PDA

View Full Version : Washing hair for dryness and growth



Jessica.Lynne98
August 29th, 2019, 07:36 PM
Hi long hair community, :)

Was wondering how often you guys wash your hair?

I have more fine and greasy hair. I used to wash it 3 times a week, but lately my scalp has been itchy and red. It seems like I should almost wash it daily. When I was little my hair was way thicker and I stuck to daily washing back then. What have you all had the best results with? :)

ManeGoal
August 29th, 2019, 10:40 PM
I wash every other day and I do well with that. If my hair feels dry I will co wash, and every now and then I will shampoo if I'm feeling greasy.
Maybe it is the soaps you use that are irritating your scalp? Have you tried different brands? A scalp detox could also help possibly, tea tree and bentonite clay shampoo. I'm no expert though so hopefully someone wiser will give some better help.

Begemot
August 30th, 2019, 12:30 AM
You might need a medicated shampoo and a visit to see a doctor. Daily washing might be the best option for you and your scalp.

I have some issues with scalp too (not severe but still) and have figured that I get best results when I wash twice a week. Stretching to once a week gives me flakes and my ends get sad. I have been told by my hairdresser that my hair is on the oilier side. Medium thickness and density.

lapushka
August 30th, 2019, 09:27 AM
Hi long hair community, :)

Was wondering how often you guys wash your hair?

I have more fine and greasy hair. I used to wash it 3 times a week, but lately my scalp has been itchy and red. It seems like I should almost wash it daily. When I was little my hair was way thicker and I stuck to daily washing back then. What have you all had the best results with? :)

I used to wash 2/3 times a week, but then I went through a major medical issue where I could not wash it for 14 days in a row, for months on end. My scalp went red, itchy and flaky (SD, seborrheic dermatitis) and so long story short, it in the end "normalized" to washing once a week. I need to wash with sulfates or my scalp reacts as well.

That is also a thing, what do you wash with? Sulfates, or sulfate-free?

If your scalp "reacts" in some sort of way, you need to wash more often. Hair is one thing, but your scalp needs to be healthy for healthy hair to grow.

MusicalSpoons
August 30th, 2019, 09:40 AM
If your scalp is happier with more frequent washing, you should do it :) if your hair doesn't need washing as often as your scalp, if it's long enough you can do scalp-only washing, keeping your lengths dry. That's what I do usually.

My scalp is oily and needs washing at least every 5 days to keep it happy. If I need it to LOOK okay it needs washing every 2 days. I'll usually do a full wash once a week, and somewhere in between do a scalp wash. (When I was well enough to regularly leave the house I was doing scalp washes 2 or 3 times in between full washes.)

unheardletters
August 30th, 2019, 10:33 AM
I wash my hair once a week. I slowly stretched my washes over many years. I used to wash my hair daily, but my biggest problem with it was that my hair was wet too much. My hair takes a very long time to dry so it is wet all day and still damp by bedtime so I could never wear my hair up or have dry hair. So I slowly stretched it by only a few hours every couple months. It took years to get to a whole week, but it makes my life easier now that I only need to wash once a week and my hair health improved substantially.
And I finally gave up sulphates over a year ago, a couple years after I had stretched to a week and now I never see split ends.

iamjessica26
August 30th, 2019, 08:29 PM
I used to wash daily but have been slowly moving to co washing. I can go about 3 days without washing but anything beyond that my scalp gets super itchy. Very rarely if we get a lice outbreak at school I'll go a week or so without washing since they don't thrive well in oily hair but I leave it up in a bun that whole week so it doesn't bother me too much. I started using a more creamy leave in product rather than an oil and it helps with itchiness and dryness as well

Sarahlabyrinth
August 31st, 2019, 03:47 AM
Everybody's scalp has varying needs for frequency of washing. I can wash mine twice a week but usually wash once a week, because I hope for extreme lengths I try to minimise the manipulation of my hair to keep it in better condition. It's happy with once a week washing. Your scalp may prefer daily washing. It's best to do what keeps your scalp happy, and not everyone can stretch to once a week washing.

spidermom
August 31st, 2019, 09:03 AM
Another thing to consider is how long your hair stays wet after you wash it. I have occasional flares of seborrheic dermatitis, which manifests as little red bumps on my scalp. One thing the doctor told me was not to sit around with wet hair for long periods of time. My hair is thick enough that it will be damp for hours if it's not a hot summer day, so I'll use my blow-dryer on warm or cool at my scalp to dry it. I haven't had a flare of SD in a long time.

Jessica.Lynne98
August 31st, 2019, 09:37 AM
Another thing to consider is how long your hair stays wet after you wash it. I have occasional flares of seborrheic dermatitis, which manifests as little red bumps on my scalp. One thing the doctor told me was not to sit around with wet hair for long periods of time. My hair is thick enough that it will be damp for hours if it's not a hot summer day, so I'll use my blow-dryer on warm or cool at my scalp to dry it. I haven't had a flare of SD in a long time.

That could be my problem! I never use a blow dryer and always just wait for it to dry. And that is usually a long time. Thanks for the input

iamjessica26
August 31st, 2019, 01:20 PM
That makes so much sense! If you leave some materials wet it molds, so who knows what kind of effects it could have on hair.

The Lizard Wife
August 31st, 2019, 09:38 PM
I've stretched my washes to about once a month (it should probably be more like 1-2 weeks rather than 4, if I wanted to keep it looking fresher, but I can contain my hair for work so much better and less painfully when it's dirty than when it's fairly clean, so...). This works for me because my scalp gets flaky and itchy directly after being washed, and the less frequently I wash it the less my scalp is upset between washings. So it looks like our situations are opposite, and I doubt my method would give good results for you! If your scalp is happier with more frequent washing, then that's the way to go.