We asked a trichologist and a bunch of hair experts how often you should wash your hair — and it turns out there's no right answer

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Alyssa Powell/Business Insider

• Washing your hair is a basic part of personal hygiene, but not everyone needs to wash their hair the same number of times each week.
• How often you should wash your hair depends on a few factors, like your hair type (straight, wavy, curly, or extra curly — aka coily), structure, density, and porosity.
• I talked to the experts to find out how often you should wash your hair based on these factors.
• The bottom line is that there's no one-size-fits-all answer for each hair type. Various factors go into determining what will work for you, but the following guidelines should help.

As kids, we're taught to wash our hair in three seemingly easy steps: lather, rinse, repeat. Lather and rinse are self-explanatory, but the "repeat" part is where things get fuzzy. How often are you expected to repeat this method? Once a day? Once a week? To find out, we asked the professionals how often you should wash your hair.

1. How to identify your hair type

2. How often to shampoo based on your hair type

3. What shampoo ingredients to look for

4. What shampoo ingredients to avoid

5. A note about washing your scalp

6. Shampoos we recommend