Advice on how to take care of your hair is often conflicting, with the best way to ensure your hair is healthy, happy and strong the subject of debate.
Some advice warns against having a hair washing routine, or washing too frequently, while other advice urges people to not use too much heat on hair when using a hair dryer.
One hair expert has claimed that washing your hair too frequently and as a result, stripping it of its natural oils and in turn damaging the hair, is in fact a myth that they wish to bust.
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Susie Hammond, a trichologist at the Philip Kingsley Clinic in London, shared with The Mirror why people should be washing their hair either every day or at the very least, every other day and it turns out its got to do with how much dirt and grime is actually on our scalps.
Speaking to The Mirror, Hammond said: "There are lots of common mistakes we can make with our hair and scalp care that can have a huge impact on how our hair health performs and one of the most common myths is that we don't need to shampoo frequently and I'd like to bust that right now, washing your hair every day or every other day is what we advocate at Philip Kingsley.
"It's not true that washing your hair too often will dry it out, your hair is taking hydration from the water and from the atmosphere around it.
"Don't forget that your scalp is skin, like anywhere else on the body and we're shedding skin cells all the time, and the only way of removing those as well as environmental dirt and sweat is to have a really good shampoo.
"All of that dirt is collecting on the scalp and as it's a lipid-rich humid environment up there we have yeasts that live naturally and healthily on our scalps. These can overgrow and trigger dandruff, so we want to keep that scalp environment clear and the only way to do this is to have a thorough shampoo."
She added how hair can become smelly due to sebum, an oily substance produced by sebaceous glands that collects on the scalp.
"Sebum collecting on the scalp can make the hair look lank and limp and it can also make your scalp a bit smelly as well," Hammond said.
How to avoid this
To avoid any of this happening, the best thing to do is to ensure you give your hair a deep clean, with Hammond explaining the best way to do this.
"When you're shampooing, don't just rub your hands roughly over the top of your head and hair, really get your fingers in under the hair and massage, lathering up the shampoo to help loosen up any of those skin cells and get a nice thorough cleanse," she said.
"Be sure to apply conditioner every time you wash your hair as well. It's not a question of 'my hair is too fine and conditioner is too heavy for my hair', we can always find a conditioner that's suitable for your hair type as it's really important to use it every time as it helps close the cuticle on the outside of the hair shaft and protect the inner cortex of the hair and helps it to hold hydration.
"Keep a wide-tooth comb in the shower and comb your conditioner through to get any tangles out more kindly and you'll get a more even distribution of conditioner this way as well. Then rinse it off and job is done."
She added that rubbing hair with a towel is also an error: "You should be blotting and squeezing with the towel and try and avoid rubbing as this is much kinder to the hair”.
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