Tips for people who HAVE to wash their hair daily

[BlueMajorelle]

I really don't like washing my hair daily. It does better if I leave it every other day. But I recently added a new job in addition to teaching part time, and I now work at a sports bar. If I don't wash my hair it will have the lovely aroma of cigarette smoke and kitchen grease and I cannot go work with children smelling like that (plus I can't stand the smell!)

What are some tips to keep my hair happy when I have to wash it daily? I tried CO but it didn't cut through the grease smell that gets in my hair.

[CremeTron]

Excellent question. I like to wash daily too but lately due to time constraints have had to wait 2-3 days between washes and it is not a good look on me. I get greasy even though I am curly. Annnnnyway... I am trying to wash daily as much as poss and some tips that help me:

1. Wash as soon as I get home for the day and then it can dry during the evening. In the morning apply products and style
2. Also you can try a moisturising shampoo. CO washing started to make my hair slimy so I am using Gliss shampoo I think it is by Schwarzkopf which is not drying IMO. You could use diluted shampoo and run it down your length to cut the grease.
3. One thing I have not yet tried but I think will be of great benefit is to do a deep conditioning treatment on your day off.

Hope these help and I am sure more people will chime in too.

[Larki]

I was washing every day until the last couple weeks: recently I've been stretching to every other day, and I'm pretty sure that's as far as I'll be able to go. My hair is straight, fine and fairly thin, and all of that means it looks pretty gross quickly.

A gentle shampoo and extra conditioning should help.

[Kaelee]

What is your hair type? That makes a difference I'm sure. My hair and scalp loves to be washed daily, and my scalp doesn't like CO. I've been a daily washer for years and never had an issue. I think it depends on your hair, and what products you use.

[rohirrrims]

My hair gets horrendously greasy no matter what I do and has done since I was a child so I have to wash every day if I am going somewhere! Dry shampoo barely works and turns to a cement like paste with all the oil which I haaatee.
So what I have taken to doing which seems to protect my hair from daily washing is to coat the length and ends with coconut oil and then braid every night and wash in the morning. The coconut oil prevents the hairshaft from swelling with water and also prevents tangles so washing, combing and drying are painless. It's the only thing I could think of doing to protect my hair from the daily washing! (plus it smells good!) I do use a gentle SLS free shampoo and try to stretch washes when I can to make up for this though.

[Weewah]

I have to wash daily too and I find that leaving coconut oil in my hair overnight before I wash helps make it feel stronger when I detangle in the shower.

Also you might want to try a different CO wash conditioner. I use VO5 Kiwi Lime clarifying conditioner and I find it cleans more thoroughly then any other I've tried.

[meteor]

If you have to wash every day, try to make the majority of those washes conditioner-only, water-only or other mild washes. And if you use shampoos a lot, make sure they are in the gentle, "moisturizing" or "conditioning" category (they usually state "can be used daily" on the label), not clarifying shampoos.

[ExpectoPatronum]

Definitely oil your hair before washing. You could also try CWC (condition, wash, condition) to protect your lengths against the shampoo.

[endlessly]

One thing that really helps me with washing my hair daily is actually washing it in the sink versus the shower and using a 2-in-1 product. Currently, I'm using a Lush shampoo bar called Godiva because it's conditioning and shampooing all at the same time, so it not only cuts down on time constraints, but means I have fewer products going into my hair resulting in fewer "deep shampoos" to remove build-up. I work at a cosmetics counter and am surrounded by a lot of fragrance which clings to the hair and this is the best method for me in order to remove the perfume odor.

Another great tip that I've read mentioned already is to do a deep conditioning treatment on your day off. I personally deep condition at least once per week, sometimes twice depending on how dry my hair feels.

I also recommend doing leave-in oil treatments while you work. If you are able to put your hair up into a bun or in a braid with some oil, the oil will soak in and condition the hair so at least when you're shampooing at the end of the night, you aren't completely drying it out.

