Inconsistent washing

[Ylva]

We hear a lot of talk about how often you should wash if this and that applies to your hair and scalp. Others tell you to stretch washes as long as possible, while another says you should just wash more often. I see a lot of people write how they wash their hair/scalp at very consistent intervals, be it every other day, every 4-5 days, once a week or once every two months (and there is nothing wrong with that if that's what works best for you!). For a good while I insisted on washing my hair no more often than every 72 hours, which meant it usually happened very consistently every 3 days, because I didn't enjoy stretching washes, and hardly made any progress with it. Max 1 day if anything.

Then, I decided to allow myself to wash every other day if I felt like it, and allowing myself that freedom made me realise something... The way I always used to wash my hair in the past was without any specific schedule. I didn't think about which day hair it was. I just washed my hair when I felt like it - every other day if I wanted it to look and feel nice and clean, but I could go a week or longer if I had nowhere important to be, or if I just couldn't bother with it. That's how I had handled my hair my entire life up until I learned about so-called "proper hair care", and I am beginning to notice that going back to basics often really is the right thing. Back then I didn't worry about a thing with regards to my hair, least of all washing, but it still grew long. My biggest concerns with very frequent washing were product use and money, but it appears to balance itself out over time. When I am not stressing about my hair looking or feeling this way and another way, I am more comfortable going longer between washes every now and then as well.

Of course, some people MUST wash their scalps at set intervals, and this post is not out there to tell anyone what to do.

This type of lack of scheduling of washing must be more common than it looks at a quick glance. Who else here just washes their hair inconsistently when they feel like it?

[lithostoic]

Yeah I just wash when I feel like it haha. If I need it to look nice for an event I'll wash it and if I am not going anywhere I'll generally leave it alone. I'll wash it anywhere from every 3-7 days.

[gustavonut]

Yeah I just wash when I feel like it haha. If I need it to look nice for an event I'll wash it and if I am not going anywhere I'll generally leave it alone. I'll wash it anywhere from every 3-7 days.

This. ^ except I like my hair to be washed more often but just get lazy to do it :doh:

[Ylva]

Yeah I just wash when I feel like it haha. If I need it to look nice for an event I'll wash it and if I am not going anywhere I'll generally leave it alone. I'll wash it anywhere from every 3-7 days.

Nice! I knew I couldn't have been the only one, or even close. :) This is just not something we hear a lot about, I guess, or at least I have that impression.

I really felt like I was going a bit crazy with all these haircare worries and when to do this and that. I found myself feeling guilty over wanting to wash my hair every other day, and that's not what hair should be about. It should be fun and not something I have a heavy heart over.

[AmaryllisRed]

Yeah I mean on a "how often do you wash your hair" thread I might say every other day or three times a week, just for the sake of simplicity. But it's not like I set an alarm or mark it on my calendar.
Generally I wash three times a week but it's not a set schedule, especially in the winter when we will stay home for several days in a row.

[Ylva]

This. ^ except I like my hair to be washed more often but just get lazy to do it :doh:

Same, same. I prefer my hair when I wash it every other day, but can't always bother... and that's okay, too. :)

[lithostoic]

I wear my hair up and under a baseball cap 5 days a week anyway so looking nice isn't important. No point in breaking my back trying to get my hair washed if I'm just going to sweat all over it in 12 hours :P I just washed my hair today after a week and honestly it didn't look any more oily than it did on day 4/5.

[FennFire911]

This is why I can never seem to answer “what’s your routine” questions. I don’t have one. I just go by how my scalp feels and what it’s in the mood for.

[blackgothicdoll]

I tried to wash consistently every 7 days, but it didn't work for me. I basically moved to washing when I need to, and that's been consistently every 4 or 5 days. Though I'd like to wash less, my scalp starts feeling weird or my hair will be mega crispy so I'll have to. I think I can make it to 7 days if I'm sick LOL.

But I find it more convenient to just do it when I need to instead of trying to force a schedule, because stretching washes can be very bad for my hair.

[gustavonut]

I wear my hair up and under a baseball cap 5 days a week anyway so looking nice isn't important. I just washed my hair today after a week and honestly it didn't look any more oily than it did on day 4/5.

