How often do you wash your hair? (guys & gals)

[Hercule]

I have very thick hair (which I absolutely hate, mind you) and after years of noticing that my hair behaves the best at the end of the day, I finally, about a year ago, took the plunge and stopped washing my hair everyday. I still shower each morning, but I only rinse out my hair. To dry it I don't fluff it with a towel but simply wipe it back which mostly eliminates the dripping yet leaves a lot of water in the hair. Then comb it. Finding a part is really easy. It pretty much dries where I comb it and is easily manageable (I haven't gotten into using any hair "goop" yet). When I do wash my hair, usually only once a week (Saturday or Sunday) unless its obviously dirty, I simply use bar soap and that's it. I have found that if I use shampoo my hair gets very dry and too fluffy for my liking and I can't make it behave. I've also found that my hair is much softer than before.

Any thoughts?

H

 

[Paisley]

I wash mine every other day. My mother used to wash her hair with a bar of soap.

And as a balding man once pointed out to me, thick hair isn't the worst problem to have.

 

[Puzzicato]

I wash mine twice a week. It's long, so brushing it redistributes the oil from my scalp a bit so it doesn't look too greasy.

 

[crwritt]

I have very thick hair (which I absolutely hate, mind you) and after years of noticing that my hair behaves the best at the end of the day, I finally, about a year ago, took the plunge and stopped washing my hair everyday. I still shower each morning, but I only rinse out my hair. To dry it I don't fluff it with a towel but simply wipe it back which mostly eliminates the dripping yet leaves a lot of water in the hair. Then comb it. Finding a part is really easy. It pretty much dries where I comb it and is easily manageable (I haven't gotten into using any hair "goop" yet). When I do wash my hair, usually only once a week (Saturday or Sunday) unless its obviously dirty, I simply use bar soap and that's it. I have found that if I use shampoo my hair gets very dry and too fluffy for my liking and I can't make it behave. I've also found that my hair is much softer than before.

Any thoughts?

H

You are absolutely right.Thick, coarse, or wavy hair needs to retain moisture
to stay manageable, and the less handling it gets the better it behaves. for some hair types, shampoo strips too much of the natural oils. That is why a lot of people with curly hair have turned to washing their hair with conditioner.
As long as your scalp is healthy and your hair is behaving as you want it to,
this routine sounds like its working well for you.

I wash my hair with conditioner two or three times a week, and scrunch in gel. I like to encourage the natural curl. On in between days I just barely dampen it in the morning and push the curls back into shape. I add a tiny bit of
hair gel , and I'm done.

 

[MissHannah]

You'll find that a lot of the women here don't wash their hair that often - I do mine every 4 or 5 days. Previous generations only washed it once a week so I can only assume that every day washing was a marketing strategy invented by the shampoo companies to increase revenue!

 

[Yeps]

I wash my hair just about every three days. For the record, I have thick, pin strait hair, and I use pomade, although just a tad, nothing like the greasers with their pomps. I am annoyed every time I wash my hair, because it is impossible to keep out of my face, even with murrays. By the third day, it starts to feel a bit greasy to me (a combination of natural oil and the pomade), so I wash it. I use Old Spice conditioning shampoo/body wash. I know, all in one is normally bad, but it has been working pretty well, and I like the light residual scent.

 

[crwritt]

You'll find that a lot of the women here don't wash their hair that often - I do mine every 4 or 5 days. Previous generations only washed it once a week so I can only assume that every day washing was a marketing strategy invented by the shampoo companies to increase revenue!

I have noticed, that in the supermarkets and drugstores, the hair products
aisles have expanded exponentially over the last ten years, and at the same time I'm finding fewer and fewer products that I care to purchase.

My mother, in her 70's, has waist length white hair she has kept rolled in a sort of beehive, the same style since the late 60's. A gigantic bottle of shampoo has sat in her bathroom for years. The other day she was saying she wondering if she'd ever use it all up, since she washes her hair about once a month.

She's never used any products on it, and it always looks clean.

 

[Puzzicato]

You'll find that a lot of the women here don't wash their hair that often - I do mine every 4 or 5 days. Previous generations only washed it once a week so I can only assume that every day washing was a marketing strategy invented by the shampoo companies to increase revenue!

I am very sure it was a marketing strategy! Along with the lathering twice thing and "squeaky clean". The only time I've ever needed to lather twice was when I got in a food fight and had sugar melted into my scalp. This was a long time ago!

 

[AmateisGal]

I have very long, thick hair, too, but I have to wash it every other day, otherwise it gets too oily. Drives me nuts.

 

[Yeps]

I have very long, thick hair, too, but I have to wash it every other day, otherwise it gets too oily. Drives me nuts.

This is a bit of a vicious cycle. When I washed my hair every day, it would get to greasy after a day not to wash, but when I backed that down to three days, after a little while it took that long to need to be washed. The body reacts rather badly to its oils being washed out, and goes into overtime to make up of it.

