1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:10,000
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stump Mom Never told you?

3
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:18,040
Speaker 1: From how Stuff Works dot Com? Hey there, and welcome

4
00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:22,040
Speaker 1: to the podcast. This is Kristen and this is Molly Molly. Today,

5
00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:26,920
Speaker 1: as you know, we are tackling the ever important question

6
00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,560
Speaker 1: of how often should I wash my hair? I know

7
00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,479
Speaker 1: I've been pondering this for so long, Not really, but

8
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,960
Speaker 1: it does remind me of an interesting tidbit about a

9
00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,960
Speaker 1: fellow How Stuff Works podcasts of ours from the Wonderful

10
00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:49,479
Speaker 1: Stuff from the B Side, Mark Larson co host Molly,

11
00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,519
Speaker 1: Mark doesn't wash his hair. I know I've heard this

12
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,960
Speaker 1: about Mark Larson. He also, do you know how long

13
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:57,720
Speaker 1: it's been since you wash his hair? Give it to

14
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,840
Speaker 1: me one year. Well only I wouldn't have guessed so

15
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:02,960
Speaker 1: that Mark didn't wash his hair unless I had actually

16
00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,920
Speaker 1: asked him about it, because he has pretty nice hair. Yeah,

17
00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:08,959
Speaker 1: you would definitely sound like he's the greasy kid of

18
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,200
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and he doesn't smell weird that we

19
00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,760
Speaker 1: know of. No, I mean, it's it's you know, like

20
00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 1: you said, if he hadn't told us about his no

21
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,959
Speaker 1: poof movement, which is a movement that many people have

22
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 1: adopted recently, this idea that you don't use shampoo. You know,

23
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:25,680
Speaker 1: we would have never known that he was the kid

24
00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:27,480
Speaker 1: who didn't wash his hair. Yeah, it kind of started

25
00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,840
Speaker 1: off as a joke between him and another coworker here

26
00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:31,800
Speaker 1: and how stuff works. They're gonna see if they could

27
00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,560
Speaker 1: do just like natural hygiene type of stuff. And Mark

28
00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,839
Speaker 1: just kept it up for a year. And what he does, uh,

29
00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:40,839
Speaker 1: in a nutshell is I think every couple of weeks

30
00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,880
Speaker 1: or so he does a baking soda and vinegar rents,

31
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,960
Speaker 1: which he said it was very very exhilarating for a scalp,

32
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,520
Speaker 1: very refreshing. And other than that, I think that's it. Yeah,

33
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 1: he said it changed his life. No more buying shampoo.

34
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,760
Speaker 1: But he is so polite because he does leave an

35
00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,640
Speaker 1: abolish shampoo in his shower for guests. That is sweet. Yeah,

36
00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,120
Speaker 1: he's always thinking about the the non no pooh ers.

37
00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:10,960
Speaker 1: Well you should um listen to now stuff on the

38
00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 1: b sides knowing that you're listening to someone who doesn't

39
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,239
Speaker 1: wash his hair. Crazy. But you know, if I were

40
00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:17,919
Speaker 1: to hear that, Okay, Mark doesn't wash his hair, I

41
00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,760
Speaker 1: would think oh he's a guy. Whatever. Christ and you

42
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:23,760
Speaker 1: and I are ladies. We've got long, lustrous locks we

43
00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:25,760
Speaker 1: need to be caring for. Like this no Pooh thing

44
00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,560
Speaker 1: is not gonna work for us, not necessarily, Molly, because

45
00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:33,480
Speaker 1: Americans might actually wash their hair too much. According to

46
00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,720
Speaker 1: a story on NPR, Americans wash your hair in average

47
00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,079
Speaker 1: of four point nine times every week, and that's twice

48
00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:45,320
Speaker 1: as often as Italians and Spaniards. But that stay was

49
00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,519
Speaker 1: put out by a shampoo maker. And I think Italians

50
00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:49,840
Speaker 1: and Spaniards, you know, maybe we see them as a

51
00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:55,040
Speaker 1: little greasy. That's an odd way of flimming it. Um.

