What are you doing with your hair between washes?

[oceanwoman111]

Hello. :waving: I see members who are stretching washes to 3-4 or more days. I was wondering what you do with your hair on your non-wash days? Do you wear it up, braid it, bun it or just let it be free? What if you are going out?

I'm having a hard time sticking to my every other day wash routine. I have fine/medium hair and I don't know what to do with it the second, non wash day. :hmm: I have an oily scalp and even if I put it up, I still get some hair cleavage. Scalp has improved since I stopped using SLS though.

Thanks!!!:waltz:

[restourceful]

I'm an almost everyday updoer. On days when I know I'm going to want to wear it down, I try to plan my wash day either the day before or the day of the day I plan to wear it down, if I have enough time for air drying. As for hair cleavage, my best solution is my BBB. It smooths the hair before I put it up and it looks very shiny and sleek. I also stretch washes a week to 10 days most of the time.

[BattahZ]

Depending on how good of a job I did with it the first day (letting the curls set properly without fussing with them), I can just wear it down for 2-3 days. I usually end up doing a half-up on the third day, but can get away with wearing it down, too. My hair is pretty dry, though, so I don't get oily-looking roots.

If I feel like it's greasy and needs something, I might use a dry shampoo (I use I Feel Pretty dry shampoo, it has kind of a citrusy scent that makes my scalp feel fresh if I'm on day 3).

If I didn't do a good job styling it on day 1, I'll wear it up in a bun or Gibson tuck or something. Good luck!

[manderly]

I, too, can wear my hair down for 2-3 days. Then I go to peacock twists or buns for a day or two. Honestly I would wash a little more often than that if I had to work or something, because my scalp is pretty cruddy by day 3 or 4 usually. I don't have a problem with oiliness though, I get itchy and little white bits of sebum and scalp and it looks like I'm a big flaky dandruff monster :)

As you stretch your washes, you should be able to get away with wearing your hair down an extra day or two once your scalp calms down :)

[Angeletti]

I usually wash my hair once a week and around day four if I have to go out in public I will throw on a cute hat with my hair in pigtails or brush all my hair back and put it in a bun or braid but another option is just to wash the very top of your head

[Themyst]

When I stretch my washes, I throw all my hair back in a bun and wear a snood. Scarves are hard to keep on, so I've discovered this whole big world of snoods. :)

[voluspa]

I'm normally an everyday washer, but on days when I can't wash it, I'm actually more likely to wear it down. Putting it up exposes my oily roots, but wearing it down draws the attention away from the oil and I only have to fluff up my part to cover it.

[EtherealOde]

I don't stretch washes, I just wash when I feel my hair needs it. My scalp rarely gets oily, so the main thing for me is usually wanting to wash out the oil that has built up on my length from oiling with coconut oil every night. When there is a lot of pollen or dust in the air, I wash more frequently to remove this due to my allergies. If it wasn't for oiling, or the dust/pollen issue I could probably go a long time, maybe 2 weeks before I really needed to wash, and that would be because I felt my hair didn't smell good anymore. As long as it feels nice and looks ok, I am find with not washing.

I do pretty much the same thing every day. I spritz my hair in the morning and comb it, then it goes into a bun or braids. In the evening before bed, it goes into braids or a sock bun, unless I fall asleep on the sofa before I have time to do my night time hair. The ends get a bit of oil, and so does the nape and canopy. Once in awhile, usually when my hair has just been washed, I will leave my hair down. It dries faster down, if I bunned ir braided it wet it could stay damp for 20 hours or more.

I guess I don't really understand what the concept of stretching washes is supposed to accomplish, other than not exposing your hair to potential damage from the water and manipulating the damp hair.

[oceanwoman111]

Thank you so much!! :hifive: There are some great ideas here.

[aksown]

I usually leave it down the day I wash and then put it up in some bun variation or french braid. I only finger-comb so it's never plastered to my head and I don't worry too much about cleavage. :shrug:

[Messyhair]

I use SLS and have finally been able to switch to every other day washing. I never wear my hair up (it's too short/layered to stay up yet), but I do keep my "bangs" back in a ponytail holder or clip since they tend to get oily as I keep brushing them out of my face all day. I refer to them in quotes since they're actually the same length as the rest of my hair, but I don't know what to call that hair. Forehead hair? haha!

