The Down and Dirty
Stretching out the weeks (or months!) that go by in-between washing your hair seems innocent enough… But beyond the immediately obvious motives for washing our hair regularly- there’s actually some surprising reasons why you shouldn’t put off your Wash-Day another minute.
Even if you’re unlikely to encounter anybody today other than your co-workers on a video conference... Our tell-all guide will probably have you racing to the shower to scrub your scalp clean.
Stick around for a moment to get the full low-down on the real repercussions of putting off Wash Day...
How Your Scalp Suffers
Newsflash: Your scalp is your skin too. Let that sink in for a moment.
It’s easy to forget that our scalps are actually skin, and every bit as important as the skin on the rest of our bodies. We wouldn’t skip steps of our skincare regime on our faces, miss out on smoothing body butter onto our legs, or neglect to massage that nourishing heel balm onto our feet before bed. But it’s so easy to give very little thought to our scalps. Perhaps because we don’t get to see them all that much, and they’re outta sight- outta mind. Maybe they’re just misunderstood. But paying some special attention to the health of our scalps will keep it doing what it does best- growing us beautiful, healthy hair.
Given its enormously important job of constantly providing a base for our luscious locks to grow out of, it’s crucial to maintain our scalp’s healthy equilibrium. Here’s what happens when you don’t give your scalp the love it deserves with regular washing:
- Sebum Builds Up. When left hanging around on your head, the natural oils your scalp secretes go rancid, growing fungus and bacteria. We’re talking seriously smelly stuff. Do yourself (and everyone who comes within whiffing distance) a favor and wash it off, please and thank you.
-
Your Scalp Becomes Congested and Your Hair Stops Growing. When your scalp is struggling to deal with congestion, you can actually experience hair loss. Just like when you have a cold, your scalp can get stuffed up. Scalp congestion can be caused by a buildup of dirt, hair product, smoke or even pollution from things like car exhaust and if you live in a major city. Not washing these pollutants off your scalp regularly can leave you with an itchy, irritated head and your hair follicles can’t breathe properly, so they won’t provide a good blood flow to ensure you have strong, healthy strands growing.
-
It Downright Hurts. When your hair is looking unruly and weighed down with heavy product buildup and oil as you’re coming up on time to wash and restyle it, pulling it back seems like a good option to limp you through until Wash Day. By applying this tension on your roots, you’re creating enough traction on your scalp to irritate your superficial nerve endings that surround your hair follicles, causing your scalp to feel irritated, uncomfortable and even painful.
- You Get Ingrown Hairs. Think you’re immune to ingrowns even though we’re not talking bikini lines here? Think again. When you’re not exfoliating your scalp properly and removing the buildup that clogs your hair follicles, those hairs can turn around and grow right back in on themselves. You’ll get painful bumps that can become infected, so be sure to create a clean and open surface on your scalp for hairs to grow out in the direction Mother Nature intended.
How Your Hair Takes the Hit
- You Notice A Funky Smell You Can’t Seem to Wash Off. Your hair is porous, and soaks things up like a sponge. Unfortunately that means unpleasant smells too. It’s like ruining a nice cashmere sweater by leaving it in the laundry basket wet, and you can never seem to get that musty smell out of it- no matter how many times you lather, rinse, repeat. If you leave those odor-causing things on your hair to soak in for too long, you may be stuck with that funk as your new normal for the long haul. Your hair traps moisture, which in turn collects smelly bacteria. In the space of just a week, you’re noticing a tinge of a mildew scent, or worse… a sour smell emanating from the top of your head that Wash Day offers no relief from.
- You Wonder If You’re Losing Your Hair. Ever shampooed your mane, looked down at the tangles of what seems like thousands of fallen strands wrapped around your wet fingers and clogging the drain... and had a mini mental breakdown right there in the shower? Are you going bald?! Don’t panic. You’re probably just finally relieving your head from weeks’ worth of hair shed, all at once. When you keep in mind that it’s natural to lose up to 100 hairs a day, that puts it in perspective. If you skip washing and removing these fallen hairs that have become trapped in amongst your other hair, you’ll see a lot more shedded hairs coming out when you do eventually wash.
- Your Hair Gets Dry and Susceptible to Damage. If you’ve been keeping up with us for a while, you’ll know by now that regular washing is the #1 thing you can do to moisturize your natural hair. Not washing your hair enough leads to dehydrated curls, meaning you’ll have brittle strands that are prone to breakage, your elasticity will suffer and your style won’t last as long, your hair will soak up everything you put on it and you’ll have to use twice as much product as you should, plus it’ll be a nightmare to detangle on Wash Day. And straight up, your hairstyle just won’t look as good. We know. We’ve been doing the leg work on this for 16 years.
- Your Hair Can Lock Up On You. Oh, the horror. We’ve seen it in the salon. This is a sad day for all involved, because the only solution to fix strands that have coiled around themselves into fused units is to just cut them off. When you don’t wash and detangle your hair regularly, your curls can tightly bind around themselves and lock up with deadbolt-intensity.
Weekly Washing and Your New Secret Weapon to the Rescue!
Now we know why washing our hair on a weekly basis is so important to not only having hair that looks, feels and smells great… But is also staying healthy, strong and full. You’ll see a world of difference in the health of your hair and scalp when you nurture it with our family of Urbanbella products. But we also have a new secret weapon for you...
Because we also know life gets busy. It does for all of us here at Urbanbella, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take care of our scalps properly in-between wash days. For that reason, we developed a product that helps in a pinch for when you need to get an extra day or two out of your style, to soothe an itchy or dry scalp, and to freshen up when you’re working out and need a quick refresher. Try our favorite go-to serum that was specially developed for daily use, Urbanbella’s Piperita Scalp Serum. Try shaking up your routine, to give your scalp and curls the treatment they deserve with this powerhouse serum plus shampoo and conditioning combo:
- Before Shampoo: Use Urbanbella Piperita® as a part of your pre-shampoo routine. Gently massage it onto your scalp. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then shampoo with your Urbanbella Honey and Aloe Lather Cleanser followed by your Urbanbella No.7 Non-Lather Cleanser, then finishing with the Urbanbella Neat Conditioner.
- During Steam/Deep Conditioning: There’s just something very soothing about having a cool scalp while steaming or deep conditioning your hair. Massage a few drops of Urbanbella Piperita onto your scalp before going under the hood with the Urbanbella No. 4 Hydrating Conditioner massaged through for your lengths, for an invigorating hair treatment.
- During the Week: Sometimes we just have an itchy scalp. Maybe it’s time for wash-day but we are pushing it out. Maybe it’s hot outside or really cold. Either way, this little tonic will give you relief! Squirt a small amount of Urbanbella Piperita in your hands, then massage onto your scalp and relax.
- After Workouts: If it’s a workout day but not a hair wash day, you still may want or need a refreshed scalp feeling. Massage a little onto your scalp post workout for a freshen-up.
Here’s to having the best hair month yet!
~Keneesha and the Urbanbella Team xx