I always wear a baseball cap too!! I work with candy so having my hair up and out of my way is a must. I’ve also worn a bandana to cover 3-5 day hair when I couldn’t bother washing it. :p

[Ylva]

At one point I thought I noticed a difference in how my scalp felt when I went longer without washing, but in the end, I don't think there is a difference. I think that's just me focusing too much on how my scalp is feeling. I never, ever had any issues with my scalp washing randomly, so I feel like slapping myself across the face for allowing it to get to me like that.

For me, washing frequently is just a preference based on how I like my hair to look and feel. It also seems to get tangled more easily as time goes on, due to the ends/lengths becoming dry and it probably has something to do with sebum and other stuff making the hair dirty as well.

[Longlegs]

I am quite 'random' on when I wash my hair. usually when it's convenient for me, it also depends on the weather and if I've been sweating a lot. I can always put it up if it looks bad. I sometimes wash just so I can deep condition the ends.

[MusicalSpoons]

I used to wash every other day like clockwork when I was out of the house 6 or 7 days each week. When I was waiting but crashing on the weekends, again I had a schedule dictated by needing my hair to look presentable when leaving the house. Now I'm not working, and at most leave the house 2 days each week (or 3 days on rare occasions) so my washing schedule is still dictated by that, but the days I go out sometimes change (I might be well enough to go out on Saturday morning, or Sunday morning, or neither) so yeah, it varies.

On *average* now I'll do a full wash once a week, plus or minus a day or two, and probably do a scalp wash in between. If I'm not well enough to go anywhere for a week or so, I will wash when my scalp tells me it needs washing - if I have the energy!

I read a Twitter thread that made an interesting point about consistency. Over time, we tend to have consistent cycles, such as hormones (men and women), mood, seasons, etc. But day-to-day we are naturally fairly inconsistent beings due to natural fluctuations in our bodies and our lives, and the point was that expecting consistency on a daily basis is therefore unnatural. (Finally found it, but warning for language: https://mobile.twitter.com/FelicityMorse/status/1086627189074919426) Not sure whether I totally agree, but I thought it relevant to the discussion.

[Ylva]

I read a Twitter thread that made an interesting point about consistency. Over time, we tend to have consistent cycles, such as hormones (men and women), mood, seasons, etc. But day-to-day we are naturally fairly inconsistent beings due to natural fluctuations in our bodies and our lives, and the point was that expecting consistency on a daily basis is therefore unnatural. (Finally found it, but warning for language: https://mobile.twitter.com/FelicityMorse/status/1086627189074919426) Not sure whether I totally agree, but I thought it relevant to the discussion.

Getting used to too much consistency could also be rather devastating or at the very least inconvenient from an evolutionary perspective. But this viewpoint is hardly relevant to a modern-day longhair. :D

[MusicalSpoons]

^ It did make me think about how at certain times in one's cycle, many of us find we're greasier/oilier, and also how many find a distinct difference between haircare in different seasons, which would all lend itself to inconsistent washing :)

[lapushka]

I need to be on some sort of schedule (SD), so it's the easiest for me to wash on a Sunday, every Sunday. It's just what works for me.

[lithostoic]

I always wear a baseball cap too!! I work with candy so having my hair up and out of my way is a must. I’ve also worn a bandana to cover 3-5 day hair when I couldn’t bother washing it. :p

I also work with food! I run the grill at a restaraunt :)

[HaMalka]

I am very inconsistent when it comes to washing my hair. I theoretically wash it every Friday afternoon. In reality I wash it every 4 days to once a month. I will wash it on Thursday if I know I wont have time on Friday. I will wash it Saturday or Sunday or Monday if I ran out of time on the previous days. If it gets to Tuesday unwashed I'll just wait till the next Friday. If this happens several weeks in a row I can go a month without washing and I end up wearing a lot of headscarves. My scalp really does not like me not washing it for a month but if I get busy or sick I don't have the time/ability to wash it when I can just cover it with a scarf.

