Who knew hair-washing could be so … complicated?

A lot of women, warned by beauty editors and websites that shampooing too often was the culprit for their parched strands and out-of-whack scalps, have cut back on their shampoo regimen. Instead of regularly lathering up at home, a weekly routine might now go like this: a blowout at a blow-dry bar, dry shampoo, dry shampoo, dry shampoo, followed by another professional styling session, and so on.

While curbing excess washing has its merits, there are bound to be those who go overboard. “The truth is, some of my guy clients have been coming in and asking me to tell their girlfriends, wives, lovers to wash their hair,” said Michael Angelo, a Manhattan stylist and salon owner, who recently tended the locks of Victoria’s Secret models at its Paris show. “It’s because they stink! You’d be shocked how many people will tell me, ‘Oh, 10 days ago I had a blowout and I did a killer SoulCycle session this morning and I haven’t washed my hair at all.’”

Mr. Angelo said the problem he is seeing was mostly aesthetic. “All you have to do is massage your scalp with your fingers and then smell them,” he said. “You’ll know if you need to wash.”

He is not opposed to dry shampoo. “But it buys you only an extra day or two,” he said. “It doesn’t buy you an extra five days.” Besides, he blames most of the dry shampoo abuse on the blow-dry bar phenomenon. “Everyone is trying to save their blowout,” he said, “but if you get a manicure done and your nails start to chip, you’re not just going to keep layering over the old stuff.”