How Often Should You Actually Wash Your Hair? | The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast Ep. 24

Daily or every other day, with something gentle. That is Delena's answer, and the gentle part is the Rice Water Shampoo and Conditioner Bar Set, sulfate-free and paraben-free, which is her whole ingredient rule for everyday washing. In this episode Delena, a licensed cosmetologist, explains why the popular advice to wash less and let your scalp adjust is backwards, where the DETOX Scalp Scrub fits every seven to ten days, and why the Vanilla Coconut Dry Shampoo buys one day, not a week.

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Episode Summary

The internet says wash less and let your scalp adjust. Delena Markland, a licensed cosmetologist with 25+ years of experience, says the opposite: daily to every other day with a gentle sulfate-free shampoo, because a dry, stripped scalp is what overproduces oil, and your scalp never "gets used to" going a week. She explains the routine she uses with the Rice Water shampoo and conditioner bars, when the DETOX scrub comes in, and why hair in the shower drain is shedding and breakage, not hair loss.

The written companion to this episode: How Often Should You Wash Your Hair? A Cosmetologist's Guide. Related listening: Ep. 16, Is Hot Water Ruining Your Hair? and Ep. 21, Why Does My Hair Smell After Washing?.

Full Episode Transcript

Jess: Welcome back to The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast. I'm Jess with Delena Markland. Delena, this might be the most-searched hair question there is, and every answer online says something different. How often should you actually wash your hair?

Delena Markland: Daily or every other day, with something gentle, and the reason I start with the rice water shampoo and conditioner bars is that they are the gentle part. I know that answer is going to surprise people, because the popular advice right now is wash less, push through the greasy weeks, and your scalp will adjust. After over 25 years of looking at scalps up close, I am telling you it does not work that way.

Jess: Okay, that's a direct contradiction of basically every article I've read. Make the case.

Delena Markland: Your scalp is skin. Think about your face. If you stop washing your face for a week, does it get less oily? No. It gets oily, then it gets clogged, then it breaks out. The scalp is the same skin, with more oil glands, under a layer of hair that traps everything. There is no training happening. When people say their scalp adjusted after three weeks, what actually happened is they got used to the feeling of oily hair. The scalp did not change. The tolerance did.

Jess: So where did the "washing strips your scalp" advice come from? Because that part sounds right.

Delena Markland: It is half right, and the half that is right is the important part. Stripping is real. A harsh shampoo, sulfates, scalding water, that dries the scalp out. And a dry scalp overproduces oil to protect itself, the same way dry skin on your face gets oily. So people notice more oil after washing and conclude the washing is the problem. The washing is not the problem. The shampoo is. Wash more often with something gentle and the scalp calms down. Wash less often with something harsh and you get the worst of both.

Jess: What does gentle mean, specifically?

Delena Markland: Sulfate-free shampoo and a paraben-free conditioner. That is my whole ingredient rule for everyday washing. Our rice water bars are that. They cleanse without foaming the life out of the scalp, they condition, and the bar format means people do not overload their hair with product the way they do with a bottle. And a moisturizing shampoo is not the enemy of an oily scalp, which is another thing people get backwards. Moisture keeps the scalp from panicking. Buildup from never properly cleaning is the enemy.

Jess: Is there anyone who should not wash daily?

Delena Markland: Every other day is the floor for almost everyone, and there is nuance in between. Very coarse or tightly curly hair may be happier at every other day because the oil takes longer to travel down the strand, and you are protecting the length. Color-treated hair, wait a couple of days after the color service, then back to normal. But the ceiling is the thing I care about. I do not want anyone going a week. Past four or five days the scalp is not adjusting, it is accumulating.

Jess: Where do the scrub and the dry shampoo fit?

Delena Markland: The DETOX scalp scrub is every seven to ten days. It exfoliates the scalp the way you exfoliate your face, gets the buildup that a gentle shampoo is not designed to get, and resets you. Dry shampoo is for one extra day. Not a replacement for washing, not a week-long strategy. If you are traveling, if you are stretching a blowout one day, fine. If it has become your routine, that is a buildup problem waiting to happen, and the fix is the scrub and then shampoo twice on the next real wash.

Jess: Does more washing damage the hair itself? That's the other fear.

Delena Markland: Not the washing. The handling. Wet hair has more elasticity than dry, it can take being washed. What damages hair is scalding water, rough towel-drying, and ripping a brush through it. Warm water, squeeze instead of rub, and a brush that glides. And I want to be clear about something because I hear it in my chair: hair coming out in the shower is shedding and breakage. It is not hair loss. If you are worried about actual thinning, that is a separate conversation and we have separate resources for it.

Jess: Give me the routine in one breath.

Delena Markland: Sulfate-free shampoo and paraben-free conditioner, daily or every other day, fingertips at the scalp, rinse for a full minute. Scrub every seven to ten days. Dry shampoo for one day, not five. And ignore anyone who tells you your scalp is going to adjust to being dirty.

Jess: Where do people get the bars and the scrub?

Delena Markland: thepixiegarden.com. The rice water shampoo and conditioner bars, the DETOX scrub, and our dry shampoo are all there.

Jess: All linked on this episode's page with the full written guide. See you Thursday.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should you wash your hair?

Daily or every other day with a sulfate-free shampoo, according to Delena Markland, a licensed cosmetologist with 25+ years of experience. Never stretch a week. A stripped, dry scalp overproduces oil; a gently washed scalp stays balanced.

Does your scalp adjust if you wash less?

No. The scalp does not train itself to produce less oil. People who "adjust" have adjusted to the feeling of oily hair while buildup accumulates underneath.

Does washing your hair every day dry it out?

Harsh shampoo and hot water do; frequent washing with a gentle sulfate-free formula does not. The ingredient, not the frequency, is what strips the scalp.

How often should you use a scalp scrub?

Every 7 to 10 days, in addition to regular washing. It removes buildup that a gentle daily shampoo is not designed to lift.

Can I use dry shampoo instead of washing?

For one extra day. Past that it layers powder over oil. After a stretch, exfoliate with a scalp scrub and shampoo twice on the next wash.

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Hosted by Delena Markland, Licensed Cosmetologist and Owner of The Pixie Garden. New episodes weekly. Browse all episodes.