If you fell for the hair training myth and now go days or even weeks without washing your hair, there’s a doctor out there with a few words of warning for you.
I’ll admit, even I fell for the whole ‘if you don’t wash your hair, it’ll train itself to stop getting greasy’ fiasco which claims that your hair will either stop producing as much oil or it’ll be healthier for forgoing the wash.
But that’s just not true.
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Dr Jenny Liu, who is a board-certified dermatologist, knows it’s not true too.
With so much advice on keeping your hair and scalp healthy, it can be hard to know who’s right and who’s wrong, but this advice could be stopping you from making a grim mistake.
Dr Liu said that anyone who goes ‘more than a few days without washing hair’ need to listen to the one thing she’d ‘never’ do to her scalp.
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In her video posted to TikTok, she wrote that ‘scalp care is skincare’, citing that you should ‘never do more than a few days’ without washing it, even if you think you hair isn’t greasy.
She said that it’s ‘completely a myth that our hair and scalp just cleanses itself’.
The doctor continued: "We know that sebum, dead skin build-up, all of that basically contributes to Malassezia yeast overgrowth [a fungal skin condition], that can lead to dandruff, as well as inflammation.
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"Just even sebum itself sitting on our scalp causes oxidative stress, and that inflammation is not a healthy environment for your hair to grow."
For anyone struggling with hair loss, she advised to ‘keep up with your scalp health to maximise hair growth’.
Even though she understands that how often you wash your hair has a lot of considerations, such as your hair type, you still need to wash it regularly or every other day - maybe even once a day if you get sweaty to keep it healthy.
She previous stated that she’d ‘never use an anti-dandruff shampoo on a daily basis’ as it can dry your scalp and increase fizziness.
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She has also shared a range of tips online such as never brushing your hair when it’s wet, unless you have textured hair, only applying conditioner to the ends of your hair as it can damage fine hair and also using a series of haircare products like scalp oils, serums, thermal heat sprays and deep conditioning masks on the regular.
Sleeping on a satin pillow is also a top contender in the dermatologist’s books as it ‘helps to reduce friction on your hair while you’re sleeping’ and significantly improves the look and feel of your hair.
Another tip was using a ‘pre-shampoo oil’ to protect your hair from water damage caused by washing it.
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Applying it to the ends or leaving it over night as a treatment can apparently help your hair stay protected from washing damage.
That sure is a lot to take in about caring for your hair.
Britt Jones