[peachyleshy]

I'm sort of inconsistent lately. More like consistently consistent... my aim is tho wash in the morning and go three days in between the next wash. This way I have two days where my hair is clean and the last day I can use dry shampoo and it's still presentable. That's if I wear it up every day. If I wear it down it gets dirty faster. Then the inconsistency comes in when I don't want to wake up early so I wash it at night... Then my waking hours have dirtier hair. So I try to get back on track. I don't want to ramble on, but I am frustrated with not having a routine I can stick to and with my oily scalp.

[Dark40]

I'm one that washes my hair whenever I feel like it. Or, every other day. If I go a whole week without washing it my hair and scalp looks and feels greasy, and I don't like using dry shampoos or powders.

[spidermom]

Basically I try to go to the third day (wash day, day 1, day 2, day 3) or longer, but if I've been doing something that made me dirty and/or sweaty, I've been known to wash my hair twice in one day. I hang pretty loose with the whole thing.

[Chromis]

I feel like most of us wash our hair when we feel like it. It's just that for some people "when they feel like it" is every day! Mine is more like once a week-ish.

[Ylva]

I feel like most of us wash our hair when we feel like it. It's just that for some people "when they feel like it" is every day! Mine is more like once a week-ish.

Of course in the end it's always about when one feels like it, but what I mean is that for many people it seems to be very consistently at regular intervals.

ETA: It seems to largely come down to what we prioritise. Those who need to prioritise scalp health seem to be the most consistent ones.

[daisy rei]

I always thought it was more to do with time management. Like those with extensive wash routines needed to schedule two hours of free time which may mean only on specific days of the week.

[Ylva]

I always thought it was more to do with time management. Like those with extensive wash routines needed to schedule two hours of free time which may mean only on specific days of the week.

For many that's more than likely a factor as well. Fortunately I can still find the time to wash my hair every other day if needed (mostly), even though my wash routine is probably considered quite expensive. I have no doubt that in the future it won't be as easy when I have kids and the such to deal with, so here's hoping that my hair will be healthy enough not to need such a crazy routine. :D

[lithostoic]

Yeah my hair takes several hours to dry so I've never been a daily washer. Plus it's hard on my neck and back so I try to go without as much as I can without letting my scalp get oily to the point where it is itchy.

[Julescarm]

I used to be a very consistent every other day washer. Then I went every three then four days. Now, if I need to wash it, I will. Being close to having another baby and having a three year old, I've been more than distracted. I use my BBB and usually call it good until my hair starts to look stringy. Plus a good long shower is a great excuse for time to myself. Lol.

[Lady Stardust]

I used to wash my hair every day unless that wasn’t possible, but no less frequently than every other day because it would look greasy by the afternoon.

Then when I was pregnant I realised that my hair and scalp felt and looked fine so I left it until I felt it needed washing, which ended up being every 6-7 days. Some time after my daughter was born it started getting greasier again so I went back to more frequent washing.

Currently, I don’t wash it until I’m sure that it needs doing, but it ends up as a very predictable schedule of every other day, with the occasional stretch to 3 days.

[RubberDucky]

I have no set schedule, I just wash my hair when I feel it needs it. Sometimes it can be after a day or two if I've been working in really sweaty and dusty conditions, other times I can go for more than a week without any real need for a wash. So yeah, it's never the same.

[gingerninja]

Yup, i also have no set schedule it varies from every 3 weeks to 8 weeks if my scalp still feels good. I used to wash it every Saturday without fail and my scalp got dry and my ends were basically straw regardless of conditioner or oil. Hair care is so individual and fascinating.

[LizzyGrant]

I wash my hair 2 times a week and the days are always the same. The reason for this is because we go to sauna 2 times a week and I feel like I need to wash my hair after it. Washing 2 times a week works quite well for my hair. But when we didn't have a sauna in our place I wasn't so precise about my washing days.

[lapushka]

I asked my mom, who goes 1 month for sure; it is a *mystery* to all of us. And she's white, so nothing about dry curls even, no... just 1b/c hair, white/gray and dyed a light blonde. It's been this way her whole life.

