Saturday, March 21, 2009

Shampoo: Less is More

So, this last week we've had a bit of a debate in my house over the frequency we wash Levi's hair. Let me tell you, up until now it has not been very often (think weekly/monthly here). My reasoning is that it's rinsed with water all the time - he's in the shower with one of us about once a day (he rarely bathes alone). And, I just feel that babies don't need all that much shampooing with so little hair and delicate skin.

Serendipitously NPR highlighted a shampooing news story this week - and it turns out where shampooing is concerned: less is more. The article (click here) was so convincing I've decided to forgo my every-other-day habit & think more on weekly terms.
Apparently, Americans love to shampoo (over 4.5 times a week). The result is a vicious cycle: the excessive shampooing strips hair of its beneficial oils, your sebaceous oil glands then compensate by producing more oil & then your back to the shampoo bottle to tackle your greasy hair. When you shampoo less your sebaceous glands began producing less sebum oil.
According to the article, until 1908, when media influences began to say otherwise, once a month shampooing was the norm. Decades of marketing later... and by the 1970's daily shampoo use was common.

1 comment:

JC said...

I don't always shampoo Summer's hair, maybe once or twice a week if she's lucky (of course shampoo is unlucky in her eyes!). Maybe I'll try that too with my hair.