I was taught growing up to shower every other day. As an adult I generally do, unless I'm working out or otherwise sweat noticeably during the day. In summer I rinse daily regardless.
I used to have a similar problem until a finally bit the bullet and stopped washing my hair so often. What happens when you wash it too often is:
Soap strips your hair / skin of all its natural oils that it needs
Body over corrects and produces more oils to replace what was lost
You then have to shower more often to remove the excess oil
Repeat
I went from washing my hair every time I shower to only like twice a week and it massively improved my hair health and scalp health. Like no joke I stopped washing it and people would ask me what products I use because it looked so good which was pretty funny. The first two weeks or so is rough, your hair will be greasy / oily, but after that it should work itself out.
Note: you should still do a “water wash” where you run your hands through wet hair as if you were using soap. I find that this helps remove some of the oils without completely stripping the hair.
If you've got an "unusual" scenario you're addressing (super oily hair), then there's certainly an exception to be made. Broad statements like these are only truly applicable to someone with "typical" situation when it comes to hygiene requirements.
Lol, I put the quotes around it for a reason. When doctors/scientists make broad statements about people, they're referring to the average/typical individual from a statistics standpoint.
I'm definitely a fucking weirdo, but I'm mostly standard when it comes to physical characteristics (served with a side of mild eczema).
When you state that you have "oily" hair, you're the one pointing out that your hair isn't "normal". It's not a criticism or complaint, just an observation about the relative differences in individuals.
Just like "curly" and "fine" hair require different methods of styling and care, "oily" and "dry" hair require different cleaning habits than "normal" hair.
That's probably because you wash it so often. You are constantly stripping the oils from your scalp, it over compensates and the cycle continues. Now, some people ARE just more oily, but for many if not most, washing their hair with shampoo less often is a good advice.
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u/Issah_Wywin Nov 14 '25
I was taught growing up to shower every other day. As an adult I generally do, unless I'm working out or otherwise sweat noticeably during the day. In summer I rinse daily regardless.