 

[Puzzicato]

This is a bit of a vicious cycle. When I washed my hair every day, it would get to greasy after a day not to wash, but when I backed that down to three days, after a little while it took that long to need to be washed. The body reacts rather badly to its oils being washed out, and goes into overtime to make up of it.

Agreed - I used to wash my hair every other day, but it takes so long to dry that I decided to leave it longer. It had some fairly unattractive days while I was "training" it, but nothing scraping back into a ponytail couldn't fix.

 

[Shangas]

If by "wash" you mean with shampoo or soap and a damn good finger-scratchin' power-scrub...

...once a week.

I find if I do it too often, my scalp gets dry, and I have enough problems upstairs as it is.

 

[Hercule]

This is a bit of a vicious cycle. When I washed my hair every day, it would get to greasy after a day not to wash, but when I backed that down to three days, after a little while it took that long to need to be washed. The body reacts rather badly to its oils being washed out, and goes into overtime to make up of it.

Yes indeed, that was my problem too, that's exactly why it was such a hard move for me to go to washing my hair only once a week. (my barber at the time was very encouraging) It didn't take long, though, before my hair and scalp figured out what was going on. Now my hair never really gets greasy and almost always behaves.

H

 

[unaspenser]

There are lots of good resources out there about ways to help hair be more manageable and reduce the need to shampoo. So many beauty products have ingredients which are harmful to your hair in the long run and cause you to have to use them more often. Googling for the no-poo method (using baking soda and vinegar) or the water-only method both yield lots of results. The site www.longhaircommunity.com has lots on these and other gentle ways to keep your hair clean.

I have rather thick, wavy hair that is just past my butt. I wash every four days. On weekends I do a CWC - get the hair wet, put conditioner on the length of your hair (everything below the shoulders) to protect it from the harsher detergents in shampoo, which can strip moisture, shampoo the scalp, rinse, and then apply a cream rinse to the length, put hair up in a bun, do shower stuff, and rinse again. I follow this with a diluted vinegar rinse (a couple tablespoons in a pint glass of water), and a rinse with cool water. Just having enough moisture makes hair so much more manageable, and vinegar and cold water help to restore the ph and smooth the cuticles of your hair.

The rest of the time I do just a scalp wash, keeping the length of my hair dry and out of the way.

Anyway, yes, hair does not need to be washed every day, and I find that curls and updos stay much better in hair that isn't squeaky clean (remember that whole I just washed my hair and I can't do anything with it saying?). Most people find that the less chemical detergents and cleaners they put in their hair, the less grease they have.

(sorry for the novel)

 

[KittyT]

I have to wash my hair after every strenuous workout. This can be 2-5 days a week, depending. There is no way I can have my hair stuck under a smelly, sweaty derby helmet for 2 hours and not wash it afterwards. Occasionaly, when I need to wash it and don't have time, I'll use a dry shampoo or brush in cornstarch to help get rid of the oilies.

My boyfriend uses Murray's and washes his hair every morning. He swears that with pomade in it, once he's slept on it, it's impossible to style unless he has a clean slate. I keep trying to convince him otherwise, because I'm sure the constant washing isn't doing much to help prevent his hair loss.

 

[57plymouth]

Every morning and after my wife and I take our evening 4 mile walk.

My hair is too oily to not wash every day.

 

[Miss Sis]

You'll find that a lot of the women here don't wash their hair that often - I do mine every 4 or 5 days. Previous generations only washed it once a week so I can only assume that every day washing was a marketing strategy invented by the shampoo companies to increase revenue!

My Mum and I watched a programme a few years ago with footage from WW2 in Canada where the narrator says women who live in mining towns "Should wash their hair every THREE weeks to avoid the build up of soot and dust" - seemingly to indicate that these women washed it less! We just looked at each other and said 'Ewwwwww!' but we were thinking of them not rinsing it either.

I have to wash mine about every 2 - 3 days as my scalp gets very dry and irritated if I leave it any longer. Washing actually helps to calm it down, but it's a fine line, as every day makes it dryer. [huh]

 

[swinggal]

In summer every second day in winter it depends. Usually every three days but more if it's full of product from doing vintage styles.

I can't use conditioner either as my hair is so fine and slippery already. If I conditioned it I wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING with it. I condition the ends once a month maybe but never my whole head.

 

[Christi.adell]

Well since I have a very short cut rigt now I wash it more often than I really want to. But I use a lot of hairspray every day to get it looking decent since it's in a growing out phase.
I'd like to get down to once or twice a week though.

Of course I'm not entirely sure how to do that with working out every other day. Because sweaty hair is not attractive! It'll take some experimenting I guess.

 

[Tomasso]

I have to wash my hair after every strenuous workout.

Ditto. Between running, cycling, skating and swimming in chlorinated pools or the ocean; whaddya gonna go.[huh]