52
00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:56,800
Speaker 1: But you know, Christ and we weren't always at this

53
00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,840
Speaker 1: healthy four point five nine times a week of shampoo. Actually,

54
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,560
Speaker 1: there was this column in the New York Times in

55
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,600
Speaker 1: nineteen o eight in which the column said, is okay

56
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,400
Speaker 1: to wash your hair every two weeks because at that

57
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,480
Speaker 1: time women were only washing their hair about once a month. Wow. Yeah. Basically, shampoo,

58
00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 1: like many things in a woman's life, has all been

59
00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,799
Speaker 1: fed to us by marketing. Yeah, something that we need

60
00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:23,320
Speaker 1: to do to make ourselves like attractive women. Um. But

61
00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,680
Speaker 1: like we mentioned earlier, there is this thing called the

62
00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:30,720
Speaker 1: no Pooh movement that's been gaining speed recently. And there

63
00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:35,360
Speaker 1: are two main reasons why people are considering tossing the shampoo,

64
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,680
Speaker 1: and the first one of those is um environmental reasons, uh,

65
00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 1: people wanting to reduce the amount of plastic products that

66
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,600
Speaker 1: they use. And also, Molly, there are kind of some

67
00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,600
Speaker 1: some bad ingredients in a lot of common shampoos, right, Yeah,

68
00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,240
Speaker 1: if you look at the ingredient list, you've got silicone

69
00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,640
Speaker 1: for shine, sodium laurel sulfate. Preservative technologies such as parabins

70
00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,160
Speaker 1: and parabins have been linked to breast tumors breast can sir.

71
00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:01,720
Speaker 1: So a lot of people just don't want to put

72
00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,080
Speaker 1: this stuff in their hair anymore. And like you said,

73
00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:06,720
Speaker 1: from a plastic standpoint, you don't want plastics in the environment.

74
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,400
Speaker 1: And even like the best shower gel is going to

75
00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:11,800
Speaker 1: take eight hundred years to fully wash away, Like it's

76
00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:16,080
Speaker 1: really not good for the environment. Are showering habits right? So, Uh,

77
00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,880
Speaker 1: we have all of these weird chemicals that we're using

78
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 1: on a daily basis that that might not be the

79
00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,600
Speaker 1: best thing for our bodies. And then on the other side,

80
00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:29,760
Speaker 1: we we have hair follicles that are especially equipped to

81
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,000
Speaker 1: kind of do a little bit of cleaning work on

82
00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:34,839
Speaker 1: their own. Uh. The stuff that makes our hair and

83
00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:39,520
Speaker 1: our faces actually look greasy is an oil called sea bum,

84
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,800
Speaker 1: and our hair follicles excrete see bum, and it's it's

85
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,560
Speaker 1: pretty important for our hair. But when we sort of

86
00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,599
Speaker 1: feel that grease in our hair, we want to wash

87
00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:50,520
Speaker 1: it get out. But the fact of the matter is

88
00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,160
Speaker 1: by getting it out, the seedum follicles just sort of

89
00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,040
Speaker 1: put more out there that kind of go into overdrive.

90
00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,640
Speaker 1: They're like, must produce sea bum. And so even hairdressers

91
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,280
Speaker 1: say that to keep the those oil glands under control,

92
00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,680
Speaker 1: you should be activating them so much with all the shampooing. Yeah,

93
00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:07,880
Speaker 1: and that explains why a lot of people will have

94
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,040
Speaker 1: to use a conditioner as well as a shampoo, because

95
00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:12,680
Speaker 1: we're pretty much stripping the hair of the sea bum

96
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,040
Speaker 1: and then having to artificially replace moisturizer in our hair.

97
00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,159
Speaker 1: Because sebum is really important. It's it's an oil that

98
00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,560
Speaker 1: protects our hair shafts from breaking, It keeps our scalping

99
00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,120
Speaker 1: good conditions, and gives our hair that lustrous shine that

100
00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,280
Speaker 1: that we love so much. So the thought is, if

101
00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,920
Speaker 1: you don't constantly wipe out the sea bum, then your

102
00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,960
Speaker 1: hair kind of reaches a state of perfect equilibrium. And

103
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,160
Speaker 1: that right, Christa, Yeah, I think it's after a couple

104
00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:39,559
Speaker 1: of weeks of not shampooing, these sebum production levels gotta

105
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,880
Speaker 1: balance out and your hair doesn't get more and more greasy.

