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abribun
January 21st, 2018, 11:51 AM
Hey, lovelies!

This year I've made a goal that I am doing no trims and being more gentle/doing less with my hair so I can get as much growth as I can! The biggest step I know I have to take is washing my hair less. Now, my hair is very fine and thin and get's greasy quickly. The thing is, it shows very badly. I'm going to try to wash it once a week with one scalp wash a week (I'll avoid the scalp wash if I can). How long do you think it will take my hair to get used to only washing once a week?

I know this is an important step I have to take in my hair growth journey.

Lady Stardust
January 21st, 2018, 12:58 PM
Hi

I've got fine hair that gets greasy quickly too. I wash every other day. It's fine if you want to stretch washes but I just wanted to say that it doesn't work for everyone so don't feel bad if it doesn't work out - some people need to wash frequently and there's nothing wrong with that. See how you get on - maybe take it gently rather than going for a week straight away. You could try an extra day at first and then another when your scalp has adjusted to it.

Although I wash frequently I've found that breakage has reduced since I started fingercombing rather than using a wide tooth comb. It just makes me slow down and engage with the process a bit more.

abribun
January 21st, 2018, 01:04 PM
Hi

I've got fine hair that gets greasy quickly too. I wash every other day. It's fine if you want to stretch washes but I just wanted to say that it doesn't work for everyone so don't feel bad if it doesn't work out - some people need to wash frequently and there's nothing wrong with that. See how you get on - maybe take it gently rather than going for a week straight away. You could try an extra day at first and then another when your scalp has adjusted to it.

Although I wash frequently I've found that breakage has reduced since I started fingercombing rather than using a wide tooth comb. It just makes me slow down and engage with the process a bit more.

You're right, I'll try to stretch washes just a little bit and focus more on being gentle. I also fingercomb and it has helped quite a lot! Thank you for all of the tips :)

lapushka
January 21st, 2018, 01:20 PM
I'm going to try to wash it once a week with one scalp wash a week (I'll avoid the scalp wash if I can). How long do you think it will take my hair to get used to only washing once a week?

I know this is an important step I have to take in my hair growth journey.

Depends on where you're starting from. If right now you are washing daily, then it is going to take a *long* time. You don't want to rush this. First go every other day and try and do that for weeks on end. If that goes well, you can probably try and skip another day once, and then the usual every other day routine, then slowly try an go every 2 days fully, and so on and so forth. It is going to take months.

I would not do it brutally and all at once as that can have disastrous effects on your scalp.

I had no choice in the matter and went from 2/3 days a week to every 14 days once, due to a medical issue, and boy did my SD (seborrheic dermatitis) ever flare up! I had it bad! And this situation lasted for months and months as the medical issue was still in the midst of getting resolved.

But anyway, go slowly.

How often are you washing now?

I also agree with Lady Stardust. Some people can't stretch their washes at all, and that is fine too.

almostghost
January 21st, 2018, 01:22 PM
My hair has always gotten greasy quickly too. Stretching washes (without spending a lot of time looking really greasy) has been a slow process for me - it's taken me almost three months to feel comfortable only washing every three days, and I usually still need to wear it up the third day if anyone's going to see me.

Andthetalltrees
January 21st, 2018, 01:46 PM
I'm one of those people can't go longer than twice a week at most, My scalp and hair really prefer every other day though. In my experience my hair is healthier washing more than less because it dries out between washing a lot.

abribun
January 21st, 2018, 02:46 PM
Depends on where you're starting from. If right now you are washing daily, then it is going to take a *long* time. You don't want to rush this. First go every other day and try and do that for weeks on end. If that goes well, you can probably try and skip another day once, and then the usual every other day routine, then slowly try an go every 2 days fully, and so on and so forth. It is going to take months.

I would not do it brutally and all at once as that can have disastrous effects on your scalp.

I had no choice in the matter and went from 2/3 days a week to every 14 days once, due to a medical issue, and boy did my SD (seborrheic dermatitis) ever flare up! I had it bad! And this situation lasted for months and months as the medical issue was still in the midst of getting resolved.

But anyway, go slowly.

How often are you washing now?

I also agree with Lady Stardust. Some people can't stretch their washes at all, and that is fine too.

I am currently washing every other day! I will definitely take it slow as you said.

Ophidian
January 21st, 2018, 04:43 PM
There's a stretching washes thread too that might have some helpful info for you:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=56574

divinedobbie
January 21st, 2018, 06:57 PM
I know it's been mentioned several times but I just want to stress also how important it is to not rush and to also not push it further than your scalp can handle. I tried to stretch washes and did it slowly but I started noticing I was shedding tons and it took me some time to link that I was losing handfuls on that third or fourth day of no washing so I had to quit and I'm a lot happier washing daily even though I really wish I didn't have to.

emptyque
January 22nd, 2018, 07:20 AM
I know it's been mentioned several times but I just want to stress also how important it is to not rush and to also not push it further than your scalp can handle. I tried to stretch washes and did it slowly but I started noticing I was shedding tons and it took me some time to link that I was losing handfuls on that third or fourth day of no washing so I had to quit and I'm a lot happier washing daily even though I really wish I didn't have to.

