How long was your adjustment period?

[Peanutter]

I realize it'll probably vary from person to person, but how long does it take for your hair to "get used to" being washed less often?

I see plenty of people saying it will happen in time, but I have been CWC every other day for 3 weeks and before that I was shampoo and conditioning every other day since mid March. Maybe I need a different routine, because by the evening of the second day, even after using dry shampoo or baby powder, my hair is weighted down, oily and stringy at the roots and is not salvagable for another day even an updo (unless its the weekend and I'm not leaving the house lol)

How long did your hair take to adjust? Am I impatient? Do I need a different routine? Different shampoo? I've been using Garnier Fructis Length and Strength for years now.

[Aleria]

Maybe it's just me, but I went from every second day to once or twice a week without any really obvious 'adjustment' ie, oily hair or such. I also CO, and my hair is quite coarse so it really needs moisture. I know my mom has super fine hair and can't go more than two days without it looking horribly greasy.

[sun-kissed]

It took me a month of WO before I gave up and started BS/ACV twice a week, with WO every evening. I've never had much luck with spreading out my washings, and at this point I'm happy where I am. But perhaps you should use a little less conditioner, because I've always found that it can weigh down hair that's already a little oily. So I think you should slack off on that a little and let your natural hair oil take over. Once it balances out a little you can try to add in the conditioner again.

[Angela_Rose]

Bear in mind, my hair is way thicker and coarser than yours.

My adjustment period was probably about three wash cycles. Granted, I went whole-hog the first time around and switched from every-other-day washing to "hmm, I wonder if I could go two weeks without washing."

I now go 7-9 days between washes and my hair loves it.

[BlndeInDisguise]

Unfortunately my hair has never adjusted. Or at least, not very much. I only CO, though, so maybe if I switched to WO it would adjust, but after several years I haven't noticed much of a difference at all. :(

[Jeni]

My hair never adjusted, not even a little bit. My scalp likes being washed everyday no amount of waiting seems to want to change that.

[Sabriel]

What type of shampoo are you using? I used to use an SLS shampoo, and my hair would be gross/greasy by the second day. Since then I've used an organic liquid shampoo and a (natural) cv shampoo bar, and my hair can go MUCH longer between washes.

just my $0.02 :)

ETA: the cv bar I use is said to be good for oily hair, if you ever decide to try a poo bar I suggest using one of those.

[Peanutter]

What type of shampoo are you using? I used to use an SLS shampoo, and my hair would be gross/greasy by the second day. Since then I've used an organic liquid shampoo and a (natural) cv shampoo bar, and my hair can go MUCH longer between washes.

just my $0.02 :)

ETA: the cv bar I use is said to be good for oily hair, if you ever decide to try a poo bar I suggest using one of those.

I've been using Garnier fructis, and thought about switching to a sls and/or cone free shampoo, but I have a quarter of a bottle left of both my shampoo and conditioner, and Im cheap, lol.

I might try switching sooner. Maybe I'll stop by trader joe's tomorrow... either that or try some of those shampoo bars. I think I'll stick it out another week at least.

[Madora]

I never really took notice. I hated shampooing because my hair was so thick it took forever to get the suds out..and I had to be careful I didn't run out of warm water.

So over a period of 2 to 3 months I kept lengthening the time between shampoos until I decided once a month was enough.

However, I brush my hair 100 strokes every day and wash my hairbrush every other day. I also wear something on my hair when I'm outside (which isn't that often).

[Anje]

Honestly, I was able to switch to water-only washing in about 6 weeks, and the times I needed to wash spaced further and further out.

However, I've got reactive skin, including my scalp. If I start shampooing daily, I'll grease up really quickly. If I just let my scalp marinate in its oils and ignore the fact that it's greasy, I can easily get the oil production to reduce so I'm CO washing twice a week, maybe a little less often than that. Can't manage to wash that rarely with shampoo though -- it's too drying and my scalp decides it needs to increase sebum production to compensate for getting dried out. My face is the same way -- too much cleansing and no moisturizing, and I'll have oily skin.

