Does anyone not shampoo their hair?

[BerylStreep]

I am thinking of trying to allow my hair to self regulate, and not shampoo it.

It is quite fine, breaks easily, and prone to greasiness. I thought that this might help its condition.

I haven't shampooed it since Wednesday (washed in the shower with water though!) and it is starting to look very greasy.

Has anyone done this? Does it work? How long before it starts to look bouncy and shiny, rather than just shiny?

No!

If your hair is dirty surely you would want to wash it?!

One of my friends did this when we were teenagers. He didn't wash his hair for 8 months. Unfortunately it never got to the self regulating stage and was just very dirty and smelly. I helped him wash and detangle it after the 8 months (he had had enough of it). The water was black for about 3 or 4 washes and he said that it was still grey after a week of daily washing. If you want it bouncy and shiny you need to wash it.
You could try the curly girl method where you just use conditioner to wash your hair.

I don't think that will happen.

Water won't remove the grease. You wouldn't just rinse a baking tray in water and reuse.

You might get used to how it looks in the end, but I don't think others would. I don't know how long that would take, either

Ds is 19, he hasn't had shampoo or conditioner on his hair for 15 years ever since he was strong enough to fight me off. He has autism and sensory issues. His hair is beautiful, shiny and healthy and smells fresh even though he only wets it under the shower. He's never had the teenage greasy hair look either.

If you wash your hair more often it produces more oil. If you leave it for longer between washes, it will slowly become less greasy. I wash my hair once a week now, and it never looks greasy, because that is what it is used to. I don't think it works to leave it for months, though.

I wash my hair every third day and use dry shampoo in between. Once left it mon-fri but looked terrible. I'll be honest, I don't think it's any better for this.

I stopped straightening and blowdrying for two weeks and hair was much improved.

I also was told to put olive or baby oil in hair overnight. This didn't do much.

If you're prone to oily roots then without shampooing it will smell. Sorry.

Actually even if you don't have oily hair, it'll still smell. Just might take longer.

I can go 2 to 3 days between shampoos max. One shampoo though, no repeating and no conditioner, not even on the ends. It's much improved since I started doing it this way.

A good compromise is diluted baby shampoo. It cleans well but doesn't strip your hair so much that it stimulates more oil. (We all have problem skin in our family and this works well). My hairdresser advised me to do this when I was a teenager and its worked really well for 20+ years.

My hair is fluffy and soft and clean. I condition it about once a fortnight but just use a tiny bit of a good conditioner on the ends.

I always let my hair dry naturally and never use any other products or straighteners. It's cut into a choppy bob and is a messy kind of style, so it suits that look.

And only use luke warm water so you get into the dry-out/produce loads of oil cycle.

don't get into that should be

The only person I ever met who did this was a 40 + yr old man with waist length hair. He always had it in a ponytail. It looked ok and didn't smell but I don't know what it was like when he started.
I couldn't do it personally..

BTW if you do the dilute baby shampoo, it doesn't actually lather up, so it feels like it's doing nothing, but it def. does work!

And don't over stimulate your scalp with rubbing and massaging etc. Do it really gently and just smooth the shampoo into your hair, leave for a minute them rinse off.

Smartiepants he wasn't a university lecturer was he?

I washed my hair a lot less after having DS and got to the point where I could go nearly a week before needing it. I have upped it to 3x a week since being back at work as it makes me feel fresher though.

Yeah, didn't work for me. Looked and felt awful.

My hair is now waist length and is a pain in the arse to wash and dry.

i've gone from washing it every day to only washing it every third day... by the third day it's unbearably greasy and i have to wear it scraped back in a bun.

i wouldn't say it self-regulates at all but my hair is definitely in much better condition generally than when i was washing and blowdrying every day.

I have quite short hair, it gets wet and I rub it in the shower every morning but it doesn't get 'product' on it, I don't think it smells. I have a very sensitive sense of smell. I can sense (I think) if I'm whiffy as when I've run and don't shower straight away I know I'm smelly.
My kids don't have product on their hair or use soap but shower or bath every day.
But I do know people who smell (good sense of smell)

I had an enforced break from washing my hair ( just water) for about 4 months thanks to a reaction to shampoo. My hair did stop being so greasy, however it was very flat and not nice :/

I have a friend who does this - it gets rinsed and dried gently at intervals. She has done it for years. She doesn't smell at all and her hair is in beautiful condition.

My hair is very dry and I only wash it about once a fortnight, even though I run every other day.

Surely it's not just grease, it's the dust and grime that sticks to your hair that you need to clean off? I wouldn't have thought you'd get this off properyly with just water. It's probably ok if you have very short hair but long hair needs a proper wash. You wouldn't just wash your clothes in water with no detergent?