The internet has opinions about how often you should wash your hair, and most of them contradict each other. Every few months a new Reddit thread declares that washing your hair every day is destroying it, then a hairdresser on TikTok says the opposite, then a clean-girl influencer films herself doing a co-wash that takes forty minutes.
Here's the considered version. No agenda, no extremes.
Fine, oily hair: every 1–2 days. Fine hair holds less natural oil than thicker hair, and the oil sits closer to the scalp because there's less hair to coat. Going longer between washes makes fine hair look limp before it looks "trained." If your hair is fine and oily, daily washing isn't the problem — the wrong shampoo is.
Medium, normal hair: every 2–3 days. The middle ground. You've got more flexibility here than fine-haired women, and the only real rule is to listen to your scalp, not the calendar.
Thick, dry, or curly hair: every 4–7 days. Thick hair distributes oil slowly. Curly and coily hair distributes it even slower because the oil has to travel down the curl pattern. Washing thick or curly hair too often strips it before the oil has done its job. The "no-poo" / "co-wash" approach exists for a reason — it just exists for this hair type, not all hair types.
Colour-treated hair: every 3–4 days, regardless of texture. Colour fades fastest in water. Less washing = longer-lasting colour. Dry shampoo is your colour's best friend.
The thing nobody mentions: how you wash matters more than how often. Hot water strips. Lukewarm preserves. Heavy scrubbing damages the cuticle. Gentle massaging cleans the scalp without the friction. If your hair is greasy by day two, the issue might be the temperature of your shower, not the schedule of your washes.
Between washes: dry shampoo at the roots, a low pony or bun for day three or four, and considered hardware to take a wash-day-skip from "lazy" to "intentional." The right hair piece changes a third-day pony from a survival tactic into a styling choice.
Wear-this-with: The Demi Arche for the casual second-day pony. The Arche, Grande for a polished third-day bun.