[Yozhik]

If I want to wear my hair straightish, then I'll wash in the morning, comb while still damp, and wear it down the first day. The second day if I want to leave it down I rope braid it the night before -- this gives it nice controlled corkscrews. Day three, I either wear down, in a half-up, or up, and day four is usually my wash day when the cycle begins anew :)

If I leave my hair to dry naturally, it's more unruly, but looks good for the first day down. That night, though, I have to comb it out, otherwise it gets matted when I sleep . . . which leads to poofiness which I either disguise in a braid or updo for days 2-4 :)

[Carolyn]

If I want to wear my hair I wash it that morning. If I wear it down two days in a row, I wash it two days in a row. Period. No exceptions. Most of the time I can plan ahead. Day 2 or 3 hair is always a bun or a braid. Unless my hair has been washed that morning it looks too nasty to have it down. When my hair was above bsl I wore it down a lot more and I washed it a lot more. I'm fine with wearing it up more because I'm lazy and I've grown to like buns. I don't have any special occasions where I can't wear a bun with a pretty hairstick.

[FreakyGreenEyes]

I like to do a Dutch or French braid (sometimes doubles) between washes. If I get a hankering for a bun, I make sure to use my BBB first to distribute any oils and smooth cleavage.

[oceanwoman111]

Messy hair - :lol: I don't know what to call it "Forehead hair."

Yozhik - I'm going to try braiding before bed to give it some umph the second day. Thanks. :)

Carolyn - I guess I have to get over my phobia of wearing my hair up when going somewhere dressy. You're hair is so pretty, it probably looks good no matter what you do.

I kind of wish I was a "wavy" because I noticed they can go longer without any perceived greasiness. It just looks shiny after a day or two, not pasted to the head. :lol: Ok. I'm going to stop. I'm grateful for the hair that God gave me. And I will be proud of being a straighty. :)

Freaky Green Eyes - BBB really does help with the "Cleave."

[BattahZ]

The dryness/oiliness difference with hair texture is so funny! I have to wash my hair to moisturize it, not to get rid of oilies - in the winter, I tend to have to wash every 2 days because my ends get really dry and strawlike, but I can drag it out to 3 in the summer when the humidity is back up. Oily scalp is never a problem, my hair seems to suck it up! I guess curls/waves tend to be a lot drier than straight hair.

[JamieLeigh]

I wear mine up. I can stretch them far longer that way. And I have tons of pretty hairsticks, and great ideas thanks to the hairstyle articles on here, and the vids on YouTube, so I could not imagine an occasion away from the house where wearing it up wouldn't work out. :D

[kelly-j]

I wash my hair every four days. Between washes I always wear my hair in different updos.

[Sara_1987]

I leave my hair down.

I'm lucky though, my hair doesn't really get greasy. Today is the 4th day (today is wednesday, washed on sunday morning) and my hair still looks fresh.
I'm washing it tonight though, because by tomorrow I will feel like my scalp and roots are yucky, but it won't be noticeable.
Even my hairdresser doesn't realize when my hair is not freshly washed. Whenever I go to get a trim I go with at least 3 day "old" hair. When she's washing she always asks whether I just washed mine, because apparently the shampoo goes all foamy and it usually only does that when the hair is fairly clean.

[Aleria]

I haven't managed to get my hair to like updos yet, so I mostly leave mine down. I go without washing until it feels like it needs to be, somewhere between 3-5 days.
However, my hair is semi-permanently dyed, so it's somewhat drier than normal hair.

[Night_Kitten]

I wash once a week, and wear my hair up whenever I go out to avoid damage.
When it starts to look oily at the roots, I use a thin comb only on the scalp area (not the length) to smooth it, and then put a tiny drop of oil on my hands, and smooth it with my palms. That way I get a sleak shiny look as if I put some product in it...

[GRU]

Are you washing with conditioner, or just using a SLS-free shampoo?

Are you wanting to stretch out your wash-days so you don't have to deal with drying your hair every day, or because you don't want to be stripping your hair of its natural oils every day?

(Sorry for the questions, just want to make sure I'm getting the "big picture" here. I haven't technically "washed" my hair (meaning with shampoo) since October 2009, but I CO-wash just about every day, other than the occasional "pajama day" on a weekend.)

[Loreley]

I wear it up when it's starting to be oily.

[rags]

I wash my hair every 2-3 days (depending on my workout schedule). After the first day, it absolutely must be up. No exceptions. I wear lots of buns and braids. I, too can't imagine an occasion when a nice bun with a hairstick or Ficcare wouldn't be appropriate. If I'm determined to wear it down, though - I wash it.

