Does Not Washing Your Hair Make It Grow Faster?

For those experiencing hair loss or hair thinning, it can sometimes feel like we will try just about anything to get back our luscious locks. Friends and family members may think they’re being helpful by offering advice in the form of anecdotes and old wives’ tales, but how do we separate fact from fiction? 

Before you begin your day, you jump into the shower. A few pumps of Volumizing Shampoo and you’re lathering your hair with your hands when suddenly you notice strands of hair between your fingers. 

It can feel like a shock! Try to breathe through the worry; shedding around 50 to 100 hairs is normal. 

You may have heard that not washing your hair can promote hair growth. You may have also heard that you should wash your hair more often to prevent hair loss. With so much conflicting information, getting the facts is important. The integrity of our hair matters, especially as we age. The best way to achieve this is to educate ourselves on what we can do to encourage hair growth.

Taking to an internet search can sometimes feel overwhelming, so here at Better Not Younger, we’ve done the tough work for you. We’ve gotten down to the bottom of the concept that not washing your hair makes it grow faster, so let’s get into it.

How Often Should I Wash My Hair To Make It Grow Faster?

How often you should wash your hair depends on your specific hair type, texture, and how dense it is. Washing your hair is a great part of routine hygiene, in the same way brushing our teeth is. But what is the magic formula when it comes to shampooing frequency?

Many of us were told to wash our hair every day. Mixed in with our other daily self-care routines, it felt like we were taking care of everything in one fell swoop. In reality, washing your hair doesn’t need to be a frequent event. Your hair-washing routine can shift with age, hormones, hair type, the individual, and even personal preference.

For individuals who have fine hair with not a lot of density, skipping a few days of washing may lead to roots that look visibly oily. Dry shampoo can often save the day, but sometimes that just doesn't cut it. There's nothing wrong with that!

Women with thicker strands and lots of hair could generally afford to skip more washing days than their fine-haired sisters.

The best route is to experiment; go a couple of days without washing your hair in the shower. After a couple of weeks, your scalp will begin to change the amount of oil it produces, and your hair care routine will start to fall more naturally in place as your scalp balances out.

Are There Benefits to Not Washing Your Hair?

The purpose of washing your hair is to clean your hair, hair follicles, and scalp with shampoo. It strips your hair of the oils your body produces from your sebaceous glands. Shampoo can clean away sweat and dead skin cells and help break down and remove hair products. 

For these reasons, washing your hair is essential for both healthy hair and a healthy scalp: prime conditions for hair growth!

Conditioner is used (and always recommended!) after you lather up with shampoo because it will moisturize the scalp and your hair strands. Hair conditioner makes hair softer and easier to manage and can help prevent damage. 

This is because shampoo opens up the hair cuticle to clean out dirt and oils, leaving your locks feeling slightly dry. Conditioner swoops in to save the day and helps by smoothing out the cuticle of your hair.

Overusing shampoo during hair washing or forceful lathering can do more harm than good. Unfortunately, there is truth to the concept of "too much of a good thing"! Using shampoo while your hair is already dry and brittle can lead to further damage. Adversely, overuse of conditioner can lead to dry hair, hair breakage, and potential hair loss.

Can Too Much Conditioner Lead To Hair Loss?

How can too much conditioner lead to everything it should supposedly prevent? Well, hair can be weighed down by the use of conditioner, especially for those of us with ultrafine hair. You can also disrupt the fine balance of your hair's normal pH by leaving the conditioner in longer than necessary or using too much conditioner.

When applying conditioner to seal and protect your hair, the best course of action is to condition it every time you shampoo, and remember to consult the directions on the bottle.

Hair Growth Fact vs. Fiction

There are a lot of misconceptions about how hair grows and thrives. Fictional claims include the idea that hair grows faster if you cut it, shampooing makes it grow slowly, and brushing your hair will make it thicker and fuller are just some of the myths we have to sort through on the journey to healthy hair.

The truth is hair grows in cycles. The hair growth cycle contains three phases: the anagen phase, the catagen phase, and the telogen phase. Depending on who you talk to, a fourth phase is sometimes considered — this is known as the exogen phase.

The anagen phase is the first phase of hair growth, which makes sense: it is also known as the growth or active phase. About 90 percent of the hair on your scalp and body is in this phase as the cells in the hair bulb divide.

The catagen phase, or transitional phase, comes next. This is when the hair stops growing and separates from the hair follicle.

We know the telogen phase as the resting stage when your hair stops growing. This phase can last several months and eventually lead to the exogen phase.

Exogen is the final phase in the hair growth cycle and can also be considered a part of the telogen phase. The exogen phase is when the hair pushes out the hair follicles. Up to 100 hairs can be lost in a single day! 

So when you notice a clump of hair between your fingers when you're shampooing, take a deep breath. This is likely a part of the normal hair growth cycle. 

The key components in assisting hair growth are to aid each phase as needed. Preventing hair breakage (which can lead to early hair loss in the hair growth cycle) is key. Look to our Wake Up Call Volumizing Shampoo to help strengthen and moisturize your hair, instead of drying it out more. 

Following up our shampoo with the Wake Up Call Volumizing Conditioner helps create volume while hydrating. Products like our scalp serum can nourish your hair and support healthy growth.

What To Do To Speed Up Hair Growth

It’s hard to be patient with your hair, especially when it feels like it affects your looks or self-esteem. We always want to feel our best, and sometimes aging gracefully means we have to pivot our ideas on what we thought was best for the health of our hair. 

What worked for us in our 20s may not be the same now! Our haircare needs can change throughout our lives due to hormonal shifts and other lifestyle factors. One thing remains constant for many of us: wanting our hair to grow faster and prevent hair loss. But what can be done to speed up the process?

Luckily that’s where our Superpower™+ Advanced Hair Densifying Scalp Serum can help. The plant-based formula uses natural ingredients like rosemary and apple cider vinegar which have shown great results in treating the scalp to promote hair growth. Here at Better Not Younger, deriving ingredients from natural sources backed by science is important to us.

You can also help support the hair growth process with our Significant Other Hair, Skin & Nails Supplement, which provides essential nutrients like vitamins A and B. The vitamin complex that makes up our hair, skin, and nails supplement takes a multi-pronged approach to tackle hair loss and hair thinning at the source. 

Couple this supplement with topical solutions like our hair thickener, and you can banish those hair growth myths once and for all.

Making your hair grow faster doesn’t have to be rocket science! Armed with the right information will ensure you are well on your way to a flawless hair care routine. 

Does not washing your hair make it grow faster? The answer seems to be both yes and no. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean that things have to be complicated. Determining how often you should wash your hair can take some trial and error in experimentation, but once you have a balance of combating oily hair and hair that is over-washed, the next part is easy. 

Supplement your hair care routine and get your hair goals off to a great start with our variety of products that will feel as if they are tailor-made to your hair care needs. If you’re still unsure where to start, take our personalized hair quiz here!

Supporting your strands, inside and out, will be the best course of action to make your hair grow faster and nourish your hair while you’re at it, with products backed by proven results.

Sources:

Do You Have Hair Loss Or Hair Shedding? | AAD

The Truth About Shampoo and Conditioner | Minnesota School of Cosmetology

Hair Growth - An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.

Exogen, Shedding Phase of the Hair Growth Cycle | ScienceDirect

The Impact of Shampoo Wash Frequency on Scalp and Hair Conditions | PMC

What is the Structure of Hair and How Does It Grow? | NCBI Bookshelf