produce more grease if stripped of natural oils too frequently.
How Often Should You Condition Your Hair?
Unlike shampoo, you can condition your hair daily to nourish, hydrate and protect your locks. Conditioner can be used every day even when you don’t shampoo since this hair care product will not strip your scalp and hair of its natural oils. How often you condition your hair will depend on your hair type, lifestyle and the kind of conditioning product you’re using.
Most men know that they should condition their hair after every wash. While shampoos cleanse and remove bacteria, these formulas also remove all the natural oils on your scalp, leaving your head dry and your scalp exposed. To prevent hair from drying out, it’s a good idea to hydrate and restore moisture, giving your hair a smooth and healthy finish.
By Hair Type
As a rule, regular rinse-out conditioners can be used daily. However, most men find that this level of frequency is unnecessary.
Those with normal hair typically find that conditioning a few times a week is ideal. Men with oily or fine hair should condition a couple of times a week at most. This is because fine hair is naturally greasier than coarser, thicker hair.
If you’re a man with luscious, thick hair, you should condition at least every other day. This will keep your thick locks moisturized, healthy and easy to manage.
When it comes to hair length and conditioning, there are a couple of things guys need to consider. If you have long hair, you should be conditioning regularly to keep your strands hydrated, strong and shiny. As your ends will have been exposed to the elements for a while, it’s worth conditioning after every wash to keep breakage and dryness to a minimum.
On the other hand, guys with short hair can get away with conditioning just twice a week. This is because hair nearer to the scalp retains natural oils more effectively, making frequent conditioning less important.
Deep conditioning follows slightly different rules. Thick-haired guys wanting to keep their strands as lustrous as possible should deep condition once or twice a week. As deep conditioners are richer than traditional conditioners and tend to be heavy on the hair, thin-haired men should only deep condition a couple of times a month to avoid weighing their hair down unnecessarily.
Leave-In Conditioner
When using leave-in conditioner, you’ll need to know how long to keep this product in your hair. While this routine shouldn’t replace your regular conditioner, it’s a useful alternative for guys who struggle to find time for proper hair care. Leave-in conditioners work well to replenish moderately dry strands and are a decent substitute for rinse-out conditioning once or twice a week.
If your hair is on the dry side, it may be best to skip this product as it is unlikely to provide the level of moisture you need to keep your locks in good shape.