[christine1989]

My hair adjusted to washing every other day- every two days in a little over a week of doing it. Granted, I used a BBB to distribute extra oil.

[Rivanariko]

I'm kind of like Angela Rose. I joined, LHC, read why stretching washes was a good idea and went, "oh, okay" and went from washing every day to washing once a week. I still did a WO rinse just about every night since I was working at a barn at the time and needed to take a cool shower every night to wash away the sweat and grime, just made sense to rinse my hair out as well. It took me about 3 weeks to completely adjust and my hair was SO happy for it. I don't do the rinses in-between anymore since I live in a hard water area, and I can easily go up to two weeks with my hair hardly feeling greasy.

Honestly, I think it's almost better just to jump right into it and not worry about your hair looking like crap for a few weeks. In the long term, it's a lot less worry and annoying adjustment time. I french braided my hair every morning and every night while I was adjusting and was wearing a helmet most of the day, so I really didn't care in the least what it looked like.

When I tried to go completely WO, however, I did a full 8 weeks, like the thread recommends, and my hair never adjusted. It was greasy and tangly and not enjoyable in the least.

[sun-kissed]

Honestly, I was able to switch to water-only washing in about 6 weeks, and the times I needed to wash spaced further and further out.

However, I've got reactive skin, including my scalp. If I start shampooing daily, I'll grease up really quickly. If I just let my scalp marinate in its oils and ignore the fact that it's greasy, I can easily get the oil production to reduce so I'm CO washing twice a week, maybe a little less often than that. Can't manage to wash that rarely with shampoo though -- it's too drying and my scalp decides it needs to increase sebum production to compensate for getting dried out. My face is the same way -- to much cleansing and no moisturizing, and I'll have oily skin.
I can't even clean my face with water or cleanser; it'll get horridly oily, no matter how much lotion I put on it afterwards. Lol. So I'm forced to go without more than a light rinse in the shower, just useing rubbing alcohol on any zits that happen pop up.

[growingpains]

the first time I went three full days without washing it was soooo greasy and stringy. Now 3 days is no biggie. I'd say it took a month to adjust. I can now wear my hair down after 4 days but have yet to try going longer. It's definitely still greasy at day 4 but I'm thinking I might try and stretch further and hope my scalp will adjust.

[caiti42]

My hair has never adjusted to more than every 2 days washing. And I need baby powder on the 2nd day.

I would suggest to you though to try a different shampoo and conditioner. Try to avoid heavy shampoos. Maybe a volumising shampoo. It's much lighter and helps with greasy hair. :)

[PrincessBob]

I had no adjustment period, then again I have hair that takes days to dry, so it was never an every day r every other day thing for me.
I am happy about my small fortunes in that, but now I'm out of ACV and it will be a while before I get more, and I am dealing with massive lint-in-my-hair-is-clogging-my-brush issues. I quit oiling for a while because I had that uber-lint thing happening in FEB following my super-saturation of coconut oil to combat lice. then it calmed down, but now, without my ACV rinse, lint is making more and more tangles to combat!

[elbow chic]

Is your current length 11 inches? I never had much luck with stretching washes till I was pushing into APL territory, and I didn't start being comfortable with washing twice/week till very recently.

I don't think it's a scalp issue so much as a length issue. People talk about how your length absorbs the sebum, but if there isn't much length there, there's nowhere for it all to go except down the drain.

[Peanutter]

Is your current length 11 inches? I never had much luck with stretching washes till I was pushing into APL territory, and I didn't start being comfortable with washing twice/week till very recently.

I don't think it's a scalp issue so much as a length issue. People talk about how your length absorbs the sebum, but if there isn't much length there, there's nowhere for it all to go except down the drain.

I haven't measured in three weeks, so it might be 11 1/2, lol.
I was wondering if length had anything to do with it, and what you said makes sense.

If I could just let it do whatever for a month, that might work, but I work at a company where I have to dress business everyday, and I think greasy hair might not go so well with a pantsuit.

