How often do you "need* to wash your hair?

[Sweet_Decadence]

Hello friends! I'm struggling to find an answer to this question!

How often do you need to wash your hair? My hair seems to produce so little oil these days that I haven't washed it in 10 days now. It's not greasy at all. I haven't so much as rinsed it or used anything like dry shampoo since my last wash. Until recently, it needed washed every 6-7 days, so this is a bit of a change for me.

I'm kinda contented to leave it alone for now but is there a point I need to wash it for scalp health...or anything else I'm not considering here?

I'm down for benign neglect hardcore but I do what to foster the best conditions for my hair to grow that I can. :heart:

I appreciate any thoughts or wisdom you may have!

[Ylva]

If your scalp is happy going 10+ days between washes, why the heck not! :) It is soooo very individual.

Personally, I mostly wash every other day, but sometimes every "day and a half" as well. My scalp produces tons of sebum!

[cjk]

There is a thread, sebum only. In other words, people who literally don't wash their hair at all.

Of course the correct answer is that it will vary from individual to individual.

Most environmental dirt and dust is water soluble so water alone is more than enough to clean off your hair. soap, surfactants, and the like are only required to remove oils and waxes.

Listen to your hair. Experiment, see what makes it happy.

[Bri-Chan]

I wash my hair twice a week but I know it is too much. If I let my hair be in its natural state, with my actual routine I think I could go for a week without washing. I usually wash on 4th or 5th day but it still doesn't look dirty on the front. I wash it that often because it's my routine for about an year now and because my hair looks weird after some days. But I wanna try to wash once a week.

[embee]

You do what works for you. If your scalp doesn't produce much grease, your hair looks ok, and your scalp isn't somehow irritated, you're good to continue as you are, IMHO.

Do check out the Water Only and Now Water Sebum Only threads. Interesting reading there. :)

[Lucy McLucyFace]

Currently using the quarantine to push my wash days. After wash day it looks fine for 3 days and then it's already looking dirty so I'm pushing it by washing every 5 days making sure I don't get itchy on the scalp

[MusicalSpoons]

The only possible factor might be if your hair itself needs remoisturising sooner than your scalp needs to be washed, in which case you could do a kind of compromise, or 'refresh' if you will (such as rinse and condition, or whatever you feel like doing).

But if scalp and hair are happy and you're happy, absolutely no need to worry! :D

[blackgothicdoll]

Depends on both scalp and hair. I could probably go two weeks or more scalp wise, but my hair requires a larger amount of product which can inevitably get on my scalp and/or cause build up, so once a week is my personal sweet spot. You've got to pay attention to both your hair and scalp with your specific hair routine to find what works for you.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I've been washing every other day during the pandemic because I'm bored and this guarantees to kill an hour or more of time.

Otherwise, 2-3 tims a week is good for me.

[EdG]

External factors can be the real limiter on stretching washes. Outdoor activities, car exhaust, and strong fragrances in certain stores all cause me to wash my hair.
Ed

[Road2longerhair]

Usually 2 days a week.
I exercise too but I don’t have to go out or go to work so I just wash myself down when I’m done exercising.
My 4th day is when I feel my hair getting a bit greasy

[Road2longerhair]

But unless you feel like your scalp is itchy, greasy or just feels dirty, I would wash it

[MissMuse]

Usually every second day, it gets itchy and gross feeling after exercising

[lapushka]

Hello friends! I'm struggling to find an answer to this question!

How often do you need to wash your hair? My hair seems to produce so little oil these days that I haven't washed it in 10 days now. It's not greasy at all. I haven't so much as rinsed it or used anything like dry shampoo since my last wash. Until recently, it needed washed every 6-7 days, so this is a bit of a change for me.

I'm kinda contented to leave it alone for now but is there a point I need to wash it for scalp health...or anything else I'm not considering here?