Hope this helps!

[Vanilla]

It's going to sound totally unconventional, but spraying febreeze through the hair totally helps toneutralize the smoke smell. I had this problem when in college, and I can't wash my hair daily without drying it out. Spraying febreeze on my hair and putting it up in a bun helped a ton. I also found that the smells were a bit easier to wash out (1 shampoo instead of 2) if I used the febreeze in my hair.

[MsBubbles]

I have been doing scalp washes now for about 4 years. I don't have any tips for getting the smell out of the length but it does protect the ends from having to detangle it, much less while damp. No detangling necessary on the length. I make a loose ponytail and wind a shower cap around the ponytail length and secure it with another big ponytail holder/band. I could do this from BSL onwards.

[turquoisedays]

I use an old perfume bottle that I washed out thoroughly and that sprays relatively uniformly. I fill it with water with a few drops of pure lavender oil and spritz it in my hair. If the smell of lavender oil doesn't appeal to you, there are other oils you can substitute in.

[HintOfMint]

My hair gets horrendously greasy no matter what I do and has done since I was a child so I have to wash every day if I am going somewhere! Dry shampoo barely works and turns to a cement like paste with all the oil which I haaatee.
So what I have taken to doing which seems to protect my hair from daily washing is to coat the length and ends with coconut oil and then braid every night and wash in the morning. The coconut oil prevents the hairshaft from swelling with water and also prevents tangles so washing, combing and drying are painless. It's the only thing I could think of doing to protect my hair from the daily washing! (plus it smells good!) I do use a gentle SLS free shampoo and try to stretch washes when I can to make up for this though.

I second the coconut oil. I don't wash daily, but in the winter I produce more oil, so I have to wash more frequently than I like. Using coconut oil as a pre-wash oiling really blunts the drying effects of being wet and washed frequently.

[Larki]

I use an old perfume bottle that I washed out thoroughly and that sprays relatively uniformly. I fill it with water with a few drops of pure lavender oil and spritz it in my hair. If the smell of lavender oil doesn't appeal to you, there are other oils you can substitute in.

Is the purpose of this just to get the smell of smoke out?

HintofMint: I shower in the evenings, I wonder if (when I get around to buying coconut oil, or really any oil) I could get the same effect by applying the coconut oil in the morning the day I'm going to wash my hair and letting it sit all day, probably braided.

[sarahthegemini]

I would recommend oiling overnight with a penetrative oil (coconut for example) that prevents as much water intake. Also perhaps a cleansing conditioner instead of shampoo?

[HowDareDelilah]

If the actual problem isn't greasy hair but rather the smell, I think you should try some of the suggestions for neutralizing it before you start washing more often. If you can't get rid of the smell without daily washing, you could try coconut oil shampoo (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=57025) (or the "Movie Star/Hollywood wash"). Basically, you add some coconut oil to your normal shampoo and wash like usual. For me, this technique has meant that my hair is the best it's ever been, and that the irritating ritual of after-shampoo dryness and 30 minutes of detangling is completely gone. I use 1½ teaspoon of coconut oil (measured solid) to 1 tablespoon shampoo, I warm the oil for 1 minute in the microwave, combine the two liquids and that's it. The 1:2 oil:shampoo ratio means that my hair is slightly greasy after it dries, but overnight the oil absorbs and is gone in the morning. It looks like we have a very similar hairtype, so I hope the ratio might work for you as well.

[Anje]

If I were you, I'd just experiment with mild shampoos and with diluting shampoos. See how mild you can get it and still have it be effective. I'd second the coconut oiling thing, but I imagine you prefer to wash the smoke smell out ASAP (I would), and that's not conducive to a long oiling.

Can you do something like CWC, or does that not cut through the smoke smell?

ETA: Oooh, suggestion above to try adding coconut oil to your shampoo is a good one. It was really kinda awful for me, but a large proportion of people who've tried it have loved it, so it still goes in the suggestion box.