Does My Hair Look Dirty?

[Amahaitz]

I usually wash my hair every day, but I didn't have time this morning. This is what it looks like approximately 32 hours after being washed. I can't stand it.

[Obsidian]

It looks a little oily on top. Mine does the same thing, I rarely can go more then a day without washing. On the days I don't feel like or don't have time and need to be in public, I use a little arrowroot powder or cornstarch applied with a big fluffy make up brush. It helps hide the oil until I can get it washed. On really lazy days, I toss it into a pony and pretend it doesn't exist.

[lapushka]

Maybe it's good to have a little break from washing sometimes, both physically (for the good of the hair, natural oils = always good), and mentally.

[Reyesuela]

Most people's hair adjust to your washing frequency...within reason. Going from once a day to every other day halves your washing frequency. So that is guaranteed to give you oily hair until you adjust. I've been able (pre hair loss) to cut my washes to twice a week, but that's my scalp's limit. Yours may be different, but there will be an adjustment no matter what.

[vampyyri]

That's my hair after 18-24 hours... I just do scalp only washes to combat it.

[Aredhel]

My hair used to look like this too after 24 hours. Since I've stretched my washes to once a week, my hair only gets like this after ~38 hours. I figure it'll eventually improve even more over time. I've heard BBB's can really help with that, though I have yet to try one myself.

[sumidha]

A little bit, but unless your ends are super poofy and the contrast makes it extra obvious I probably wouldn't notice if I passed you in the street. :)

[megthehennahead]

I've trained my hair to go longer. I used to have to wash it every day, but I can go a solid 2 days if not 3, depending on how much I sweat, now. It takes some time to adjust, but in my opinion, it's worth working past the awkward oily stage to not have to wash it every day.

[Aunty Miki]

I wouldn't have noticed it. I'd brush the oils down the length for its health.

[draysmir]

It looks a bit oily, but I think it's still totally ok to go out in public with. Your picture looks similar to my hair about 4 days (maybe 5 on a good week) after washing, and I go about a week without washing. I also can't stand having my hair that oily, but only if I wear it down. If my hair is up, I don't even notice it. I find looser styles makes my hair look less greasy, compared to more tight slick back styles.

[pandabarrier]

It's a bit oily on the roots but I wouldn't notice it if I saw you in the street. My hair looks like that on Day 3 after wash, I do a scalp wash around that time.

[Chromis]

Nah, looks like hair!

I would just put it up. A bit of oil makes mine behave much better anyhow. I hate how fuzzy looking mine is when freshly washed!

[tiffxcii]

It looks just a little oily on top... not too bad though. I would just put it up in a bun :love:

[LaReineJaguar]

Mine looks like that sometimes, too. I'm in the process of trying to stretch washes, and its taking some getting used to, but now I will go out with it a little oily and I just don't care. Since doing this I've started noticing my students' hair.. and usually everyone has a day or two of kind of oily hair, but I never noticed until I started focusing on it. I really think that if its your own hair you notice it more than other people do.

[Simsy]

If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed. Even then, I would have chalked it up to sweat mostly.

From experience, very few people notice hair that needs a wash until it's thick with grease (ect: a week past the point of needing a scrub); and most of them won't care all that much unless they have to handle it. People are always their own worst critic.

[Aredhel]

My hair used to look like this too after 24 hours. Since I've stretched my washes to once a week, my hair only gets like this after ~38 hours. I figure it'll eventually improve even more over time. I've heard BBB's can really help with that, though I have yet to try one myself.
Ah yes I should also mention that for what it's worth, I actually prefer when my hair is slightly greasy because it makes it far easier to manipulate my hair for updos and to tame my flyaways. My hair in its squeaky clean state can't hold any hairstyle because it's so fine and slippery. :)

[Serimel]

I don't think it looks that bad at all! You could easily stretch to washing every second day if you don't have any other issues than how it may look to outsiders.

[Arctic]

As someone who was almost traumatised as a teenager/young adult about my oily hair, I have lazer vision for other people's oily hair too - yes yours looks somewhat oily to me. Enough to make myself uncomfortable if it was me but that's another issue altogether.

[Amahaitz]

Thank you. I was so self-conscious all day yesterday! I would really like to wash my hair every other day. It doesn't look *quite* as horrendous to me if I put it in a bun. Dry shampoo makes it look less oily, but it feels stiff and weird.

[noahnoah]

I cant see the pic but I have the same issue. It gets super oily and STINKY after a day or two. on the third day it itches and stinks ... the worst thing is on the third day and onwards is when my lenghts look the best. On day 1-2 the lneghts are sooo dry and matte, but by day 3 and onwards they look more shiny. But by then I NEED to wash again because of my scalp ...

So Ieither have to choose a clean scalp and matte and dry lenghts or a stinky scalp and shiny, un-tangled lenghts.