I notice more hair shedding when I stretch my washes longer, but I just assumed that it was because normally a lot ends up down the shower drain. I couldn't think of any other explanation for why it would happen.

I used to wash daily. I started stretching my washes last time I cut it short. I did every other day for a year. I've been doing three times a week for another year. My next step is to try for twice a week. I've noticed my hair get greasy faster when I handle it more. I'm going to try to avoid playing with new hair styles unless it is wash day.

lapushka
January 22nd, 2018, 08:30 AM
I notice more hair shedding when I stretch my washes longer, but I just assumed that it was because normally a lot ends up down the shower drain. I couldn't think of any other explanation for why it would happen.

I used to wash daily. I started stretching my washes last time I cut it short. I did every other day for a year. I've been doing three times a week for another year. My next step is to try for twice a week. I've noticed my hair get greasy faster when I handle it more. I'm going to try to avoid playing with new hair styles unless it is wash day.

I try and stick to the same hairstyle, and don't futz with it at all much. When I get up, after having slept with it down, I just pick it up, twist it up and do a LWB (lazy wrap bun). Takes me seconds. And I leave it in the entire day until it is time for me to go to sleep.

I do also notice more shedding whenever a wash approaches - it's all very normal.

After a wash, I get one day of no shedding (Monday) or maybe the odd hair, but that's it. I shed more as the week goes on. And I shed bucket loads on wash day, which is why I don't do more of those in a week (it's when I shed the most). You have to take into account the hair you shed when detangling pre-shower, then in-shower and then post-shower.

As long as your circumference doesn't suffer, it's all fine.

spidermom
January 22nd, 2018, 09:38 AM
My hair refuses to get used to being washed less often. For years it did well with a schedule of every 3-4 days, but in recent months it needs to be washed every other day if I don't want obviously greasy hair. I usually make it wait an extra day anyway, but it's pretty much an oil slick that last day - which at least makes for smooth braiding.

MusicalSpoons
January 22nd, 2018, 02:51 PM
This is not an answer you want to hear, but I've been trying for about a year and a half to go from every other day to every 3 days. I'm still not there, but day 3 is more acceptable now maybe half the time? That's with a dusting of cornflour or a hairline wash (like a mini scalp wash for when it's just the edges being too greasy). I did find that the shampoo I used had a huge effect though - I went sulphate-free and my hair loved it, looked fairly clean on the third day but that particular shampoo irritated my scalp like crazy so reluctantly had to give that up. I also used Nizoral for a bit to clear up an issue, which contains SLES and boy my hair was not happy, it was greasy by day 1-and-a-half. My 'holy grail' shampoo is a Neutral shampoo (sulphate-free, mild but still cleans this oily scalp just fine) by Natura Siberica, which contains licorice which it says helps reduce sebum production. I didn't take that seriously because anything else I've tried that claims to reduce sebum production does nothing - bit for me maybe this has worked a bit. I'm currently tweaking my routine from alternating full washes - scalp washes, to full - hairline - scalp - hairline - full; still every other day or substituting cornflour if I don't have the energy to scalp wash (though my scalp prefers not to be cornfloured. It does the job if I really need it to though).

Whoah, that was longer than I thought it would be! I've also started to try the rinse-out-oil method whilst tweaking, and my lengths seem much better off than they were before. I'm happy with any improvement because less conditioner = fewer ££!

OH! Also, I dilute my shampoo - not sure I use any less in a full wash than I would have done in a normal wash before, but it's the only way scalp washing is possible for me, and also helps spread/lather better in a full wash when the scalp hair is really weighed down by the wet lengths.

[Urgh, brain's giving up on the doing words thing so I hope some of that made sense :?]

I should also add I keep my hair up most of the time at home and all the time I'm out. Weirdly, having it down on day 3 looks absolutely fine but I can't contemplate trying to wear it down unless I'm doing almost nothing at home (gets in the way) - which is when I couldn't care less how my hair looks :rolleyes:

FrayedFire
January 24th, 2018, 09:17 AM
My biggest detractors to stretching washes were dry shampoo, not doing SMP, and wearing my hair down. But it took a while to get to this point. Good luck!

Ophidian
January 24th, 2018, 05:21 PM
OP, I reread your original post and it occurs to me that there are things you can do to reduce wear and tear on your hair from washing if you need to do it more frequently. MusicalSpoons already mentioned some and the first things that come to my mind are diluting your shampoo if your scalp is fine with that, and trying CWC or pre-poo oiling to protect your length a bit. I also find that if I use an applicator bottle with a pointy nozzle I can part my hair and apply shampoo directly to my scalp in several places and then massage that in without disturbing the length much at all beyond squeezing suds through if I want to wash it too. Maybe you've thought of these or some of them are already part of your routine but though I'd put some midd-of-the-road options out there.