Some of it isn't only straight vs. curly. Some of it is how fine your hair is too. Fine hair tends to really show the oily scalp problem, and have more cleavage. My hair is baby, baby fine and so I have to wash more often.

[Sarahmoon]

Assuming it's dried already, I can wear my hair down or in a halfup on day 1 and 2, sometimes 3. Day 3 and sometimes 4 I can wear it down, but not in a halfup because the under layer of the hair will look a bit greasy. The last days before washing I prefer a bun or braid. I could still wear it down as long as the scalp is covered with a hear scarf for example.

[sophistiCat *]

I wash every 6 days, and by the fourth day I try and use the extra oil to my advantage. Ordinary people use a whole lot of product to get their hair to look sleek and shiny in updos, so I figure they can't tell the difference between a load of product and stretching washes :) I can't do french plaits very easily up to day three/four, but after that they go great. When you've got a pretty updo going on, that draws more attention than the oil/product thing, which in my opinion is good for adding shine and sleekness.

[oceanwoman111]

I wash once a week, and wear my hair up whenever I go out to avoid damage.
When it starts to look oily at the roots, I use a thin comb only on the scalp area (not the length) to smooth it, and then put a tiny drop of oil on my hands, and smooth it with my palms. That way I get a sleak shiny look as if I put some product in it...

Yes. I see. Make everything a bit sleek and shiny so that the slick part at my scalp doesn't stand out as much. :idea: Great idea!! Thank you.


GRU - Hello. :) I usually wash with an SLS free shampoo and follow with a cone free conditioner. Some days I will CWC and others I might even CO if I don't have any place to go. I think it's awesome that you've gone since Oct with just CO. I wish. When I tried CO only, after about a week, my hair was freaking out and it ended up waxy and weird.

I would like to wash my hair less to keep the natural oils in longer and just add to the over all health of my hair. :disco:

[eezepeeze]

I wash my hair every 4 to 5 days. If I know that I will want to wear my hair down for a couple days, I sleep on big curlers to get some body into my hair and smooth it down. My hair is super curly, so if I just let it air dry, it is too frizzy by day 2 to wear it down. I don't have much trouble with greasiness because my hair is so dry. I actually put coconut oil onto the ends most days to combat frizz.

If I let it air dry on day 1, I can sometimes stretch the pretty curls to day two by sleeping in what I call "the pineapple". I pile all of my hair high on top of my head with a soft cloth scrunchie so that when I sleep, I am not mashing down the curl with my head.

So, when I am lazy and don't do curlers (which is most of the time), my hairdo schedule is: day 1: down and air drying or just the "forehead hair" :-) up in a front poof
day2: if i'm lucky, down or half up; if the frizzies hit, in a dutch braid or two side braids into an english braid.
day 3: maybe a braid or a sock bun, or an infinity bun with a hair stick
day4: oiled and slicked into a bun and then washed the next morning and it starts all over again.

I wash my hair because my scalp gets a little itchy, but not greasy. I actually have a lot more manageability when my hair is a little dirty. It helps tame the frizzies.

As for hair cleavage, I put it up and then smooth just the top layer/roots with a fine tooth plastic comb. An old trick my mom used to do to keep all the "crawlies" in when I was a kid.

[Aevra]

>.< My hair hates washing, so I stretch it 4-8 weeks sometimes with a rinse once every 3 weeks or so.(Is that odd?) But I keep my hair up a lot so it doesn't get dirty very often.

But I keep it in a pony, braids, or buns, there literally thousands of combinations for those three things....I just do whatever I think looks good that day.

[pennylane]

I wash my hair twice a week and in between washes i don't do much to it other than apply a little bit of a natural pomade to takes the frizzies away.

[Miasen]

I wash my hair maybe once every 7-9 days, and it really isn't very greasy even then. I have very dry hair. This also means that I can do whatever I want with it whenever. I don't have any problems with having it down even if I haven't washed for a week. Actually, my hair looks best when it's been a few days since I washed it, it calms down some, not so poofy. Most days I have it in a braid over my shoulder though, to get it out of the way.

[Capybara]

I do whatever I feel like with my hair :)

I wash it every 3-5 days, depending on my schedule. Most of the time, I'll leave it down on wash day, then bun or braid the days after. I don't usually braid on wash day because it takes too long to dry, although if I want waves (to wear my hair down) the day after, I'll braid it.