I'm down for benign neglect hardcore but I do what to foster the best conditions for my hair to grow that I can. :heart:

I appreciate any thoughts or wisdom you may have!

Go by the oil production. If it's still fine after 10 days, why not? I only wash mine when it gets oily. So that is every week. By Friday it gets oily, but then I have Saturday to go, and Sunday is wash day. So that's fine!

My mom (I have repeated this so many times here people must want to knock me about :lol:) can go 2 months. Yes. She's the little white unicorn. But she has extremely dry scalp (just as I have extremely dry face). No flakes, nothing, and no sebum production to speak of. So yes, the doctor told her to wash as little as possible, because she asked, and so she goes by when it is necessary. And the 2 month mark is a good cut-off point. Sometimes she goes up to 3 months, but that is a little much. By then you start to sniff something faintly sweet (mostly due to product usage).

We hardly tell people IRL because a lot of people think it's disgusting and of course then remarks come even when perhaps it was just freshly washed. You don't want that.

[Sweet_Decadence]

Well this is great news all round. :)

I woke up this morning and did notice some dead skin flakes around my scalp, so I guess 10 days is the limit for me! I will look at the sebum only stuff.

It's not going to be a long term thing, with the country under lockdown and thus not being able to go to my sweaty job or my sweaty hobbies. I guess my hair just getting to stay a lot cleaner for longer.

Thank you all, I appreciate your input :D

[Butterfly Blue]

Go by the oil production. If it's still fine after 10 days, why not? I only wash mine when it gets oily. So that is every week. By Friday it gets oily, but then I have Saturday to go, and Sunday is wash day. So that's fine!

My mom (I have repeated this so many times here people must want to knock me about :lol:) can go 2 months. Yes. She's the little white unicorn. But she has extremely dry scalp (just as I have extremely dry face). No flakes, nothing, and no sebum production to speak of. So yes, the doctor told her to wash as little as possible, because she asked, and so she goes by when it is necessary. And the 2 month mark is a good cut-off point. Sometimes she goes up to 3 months, but that is a little much. By then you start to sniff something faintly sweet (mostly due to product usage).

We hardly tell people IRL because a lot of people think it's disgusting and of course then remarks come even when perhaps it was just freshly washed. You don't want that.

Please keep "repeating" yourself for us newbies! This is new information to me:)

[eresh]

My hair gets oily rather quickly (also because I have a habit of scritching my scalp, can't stop it)
I need to wash every 7 days, but I do a little scalpwash in between to feel fresh again.

[Dark40]

I need to wash 2 or 3 times a week. Or, sometimes I'll wash it everyday. I'm seriously thinking about getting back to doing that anyways. Because, both my hair and scalp is much happier with that routine. Rather than waiting 3 or 4 days. Or, even a week. My hair starts to look and feel gross after 2 or 3 days. Because, of the oil build-up.

[FrayedFire]

Depends on how much I was washing my hair. The more I wash it, the more I "need" to wash it more, but it restabilizes after a while. I like a once a week or so but I've been washing it way more recently and it feels gross.

[Deborah]

I used to wash once a week, and all was well. This past year or so I have found that I can go much longer and my hair and scalp look and feel fine. I do thoroughly brush my hair twice a day. Probably that's why my scalp does not get itchy. I can easily go a month, and have sometimes gone two and more with no problems. I am 67 and think my scalp is just not producing as much oil as it used to. It's great when growing older produces happy results like this one!:grin:

[lapushka]

Please keep "repeating" yourself for us newbies! This is new information to me:)

Aw that is so sweet of you, thank you. :flower:

[LadyMikaelson]

For at least a decade now I've washed my hair every other day. My hair always need to be washed that often. Lately, it doesn't seem as if my scalp is producing as much sebum. Or maybe my hair is just extra dry. I actually started using less shampoo to avoid stripping the scalp. I also started brushing with a boar bristle so that could have added to it too. Anyway, if it continues like this I'll need to stretch washes an extra day.