But anyway, you guys know this by now about my mom. I try to get her to do once a month, because we can make it a pamper day, but if she has other things to do, I don't push it. :flower:

[Joules]

I've always been on a hair wash schedule, ever since I started to do it myself. I just like planning and knowing exactly what I'm going to do. I can't be spontaneous. When I had a full time job my washing schedule was 3-2-2 (saturday - tuesday - thursday) or even 4-3 (saturday - wednesday, when I tried stretching) to be able to do regular lengthy oil treatments on weekends. Now that I'm sadly unemployed I just wash every 3rd day, sometimes I'd do it on the 2nd if I want to adjust things for an upcoming trip or event.

[*Wednesday*]

I'm very regimented. Just my nature and it carries into other aspects of my life. I wash Sunday and Wednesday. Clarify first Sunday of the month.

When you find something that works even if not on a schedule, go with the flow.

[Natalia_A00]

I usually wash it every other day but sometimes if I don't have to go to class I'll wait another day or so
But I prefer not to stretch washes too much because I feel that my hair falls more when I do it. My hair gets too oily and sheds more.

[Longlegs]

I wear my hair up and under a baseball cap 5 days a week anyway so looking nice isn't important. No point in breaking my back trying to get my hair washed if I'm just going to sweat all over it in 12 hours :P I just washed my hair today after a week and honestly it didn't look any more oily than it did on day 4/5.

Is it hard to fit it all in the cap?

[floralgem]

I'm the same way it mostly depends on the season. Like it's freezing now so i'll do every 2-3 days, but if it's summer or I'm working out, I'll wash it every other day.

[Arciela]

I have no schedule either..I just wash when I feel like it :)

[Natashap]

I am washing my hair a lot now a days.I do not like it as my hair is thinning but for new part time work have to wash .

Otherwise looks very thin on scalp ,my diet is bad and sleep is also bad.

Need to work on it and start some saw palmetto.

[Glitch]

Good thread! I’m pretty inconsistent myself. I wash my hair anywhere from 2-5 days. Sometimes my hair gets oily very quickly, and other times it’s fine for a very long time. However, I love the feeling of freshly washed, clean and bouncy flowy hair (*rolls eyes into heaven*) and so I’m thinking of washing it every second or third day consistently. We’ll see!

[Jo Ann]

Since I've been working for almost a year now, I try to wash my hair on a day off, preferably close to the weekend (Saturday/Sunday). Sometimes Wash Day comes earlier, sometimes later, but generally I try to wash it once a week.

Of course, if I'm trying to fade my hair dye, I'll wash it more frequently--but still try to do it on a day off or, on the rare occasion, when I work an early shift.

[Kattt]

I have to wash my hair somehow just about every day. I don't know if using CO on my hair focusing on the scalp fully counts as washing it, but I have to do something to that effect otherwise it drives me crazy. I'll wash with shampoo maybe every third day. I have fine, straight, and not very thick hair, and I find if I go without washing it in some way it becomes too greasy looking (and feeling). I'm hoping to try to go further without washing it when I'm able, but sometimes my schedule just doesn't allow that. I would imagine that hair types that are quite different than mine would respond very differently to not being washed daily. :p

[val.]

I have to wash my hair somehow just about every day. I don't know if using CO on my hair focusing on the scalp fully counts as washing it, but I have to do something to that effect otherwise it drives me crazy. I'll wash with shampoo maybe every third day. I have fine, straight, and not very thick hair, and I find if I go without washing it in some way it becomes too greasy looking (and feeling). I'm hoping to try to go further without washing it when I'm able, but sometimes my schedule just doesn't allow that. I would imagine that hair types that are quite different than mine would respond very differently to not being washed daily. :p

I'm exactly the same way.

[MlleMC]

If someone asks me how often I wash my hair, I'll probably say once a week, but in reality it varies a lot. I try to go no shorter than 6 days, but if I'm lazy or busy, I often go up to 10 or 11 days. I just wear styles like tighter buns and French/Dutch braids to hide the stringiness when it gets to greasy. Right now I'm on day 9, probably going to wash it tonight just because it's getting a little itchy (and I've been wearing the same two French braids since Saturday and I probably won't have the patience to redo them).

The only periods when I follow a consistent washing schedule are when I take sports classes at the pool, in which case I wash each week after the class to get rid of the chlorine.

