Home / Hair Myths / Shampoo

Shampoo

There are many misconceptions about shampooing, but here are the most common ones we come across.

A cold rinse makes hair shinier

Cold rinses may be invigorating but they don’t make your hair shinier or close the hair cuticle, conditioner does this. A cold rinse may in fact be bad for your hair as it constricts the blood capillaries in your scalp which carry vital nutrients essential to healthy hair growth to each follicle.

Microneedling Scalp Nina Ross Atlanta.jpg

If you don't wash your hair it cleanses itself

Not washing your hair will not enable your scalp to cleanse itself, it will just become dirtier! You would not stop washing any other part of your body, so why your scalp?

Hair gets used to the same shampoo

A shampoo does not stop working because your hair gets used to it. If your shampoo stops giving you the results you want, the condition and needs of your hair have most likely changed. For instance, you may have had it cut, coloured, relaxed, straightened or grown it longer. Or the season may have changed i.e. it is more humid, the sun is stronger or the air is dryer. Your state of health or hormone levels may also be different from recent illness or your monthly cycle.

The same shampoo used on the same hair under the same conditions produces the same results. If you are using the right shampoo for your hair texture and needs, you will get the same great results.

Frequent shampooing dries your hair

It is often thought that frequent shampooing ‘dries out the hair's natural oils’. However, quite the contrary! Shampooing, if done correctly and with the right products, actually remoisturises the hair. The natural oils produced by your scalp simply sit on top of your hair shaft and do not penetrate it. It’s moisture (i.e water) that does this, alongside a well formulated conditioner. Anyway, who wants oily hair?

Frequent shampooing makes hair oilier

You might as well say that the more you bathe, the dirtier you get. Clean hair shows grease faster than hair that is already oily; similarly, clean clothes show dirt immediately, whereas dirty clothes have to get much dirtier before it becomes noticeable. It is a matter of individual perception. Just as cleansing an oily face doesn't produce oiler skin, shampooing does not make your scalp oilier. Things that actually can increase oil production are hormones and stress.

Frequent shampooing makes hair fall out

It is natural to lose up to 100 hairs a day and a percentage of this comes out when you shampoo. The act of shampooing simply dislodges hairs that have already become detached from the follicle’s base and are ready to come out.

However, on a day you don't shampoo, while some of those strands will come out when you brush and style, some of them will also remain sitting loosely in the hair follicle. This means that the more days you leave between shampooing, the more you will see in the drain. You would not see that same amount if you were to shampoo every day! In fact, frequent hair washing encourages healthy hair as it stimulates the scalp and creates a good environment for healthy hair growth.

https://youtu.be/bALWndciibA

A lemon or vinegar rinse makes hair shinier

This doesn’t apply nowadays. In the old days, before modern shampoo, you would have washed your hair with soap. These soaps would deposit an alkaline film on the hair, dulling the hair’s cuticle. An acid rinse, from lemon or vinegar, would neutralize this alkaline deposit and add shine. Modern shampoos do not create an alkaline film so an acid rinse is unnecessary.

If you would like to find out more information, please contact one of our clinics based in London or New York who specialise in hair and scalp issues.