106
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,200
Speaker 1: It just produces as much as it needs to, which

107
00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,400
Speaker 1: doesn't I mean, you know, from my personal experience, just

108
00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,560
Speaker 1: doesn't seem a cap trio. If I don't, I mean,

109
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,120
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna admit I'm an everyday hair washer. I'm

110
00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,159
Speaker 1: too molly. And if I don't wash my hair, my

111
00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,080
Speaker 1: spout feels really greasy. I can't make it to the

112
00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:02,560
Speaker 1: third day. But well, it might have to do with

113
00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,160
Speaker 1: the texture of our hair. I don't know about you,

114
00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,440
Speaker 1: but I have pretty fine hair, and uh, fine hair

115
00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,120
Speaker 1: is often oilier than people with thicker, coarser hair because

116
00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:16,640
Speaker 1: we actually have more hair follicles across our scalp, and

117
00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,920
Speaker 1: each hair follicle has two or three oil glands. So

118
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,720
Speaker 1: since we have more hair follicles, we have more oil glands,

119
00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,640
Speaker 1: so we have more sea bum being excreted into our hair.

120
00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:28,840
Speaker 1: So that might be why after like a day and

121
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:33,320
Speaker 1: a half, especially if I exercise sweat a lot my hair.

122
00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:35,800
Speaker 1: I mean it just feels like a helmet on my head. Yeah,

123
00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:39,040
Speaker 1: there's definitely this is not a one size fits all prescription. UM.

124
00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,240
Speaker 1: There's a lot of variation among hair types like Christmas

125
00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,080
Speaker 1: saying and curly hair. UM in particular can go longer

126
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,760
Speaker 1: between washes. People African Americans can go longer between washes.

127
00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,599
Speaker 1: According to an article this NPR story we're talking about,

128
00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:53,880
Speaker 1: but I do want to play Devil's advocate. We are

129
00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,520
Speaker 1: reading this New York Times article about you know, not

130
00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:01,000
Speaker 1: shampooing the no pooh and uh. They're interviewing a scientist

131
00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,240
Speaker 1: who studies hair and scalp issues. His name is Philip Kingsley,

132
00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:06,200
Speaker 1: and he said of people who went for the non

133
00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,080
Speaker 1: shampoo method that these people have just gotten used to

134
00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,280
Speaker 1: the fact that their hair is greasy and dirty, so

135
00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,440
Speaker 1: they don't notice anymore. Well, would Mark Larson say about that?

136
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:17,680
Speaker 1: I think Mark Larson would disagree, and I back him

137
00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,120
Speaker 1: up on that, Mark Mark Mark's hair looks looks pretty great.

138
00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,280
Speaker 1: But you don't just have to use these homeopathic um

139
00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,720
Speaker 1: shampoo replacements. They're also dry shampoos that a lot of

140
00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,800
Speaker 1: higher end um hair hair care companies are starting to

141
00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:35,720
Speaker 1: come out with now, Like I think you just spray

142
00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:37,520
Speaker 1: it like on your roots and it sort of stakes

143
00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,000
Speaker 1: up the excess oil if you don't actually want to

144
00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:41,960
Speaker 1: have to go through the process of washing and then

145
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:43,880
Speaker 1: blow drying your hair, because I have a feeling that

146
00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:45,640
Speaker 1: people who are blow drying their hair every day like me,

147
00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:48,040
Speaker 1: are doing added damage to it and addition to just

148
00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:50,800
Speaker 1: stripping all that sea bum from the hair, and it's

149
00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,080
Speaker 1: a waste of time. It just saved so much time. No, Molly,

150
00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:56,680
Speaker 1: but doesn't hair look great? You do look great today, Christen.

