Tackling Oily Hair

Hair Health at Home: Oily Hair & Over-Shampooing

Believe it or not, the more you shampoo your hair the more you need to shampoo your hair. There are a number of factors that could be contributing to you having overactive sebaceous glands. The most common of which is over-shampooing. So now, while in a national lockdown, is the best time to break that cycle and start to train your hair to only need shampooing 1-3x a week. Using the wrong products can also contribute to your hair feeling oily and weighed down. 

Over-shampooing: Shampoo is designed to cleanse the hair and scalp of excess oil. Us as humans are obsessed with feeling clean and we will use whatever is necessary to cleanse away unwanted sebum. Both your hair and your skin need natural oils to stay hydrated and healthy. When these oils have been cleansed from your hair and scalp, it will naturally want to produce more to replace what has been removed. What I recommend for my clients to do is to reduce how often they shampoo their hair each week. If you normally wash your hair 4 times a week, start only washing your hair 3 times a week. They soon realize that the production of sebum reduces and they no longer need to be washing their hair as often. Once the production of oils from your sebaceous glands slow, you can try reducing the amount of times you shampoo your hair again. Ideally you should only need to wash your hair between once and three times a week.

How often you should be washing your hair can depend on your hair type, diet, age or whether you use styling product or not. Generally younger people in their teenage years will need to shampoo their hair more often as their bodies are going through a number of changes and their skin and scalp are producing all these excess oils. People with straight or fine hair will also need to shampoo their hair more than people with thick, coarse or curly hair. If you use styling products then this will be another reason why you need to wash your hair every day or two. 

Wrong products: Many shampoos are filled with bulking agents and/or silicones that remain in the hair after rinsing which results in your hair feeling weighed down. Choosing a salon professional shampoo will help you from the first wash. You also need to focus on what your hair actual needs nourishment wise. Shampoo is designed to cleanse your scalp and the hair close to it, whereas conditioner/masks are designed to treat your midlengths and ends. So if your midlengths and ends are dry but your root area is not, you do not need a shampoo for dry hair, instead focus on getting a conditioner/mask for dry hair and another shampoo like one for volumizing or coloured hair, whichever the hair close to your scalp needs.

We stock many different shampoos in the salon that can help with cleansing excess sebum from the hair and scalp but remember, if you are using the correct shampoo,  by reducing how often you shampoo your hair you shouldn’t need an oil cleansing shampoo. If reducing how often you shampoo your hair hasn’t stopped you from washing your hair as much as you would like, then with the help of the following product you should be able to.

Shu Uemura Anti-Oil Cleansing Oil Shampoo 400ml €47

Kerastase Specifique Bain Divalent 250ml €24

Rahua Classic Shampoo 275ml €35

If you are unsure about haircare product recommendations, do reach out to myself on instagram @dylanbradshawdb or my Front of House team through email at reception@dylanbradshaw.com, over the phone on 016719353 or on instagram @dylanbradshawsalon