I'm not going to quote everyone, but I think maybe I'll try CO washes next, and if that doesn't work for me, I'll try some shampoo bars from the review section or something SLS free.

Thanks for the input ladies! Its also kinda nice to know that some people just can't stretch it out that far, so if it turns out I can't, at least I'm not alone :)

[Ashenputtel]

I have the same hair type and honestly I've given up on washing my hair any less than every other day. This winter I was wasing it every 3 days with dry shampoo in between and my boss kept commenting on my greasy hair.

Never again.

[gogirlanime]

Today is the first day in a while where I haven't washed my hair, so lets see how long it takes for me :)

[mulletesque]

I am a couple weeks into WO and my hair (which is still pretty short) is completely coated in sebum to the tips. I'm going to try it for a couple months, but I'm pretty sure that in a couple months it will STILL be coated in sebum to the tips, and I'll make a decision about doing BS/ACV washes on some sort of regular basis.

I can say, that my hair looks "better" now than when I was 3 or 4 days post-washing, because at that time I had greasy roots, and now it's greasy all the way down. I think having the roots greasy makes hair look comparatively more greasy, especially if the ends are dry... it accentuates the greasy look.

The "adjustment" phase for someone with really long hair might amount to the time it takes to get the sebum all the way down to the tips, so it paradoxically doesn't look as greasy as with greasy roots.

[AshNight1214]

It's taken my hair about 3 months to go from washing every day to washing every third day (CWC). I'm still pretty oily on the third day, but I'm working on it! :)

[heidihug]

I wash about three times a week, versus four times a week three years ago. Honestly, my scalp has never "adjusted" to washing less, though. I am just as oily and sebum-y now as I was when I was three years ago. Heck, I am just as oily and sebum-y now as I was when i was 16. I am a just a naturally oily person. I can stand in front of the mirror and actually watch the oil ooze out of my pores. It only takes about 15 or 20 minutes for my face to go from powdered to shiny. Just goes to show you that what goes on inside the body absolutely trumps anything you do to the outside. [shrugs]

I've just learned to never - ever - touch my hair unless I absolutely have to. That does keep my scalp follicles less stimulated and my hair just a bit less greasy.

[Proximity]

Shampooing I would go 3 days between washes and wash then because my hair had become dull and limp, it never got greasy. Then two and a half weeks ago I switched to BS and ACV and at first needed to wash every other day because it was so stringy and greasy looking, but this week I washed on Monday evening and have left it unwashed (apart from my fringe which was rank and had to be washed yesterday so that I let myself be seen in it) until this evening. Air drying as I type and so far its looking as 'normal' as it has since I gave up shampoo so I'm really hoping my adjustment is over! And I plan on twice weekly washing now, gradually increasing to once a week with WO inbetween.

[Lemur_Catta]

I wash 2-3 times per week, and I used to wash every day or every other day. In my case, it's not my hair that has adjusted, but rather my perception of my hair. Since I wear my hair up more now, I don't really notice it's greasy until the second or third day, and even when I notice, greasy hair makes my French and Dutch braids sleeker.
The thing that bothers me more is my length. Since I wear a lot of braids and braided buns, and I brush every night, when I wash my length is usually poofy and frizzy from the brushed out waves. Sometimes I wash because of that, not because of my roots.

[Sweet Beat]

Don't know... I have a very, very bad routine right now and my hair is used to get washed every day. Then it gets oily :( I'm planning to change the routine after midsummer whatever it takes:mad:

[RitaPG]

I never had adjustment periods, my hair was never particularly greasy and I already washed it two/ three times a week before LHC. Even when I changed to CO, my hair didn't got greasy faster, only got better from day 1 ^^'

[cygus]

i think it just really depends on your hair. I've been CO for about 6-8 weeks now, and i can go 3-4 days without washing, but if i want to wear it down, I'll have to wash sooner. that frequency has improved after going CO, but they way I look at it is, it took how many years of abuse to our hair and its in a certain condition. Likewise, I think it might take awhile to see some true changes, over months, years. not the best answer as i'm all about instant gratification, but there's no choice but to gauge over time how my hair is doing.