Turns Out, Shampooing Every Day Isn't Bad

Every year there’s another study about the damaging effects of bad hair days. Sound dramatic? Take this one from Stanford, which declared, “A few bad hair days can change your life.” Or this one that Yale conducted for Proctor and Gamble, “The perception of bad hair leads to a reduced sense of self-esteem, such that men and women doubt their capabilities and may ultimately perform below their level of competence when experiencing a bad hair day.” In fact, it continues, “Just the thought of a bad hair day caused both men and women to feel they are not as smart as others.” The more I read about hair, the more I read about the importance of the scalp. Women spend so much time taming, teasing, coloring, stretching, doing just about anything to the hair on their head, without very much respect for the scalp from which it grows. My shower’s stacked with a zillion deep conditioners, hydrating masks, and other ways to restore my over-processed ends, but I wondered what would happened if I turned my approach on its head. 

The Philip Kingsley Trichology Clinic in New York looks like something out of the ‘50s. (In reality, it’s been there for over 30 years.) Upon arrival, I sat in a salon-like chair, surrounded by jars of products and potions in every color of the rainbow, while consulting trichologist Stephen Pullan asked me about my diet, stress levels, and ethnic background. Tugging at the hair on my scalp, he declared it “unremarkable” (this is a good thing) and applied a menthol-infused exfoliating mask to the skin. A heated plastic dome opened up my hair follicles, making it feel like a facial for my scalp. Next, he drenched the ends with elasticizer. “Your hair stretches nearly 30% when wet,” he explained, “which makes it prone to breakage.” The Elasticizer ($48) hydrates the cuticle, and when you sit under hot lights (like I did) the cuticle opens up so that it penetrates even deeper into the hair, making it significantly stronger. 

“You can’t really over-condition the hair,” Pullan says. But can you over-shampoo it? This was, to be honest, my most pressing question. Not shampooing is very in fashion, and many a hairstylist waxes poetic on the benefits of letting your scalp reach peak oil levels, investing in dry shampoo to keep you from reaching for cleanser any more than twice a week. And yet I shampoo nearly every day. Am I ruining my hair? “No,” was Pullan’s definitive answer. “It’s fine. In fact it’s good, to shampoo every day.”

After he massaged everything into my hair and scalp for a good ten minutes (to stimulate the circulation), I sat underneath two heat lamps while Pullan explained that diet is one of the most important things you can do for healthy hair. “I know it’s not in fashion, but protein, particularly animal protein, makes your hair happy,” he says. Then it was on to shampoo, followed by yet another conditioner and scalp toner, which they customize onsite per your scalp’s needs. Given my recently colored (and thus heavily damaged) hair, Pullan generously spritzed Daily Damage Defence ($38) on the mid-lengths, through the ends, before handing me a wide-tooth comb. “Gently comb out the big knots before using a brush,” he said. I dried my own hair, using just my fingers, and walked away with the kind of silky hair I’ve only ever had post-blowout. Two weeks and zero hair masks later, it’s still softer than usual. 

Kingsley’s trichology clinics are only in New York and London, but the brand’s at-home Trichotherapy kit specifically targets fine or thinning hair, from the scalp down.  Women are more aware than ever that their skin reflects what they put inside their body, so it’s only a matter of time before scalp health is treated with as much importance as the hair you can see—may as well get a head start.