Question(s) about once a week washing.

[ProverbsGirl]

I have been stretching my washes over the last year. I went from once or twice daily washing to now twice a week.
My goal is to eventually stretch to once a week or longer. My hair (I hhaven't had it typed yet.) Is fine/thin but I have a good amount of it. It has a bit of wave to it...
Anyways..onto the question.

When you say that you are only washing once a week...do you mean you only shampoo once a week..or you only get your hair wet once a week?
I'm wanting to start stretching past three days...and move on to 5-7..but a nice rinse half way through would be nice for now. Is that a bad idea?

Sorry, I'm still finding my way through all of this.
Thanks in advance for the replies!

[Eternal.Fiend]

For most I believe that it means they only wash it once a week. When I used to stretch my washes I used to wash once a month with shampoo and co wash in between - some people would say that was washing once a month, I personally used to say I washed twice a week because the conditioner was still cleansing my hair. For those on a WO regime, rinsing their hair may be a wash, but if you are still washing your hair with shampoo, then you may not consider it to be so.

Basically, it means what ever you want it to be! If it makes your hair happiest to wash once a week with a rinse in the middle, then do that! there are no set 'rules' on what things mean!

Just a note, although stretching washes is a really good thing for your hair, listen to your hair and scalp - my scalp does not like stretching washes one bit! Also my hair is kinda thin, so I now wash my hair more regularly just to keep volume in it and keep it fluffy and not weighed down with grease - I stretch my washes for over a year and the amount of oil by day 4 hadn't decreased and it was super oily! Just some things to consider!

Good luck!

[samanthaj08]

I wash my hair once a week :)

Sometimes it starts to look greasy in the scalp toward day 5 or 6, so I'll just put some oil in for the last couple of days so that my hair will match and it won't look bad.

I only get my hair wet that one day a week though. I did it at first out of laziness, because I hate washing my hair. When I found out it was a thing.. I decided to just go with it :P

[Fairlight63]

I wash my hair once a week. I wet my hair put shamp. on scalp - rinse - put shamp. on scalp again & work it in good & down the length also. Rinse good. Then put on cond. shower cap - do the body wash thing while my hair is cond. rinse off body - take off shower cap and rinse cond. off - put a little cond. on length again & rinse good.

[Emanuelle]

I have washed my hair once a week for quite a while. But that no longer works for me due to tangles. I only detangle in the shower with lots of very slippery conditioner and a wide tooth comb (CG method). So between washes I don't detangle at all! If I wait a week between washes, the tangles just get too bad. So I'm back to washing twice a week!

[lapushka]

When you say that you are only washing once a week...do you mean you only shampoo once a week..or you only get your hair wet once a week?
I'm wanting to start stretching past three days...and move on to 5-7..but a nice rinse half way through would be nice for now. Is that a bad idea?

My hair's washed once a week, gets wet and shampood / conditioned once a week.

Stretch one day at a time, and keep that routine up for at least a few weeks every time you stretch a day. Don't go too fast.

[Salmonberry]

In my mind, wash=shampoo.

My hair gets wet every day because when I sleep on it it gets dented, tangled and all around messed up. The only things that will reset it and make it look normal are either water or heat. So, every morning I take a shower and get my hair wet at the very least. I'll actually wash it every 2 or 3 days. On the days I don't use shampoo I put conditioner down the length to detangle. I don't consider it washing because I'm using the conditioner as a detangler, and I've never noticed my hair get any cleaner after I do it. My hair also detangles best when wet. If I tried to detangle it in the morning, dry, I would get serious ripping and tearing. Getting it wet and soaking it in conditioner actually saves it.

Of all the things you can do to your hair that damage it, I think getting it wet is one of the least concerning. Heat and chemicals will do a lot more damage. So, if you want to rinse it out every coupe of days, it's not going to keep you from growing your hair long and healthy.

[CurlMonster]

I do CO washing once a week. Generally, that is the only time that I wet my hair during the week. Sometimes, though, if my hair is particularly dry or frizzy I will wet down the lengths in the sink, coat in conditioner and comb, and then rinse. So, sometimes I will wet the ends to detangle mid-week, but I still keep my scalp dry. :)