When do you wash your wigs?

How often should you wash your wig or hairpiece? 

The million dollar question. How often should I be washing my alternative hair? 

I had a client that has alopecia, and she showed me her previous hairpiece that was in terrible shape missing hair and it was extremely dry and brittle, after further discussion I found out that said wig was only shy of 6 month old (a good quality wig should last minimum 1 year - several years depending on how often you're wearing and caring for it it but we’ll elaborate on that later).

I asked her how she was caring for it and she told me she washes it every few days - as often as you would wash your hair in the shower. 

I Kindly told her you do not need to wash wigs as often as you would for your bio hair because there is no perspiration on top it doesn't get oily or dirty quite so fast. And thats a sure fire way to shorten the life of a good hairpiece. 

Heres a general rule I like to go by: 

Wearing your wig 1-3 hours a day - should be washed every 6-8 weeks. 

Wearing your wig 3-6 hours a day - should be washed every 4-6 weeks 

Wearing you wig 6+ hours a day - should be washed every 2-3 weeks

Other factors include: 

What is the climate like where you live? A windy or cold environment means faster chance of knotting and your wig will need some TLC a bit sooner 

A super hot and humid environment means more sweating although a lightweight wig cap under your wig will buy some time 

What are you wearing you wig for? If you have a faster paced lifestyle or work outdoors or workout in your hairpiece then this means a sooner wash as well.

In general you can usually feel when it needs a wash.

If you can’t feel it then you'll definitely be able to smell it. Sorry for the TMI but we like to get real over here.  

And last but not least don't think the opposite is true - if I never wash my wig I’ll preserve the integrity for longer - We need to cleanse, condition and care our alternative hair reguarly (as well as our bio hair) in order to maintain it. 

How often do you wash your hairpiece?