How often should you really wash your hair?

After it hit the news this week that a 27-year-old mum has somehow managed to not wash her hair for 8 months- and it doesn’t even look greasy- we’re sure the question on many people’s lips is: do we actually need to wash our hair? And if so, how often should we be really doing it?

Virginia Tapp pushed through the awkward greasy stage after not washing her hair for so long, and now says it looks healthier than ever. She cites helping the environment as her motivation, writing on her blog: "In a nutshell, I started doing this because I wanted to use less stuff on my body and send less stuff down the drain. Isn't it just a little bit strange that we have to use three different types of soap when we wash?"

According to Virginia, she barely experienced any grease during the six months of no washing, apart from a little oiliness at the scalp, which she soon sorted out with a home remedy of bicarbonate soda scrub, which completely removed the oil. Since then, she has only washed her hair with warm water, and claims she gets less knots now and that her hair is “neither oily or dry”.

So it sounds like no washing worked for Virginia, but the question is, can it work for everyone? We’ve all heard the theory that if you stop washing your hair, it eventually self-cleans. This is true to some extent. Normally, when you wash your hair with shampoo, it will naturally strip some of the oils off your hair. Hair is supposed to be a little oily, so your hair follicles produce additional oil to make up for this removed oil, which results in grease. So you can see how washing your hair can become a bit of a cycle.

It seems that if you don’t wash your hair, the follicles will produce the right amount of oil, and you won't end up with greasy hair. However, from our research, many individuals who have tried this experiment have found that although their hair does not become horrendously greasy as time goes on, there is still a slight greasiness, and some even mentioned a slight dry, straw-like texture to the hair. This is likely because they’re missing out on the benefits of a good shampoo, such as less end breakages, a healthier scalp and growth encouragement.

In short, yes- the theory is true that if you don’t wash your hair with shampoo, after a while it will “self-clean” itself. However this isn’t necessarily the healthiest option for your hair- shampoos were invented for a reason, after all. If you’re finding your hair goes greasy almost immediately after shampooing, consider changing your shampoo or switching up your hair routine so you’re washing less regularly. This should train your hair to last longer without the need for a regular oil-strip.

We recommend that if your hair is normal-greasy in texture, you should wash it twice a week, three times at the most, and in the days between washes, simply rinse hair with water.

(Image: bush_bambinos/Instagram)