Is it true that hair becomes self-cleaning eventually if you stop washing it?

[Lulushmulu]

Anyone done this? I did and I got as far as Day 4, it itched and felt horrible. Apparently it takes about 3 weeks to become self cleaning, but does it look, erm, normal? What about all the dust and grime etc? Can you rinse it every now and then?

The theory goes that shampoo strips the hair of its natural oils so it attracts more dirt, and you have to keep on shampooing it to make it look nice again. Is it true???

Think of all the money I could save on shampoo, conditioner etc, and all the free time ...

Just curious, I hate washing my hair!

don't be such a dirty bitch

My friend did it, for years. She stank.

No. My db carried out this experiment as a teenager and hair is certaily not self cleaning.

I did know someone who only washed her hair once a month because it was excessively dry.
It didn't smell.

It probably depends a lot how greasy/dry you are.

I asked abou tthis on MN a few years ago, and the general consensus was "Don't do it!"

Apparently you smell like a wet dog in the rain.

i knew someone with dreadlocks...when it rained they smelled like a sheep so I'd say no, not true.

i remember them doing this on "That's Life" once and they siad it did work.

we have too much pollution etc in our air to do this. if you lived in the middle of a rainforest, it might be OK!

Apparantly it's true. I couldn't bear to try it though. I can't see how it could ever look nice if your hair is in a style that needs to be blow dried into shape.

AIUI you are meant to wash it but without using shampoo - i.e. you just rinse it with plain water to get the dust and grime out. Then the scalp begins to regualte its own oil production and you end up with lovely silky soft hair.

(I haven't done it myself though)

I have very dry hair and if I wash it more then once a week it looks like hay.

Belgo - have you ever tried Philip Kingsley hair elasticizer? It's very good for dry hair.

I've always tried to wash my kids' hair as infrequently as possible, and although my ds1 is now starting to need a more frequent wash, it has until now always seemed to me that truly their hair did not need washing with shampoo at all.

Think it depends on your hair type. If you've got very thick, curly or afro-type hair you may be able to get away with it but I can testify that it didn't work with my fine flyaway hair. Didn't smell (washed with plain water every day) but looked awful for the first few weeks and then after that did normalise but still didn't look great.

yeah, kids hair is different. It doesn't need washing to get its own oil out... but the yogurt, gravy, paint...

If any of you watched the programme "How dirty am I?" or something like that, a trichologist was on there and he said there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that hair is self cleaning. In fact, he said something to the presenter (who was doing an experiment of not washing any part of her body for 6 weeks) along the lines of "You don't expect your body to become cleaner the longer you don't wash it, so why expect your hair to?".

I think the programme was on More4 or Five Life - one of the satellite channels a couple of weeks ago