I don't really have a routine, with what styles I do from day to day. I probably should ;)

ETA: Maisen, your hair texture/thickness/color, etc. looks very similar to what mine looks like!

[Cirafly24]

I wash my hair twice a week, and I can only wear it down for one day after each wash. Within 24 hours of washing it, it starts to look too greasy, and I have to put it up. I wear it in a bun or ponytail until the next wash.

If I'm having issues with hair cleavage in updos, I use a fine tooth comb or BBB to make it smooth. Then I put aloe vera gel and a little hairspray on my hands and smooth it again so it will stay. I find if I dilute my low-alcohol hairspray with AVG, it doesn't dry stiff, and there is no problem combing it out later.

[EdG]

I always wear my hair down.

My hair usually looks fine for up to three days after washing it. Day five and beyond are when the TMI :tmi: sets in. I'll usually wash it on day four or five.
Ed

[countryhopper]

I wash twice a week (Mondays and Fridays). By about thursday my hair needs some help :) , so I usually dust the roots with cornstarch. if fact, after using the cornstarch, my hair is at its best than it had been all week! it makes my hair feel much thicker and healthier. i just dust a little on my fingers, pay my hands together (like a gymnast) and run my fingers through the roots.

I always wear my hair up, so I don't really care what it looks like down. Although after the cornstarch my hair would probably be of wearing-down quality.

[Qamar]

I typically wash every 4 days, though every so often for no reason I can discern, I can go five days. I wear my hair up most days, and when its either hot or windy out. I'm generally good for three days and on days 4 (or 5) I might need to do a dry shampoo with some gold bond powder. (I like the minty tingle) I do CO washes and only clarify once every four months or so with some whipped goat milk body soap. I oil with argan, emu or camellia oil after every wash, but not on non-wash days.

[emmabovary]

My scalp never gets oily either. I usually need to wash anyway because of the oil on my lengths (from oiling) getting too much.. maybe twice a week, sometimes less, sometimes more. My hair hasn't looked very good down recently, unless I brush out the curls.. I blame henna :( but anyway, there's nothing a French braid won't cover up! French twists work too. Those styles just look shinier when my hair is a bit dirty.

[oceanwoman111]

Thanks everybody. :) Yesterday was my first day after wash day. I brushed my hair back with a BBB and my mom and I were cracking up so bad. :lol: I looked like Dracula with it all slicked back, but it had body, so it was kind of standing up. I was showing her because she didn't believe me when I told her it gets like an oil slick. She goes 2-3 days between washes. Then again, her hair is really wavy on the verge of being really curly so she doesn't have any problems with it. I'm having such 2/3 type envy.

Well, at least I think I can do the every other day wash successfully now with all of the great tips I've received. I am going to go two days without a wash and see what happens. I should post pics.:lol:Then we could all crack up. :grouphug:

Hmm. Cornstarch or Goldbond. Maybe applying something like this to the roots would be helpful. What kind of dry shampoo works best?

[Henrietta]

I have noticed that when I wear my hair up, I don't touch it much during a day and it doesn't flow around, it gets greasy slowly. And since I braid my hair before sleeping I see HUGE DIFFERENCE. So IMO wearing hair up is the best think you can do between washes whay you want to stretch them.

[elina333]

What I do with my hair between washes depends on my highlights actually :)

If I just have had highlights done I can go a week without washing and can wear my hair up or down or anyway I like.

Right now though, I havent had a touch-up for 2-3 months so my roots are all virgin and I have to wash my hair every other days. Sometimes I use dry schampoo (from Oscar Blandi) and I might be able to stretch it to 3-4 days if Im lucky. Usually have to put it up after day one :bigeyes:

[oceanwoman111]

Progress: :cheer:

Ok. I've been braiding my hair into a few braids on wash day, after it air dries a bit. I leave it braided for a few hours or until the next day and take it out. It seems to have enabled me to be able to go two days without washing, instead of just one. The braid waves seem to keep the oil at bay since I'm not fiddling with it with my fingers. I enjoy the fullness of the braid waves as well. I've incorporated it into a style for nights out too!! Thanks for all the great suggestions!!

[fairytalegirl]

When my hair is getting too flat between washes I will wear it half up with a braid across the top of my head. Then, when I take it out there is some fullness.