[joylightbeauty]

I used to always wash my hair every day because it would get so oily by the end of the day and i hated how that looked. Now that i'm older and have colored/lightened my hair for 6 years straight, my scalp and hair are much drier and I've been washing every other day. I really feel so much more liberated on the days i don't wash that i may experiment with going longer in between.

[TatsuOni]

I wash mine somewhere between every other week to once a month. I basically do it when I feel like it, since there's really no difference between week two and week five hair.

[nycelle]

I wash 3 time a week these days. It's somewhat consistent, but not because I put myself on any set schedule, it just works out this way.

[cestlavie]

I prefer to wash it every other day too but now I wash it when I feel like it. In the summer it is more consistent.

[littlestarface]

I'm the most inconsistent washer sometimes its once a week, or once every 2 weeks or once a month, to 2 or 3 times a week.

[Alibran]

Mine tends to get washed a lot less often in winter than in summer because it doesn't need to be washed as often. Or it depends on what I've been doing, if I've got dirty or hot and sweaty, or if I've had to wear it up (which destroys the curl pattern, so I have to continue to wear it up until I next wash it). There are so many factors influencing when I wash that I could never keep to a fixed schedule.

[clandestine]

I'm definitely in this camp. I wash anywhere from one week to every day. It depends on my scalp and activity levels. I also switch up wash methods: CO, scalp only, CWC, and the standard WC. My scalp is temperamental and calls the shots.

[Corvana]

I wash mine somewhere between every other week to once a month. I basically do it when I feel like it, since there's really no difference between week two and week five hair.

This is a lot like me! But it's once a week to once a month :laugh: Sometimes I just can't be bothered, and it still looks fine when it's up so :shrug: I mostly go by my scalp, as sometimes it wants to be washed sooner and sometimes it's totally fine for ages.

[PixieNixie]

I only wash my hair when it "looks bad and I cant take it anymore" rofl. But seriously I have no set schedule, sometimes that is 3 to 4 days sometimes it is 5 to 6 days in between. I go by how my hair looks and is behaving to judge when I need to wash it. If my hair is looking oily and stringy, I wash it. If then ends are getting really dry and it had been awhile since I have washed my hair, I will usually throw some kinda treatment on it and wash it afterward. My only schedule truly is I try to coordinate it as much as possible on the weekends or when I know I am gonna be home for awhile because I like to let it naturally dry and that usually takes like 4 hours.

[Stray_mind]

I wash my hair 2 times a week, but i don't have a set schedule. When my hair starts looking or feeling bad, i wash, other days it's benign neglect.

[Ylva]

Since my decision to wash whenever I please again, I've felt so much more at ease about my hair. It's hard to explain, but it's just made a huge difference as if some kind of lock had been opened in my brain. Previously, when insisting on washing no more often than every 72 hours, I could never get into the benign neglect state of mind. I was near-obsessively thinking of my hair and almost counting hours to when I was next allowed to wash my hair and if I should stretch it by another day to have x day hair on a particular day and so on. The difference isn't even that big in practise, but it's big in my mind. Now I have no problem just putting my hair up and forgetting about it, because I'm so much more relaxed about the whole thing.

[bokeh]

Since my decision to wash whenever I please again, I've felt so much more at ease about my hair. It's hard to explain, but it's just made a huge difference as if some kind of lock had been opened in my brain. Previously, when insisting on washing no more often than every 72 hours, I could never get into the benign neglect state of mind. I was near-obsessively thinking of my hair and almost counting hours to when I was next allowed to wash my hair and if I should stretch it by another day to have x day hair on a particular day and so on. The difference isn't even that big in practise, but it's big in my mind. Now I have no problem just putting my hair up and forgetting about it, because I'm so much more relaxed about the whole thing.

I understand what you're saying. I want to be relaxed about my hair, only think about it enough to properly care for and style it and get into the "benign neglect state of mind" as you said. I also prefer not having a set schedule. Basically, I wash when my scalp starts to itch. I am experimenting with products and methods hoping to stretch out my washes as long as possible because my hair looks better and better the longer I can go between washes. Keeping my scalp healthy is always my number one priority so if it itches I drop everything and wash it as soon as possible. Aside from scalp concerns I have no issue with washing for any reason if I just feel like it.

I'm looking forward to the day when I no longer have to experiment to find my best products and methods!