151
00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,680
Speaker 1: Thank you, Molly, really I appreciate that. So if you're concerned,

152
00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:02,720
Speaker 1: you should probably just ask your hair stylist. Your hairstyles

153
00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:04,640
Speaker 1: can see all the damage that's going into your hair

154
00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,600
Speaker 1: when it might need et cetera. Ask then how often

155
00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:09,400
Speaker 1: you should shampoo your hair. Yeah, but take it from

156
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,640
Speaker 1: a fellow podcaster, you could try the no pooh. Trying

157
00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,680
Speaker 1: the no pooh and no pooh could work for you. Oh,

158
00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,440
Speaker 1: christ And I smell a sponsorship in your future. And

159
00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,040
Speaker 1: if you do want to try out some of these

160
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:22,800
Speaker 1: natural recipes on our site how Stuff Works, You've got

161
00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,800
Speaker 1: an article called how to make your Own beauty products,

162
00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,600
Speaker 1: and there's a whole section on making your own hair

163
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,520
Speaker 1: kit products and I think you'll need a lot of

164
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,000
Speaker 1: egg whites and then a girl on hand. Yeah, they're

165
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,600
Speaker 1: at the ingredient list is if you're if you're on

166
00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:39,240
Speaker 1: the fence about no pooh. I don't know that it's

167
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:40,960
Speaker 1: going to convince you because I was a little scared

168
00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:42,480
Speaker 1: by some of the ingredients. But we do have it

169
00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:44,720
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. So Molly, before we

170
00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:48,360
Speaker 1: close out this episode, we have some listener email could

171
00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:53,599
Speaker 1: read right, yes, So I'm gonna start off with like

172
00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:57,000
Speaker 1: an email from our listener Joseph who wrote in and said,

173
00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,400
Speaker 1: the problem to me is less one of gender differences

174
00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,360
Speaker 1: than one of arning differences. Instead of separating boys and girls,

175
00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,160
Speaker 1: separate students based on their learning style. This way a

176
00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:06,839
Speaker 1: teacher would be able to have a classic studence to

177
00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,360
Speaker 1: the same learning style, such as visual learners and Taylor

178
00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,560
Speaker 1: the class towards that. If any went on to say

179
00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,719
Speaker 1: the gender differences are brought up in this research hard

180
00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:16,720
Speaker 1: come back to Victorian era gender roles. When gender roles

181
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,600
Speaker 1: are essentialized, it is as much about in eight differences

182
00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:23,640
Speaker 1: as a reinforcement of socially inscribed roles. Very interesting, pretty

183
00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:26,760
Speaker 1: interesting perspective, And we have an email from Leah that

184
00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,720
Speaker 1: kind of follows up on that point, takes a little

185
00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,280
Speaker 1: bit of a step further. Leah wrote, when discussing this issue,

186
00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:35,480
Speaker 1: we should also remember that gender is not necessarily binary anymore.

187
00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,400
Speaker 1: There are more gender differences than just email and mail.

188
00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,320
Speaker 1: So what would the hermaphrodite, trans sexual, or ambiguously gendered

189
00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,600
Speaker 1: students do in this situation? This will likely put them

190
00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,199
Speaker 1: in a very awkward and confusing place. Very interesting, very true,

191
00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:50,680
Speaker 1: and now I'm only to close things out. We have

192
00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:56,200
Speaker 1: an email from an actual real life middle schooler who

193
00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:58,880
Speaker 1: was listening to it and had her own perspective to

194
00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,080
Speaker 1: add to it. She her name is Rainier, and she

195
00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,880
Speaker 1: is thirteen years old and attends a public school, and

196
00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:06,160
Speaker 1: she wrote, I was listening to your podcast and just

197
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,280
Speaker 1: wanted to say that, frankly, school wouldn't be the same

198
00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,640
Speaker 1: without boys in my classes. A lot of the boys

199
00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:15,160
Speaker 1: I know aren't really annoying, crude and loud, maybe even

200
00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:17,480
Speaker 1: nice and smart too. I don't really think that single

201
00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:20,520
Speaker 1: sex classrooms would be all that effective and not as

202
00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:25,120
Speaker 1: much fun for us girls. Nice point. Rainier. Nice point. Yeah,

203
00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:26,880
Speaker 1: I kind of want to go to school where she does,

204
00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,360
Speaker 1: where all these nice and smart boys are, but sometimes

205
00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,120
Speaker 1: crude and loud sometimes but still fun. Well, if you

206
00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,520
Speaker 1: have any questions or comments about any of the podcasts

207
00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:38,320
Speaker 1: you've heard, uh, send me your Molly an email at

208
00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:45,280
Speaker 1: mom stuff at how stuff works dot com for moral this,

209
00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:47,960
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics. Does it have stuff works

210
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:55,400
Speaker 1: dot com? Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand

211
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,640
Speaker 1: twelve Camray. It's ready, are you