Not washing hair

[sniffysnuffler]

Since I haven't really been seeing anyone I decided to experiment with not washing my hair. Has anyone done this? My hair is short, and I do run it under the shower every day or every other day, while scrubbing my scalp with my fingertips and then brushing it under the water to get rid of as much accumulated dirt as possible (not that I really do anything to get it dirty). It was itchy for a few days but is ok now. I usually need to use quite a bit of product on it to stop it flopping about, but now it has quite a 'thick' feeling, with more volume, and sort of stays where I want it to stay. I got the DCs to sniff it and tell me if it smelt horrid and they said no!

Interested to know if other people just don't wash their hair! Especially: whether it makes it easier or harder to deal with frizz, and whether washing it just occasionally means you need to go through the nasty itchy stage all over again.

I used to wash my hair every 1-2 days, my hair is really curly and medium length. Can be quite frizzy too if just left too it.

Since I started actively trying to grow it, I now go 4-5 days between washes. At first it was always quite greasy looking and itchy. I'd say I'm about a year into this routine and never have itchy scalp anymore. Also the greasiness has eased, I get to day 3/4 before it starts to look or feel greasy. I usually wash, dry and straighten on day 1. Then day 2 and 3 I don't need to do anything at all too it (I used to have to straighten daily) and then day 4 (and sometimes 5) I just tie back. It's really helped the condition of my hair (and the frizz!), and helped it grow - win win

I'm trying to wash my hair less in lockdown to "train it" to be less greasy. I was washing it every other day (and it was greasy by day 2) but now I do it twice a week (still greasy by day 2 😂). I'm mainly doing this because it's really long and takes ages to dry and style though so I don't rinse it with water. If the greasiness hasn't improved by the time I go back to work I think I will have to give in and start washing it every other day again.

I had eye surgery a few years back and couldn't wash my hair for two weeks. My hair was greasy, itchy and disgusting. There is a theory after a certain amount of time your hair adjusts and becomes lovely. It doesn't....

This is kind of what the curly-girl method is - not using shampoo (which strips all the natural oils off your hair) but instead using conditioner to wash your hair. It is not actually the conditioner that is washing the hair - it is the agitating/washing motion plus water.

Shampoo is actually very harsh - especially sulphate shampoo. Your hair really doesn't need all the lather. It just strips it of oils and dries it out (frizz).

The over-greasy/itch stage also happens when you start the curly-girl method - as basically your head has got used to over-producing oils due to the shampoo continually stripping the oils. Once you ditch the shampoo there is a transition period (a bit over-greasy) and then your hair/head settles down to more natural water/conditioner washing.

@goodmorningeveryone I was doing CG for years before cutting my hair short! I do find the conditioner cleans, though - it's not just the rubbing. My hair feels different after cowashing Vs just with water. Cowashing even used to do a good job of washing out coconut oil, which I sometimes left in overnight. Unfortunately I find that, now my hair is short, washing even with just conditioner leaves it too flat and floppy. With just water, I'm not having to load it with gel and hairspray ... even after a thorough scrub.

Agree about sulphates though, and not just for hair. We don't use sulphates in shower gel etc any more - switched to bars of soap. I used to have to put body lotion all over my kids after a bath before realising it was the sulphates causing the problem! The amount of money I wasted over the years buying overly harsh cleansing products and then moisturisers to counteract them ...

If you hair was floppy after washing with conditioner then yep, probably "over-moisturised" - basically your hair is quite happy as it was without needing extra moisture/conditioning.

Sounds like you have found the perfect balance.

How do you get over the smell though?
Unwashed hair smells awful

@Fidgety31 It doesn't smell! I scrub my scalp thoroughly in the shower every day and also brush it under the flow. I have got my kids to sniff it for me ... the chance of it smelling bad and them not telling me is zero 😂

I have very soft, straight, flat hair and my hairdresser suggested cowashing specifically to build the body and 'grip' you've described, OP. The conditioner needs a fair bit of working in and lots of rinsing in hot water, and if it's feeling a bit flat I chuck some corn flour on before I wet it. No itching and afaik no unusually smelly smell (fwiw dh says it smells lovely). In between washes I use a natural bristle brush, which does half the cleaning really, not sure if it would work without the brush.

It sometimes all gets too tacky and waxy and I shampoo it and put up with shapeless hair for a few days. Generally cowashing means I need to do very little else with it, as you say it holds its shape better.

I use New Wash by hair story. It’s a ‘hair cleanser’ so I think fairly similar to cowashing - it cleans the hair gently but without stripping it. My hair used to be quite flat/straight, with this I can wash and leave to air dry and it has soft waves and more structure.

SIL washes her hair once a month. The smell is so strong that it lingers in the room after she leaves.

It is a myth that hair starts to wash itself after 2 weeks. Also when people say ‘shampoo strips the hair of essential oils’ when the oil is excessive because you may produce a lot of sebum then it’s not a bad thing to get rid of excess oil by washing your hair. It’s definitely not true for everyone that your hair starts to clean itself