How long can you go without washing your mane?

[Shona]

Hello everyone. :)


I've been really trying to stretch my washes recently, since I can remember I've always washed my hair everyday, (every second day since joining LHC) but I know that's not enough! I always see people saying how there hair was so much softer after not washing as often and I can safely say now.... I can go 5days without washing my mane! This may not sound a lot for the monthly washers, but this is a big step for me, and my hair feels so so so soft! Washing my hair is such a pleasure now, thank you LHC :cheer:

[W2]

I think, you can go forever and never wash your hair.

At some point it will go self-cleaning

[AcornMystic]

I can go 2 weeks without washing my hair since switching to baking soda as my main cleaner. I've really found it works for me. During the second week though it gets pretty greasy, but it's bearable. I grew up washing my hair once a week because of financial reasons, so I'm familiar with it.

EDIT: I know the fact that I use baking soda sounds contradictory because the harsher cleaners you use the more sebum your scalp would produce to make up for it, but that isn't so much the case for me in regards to that. I don't know if it has to do with my diet right now or what, but I rather like it whatever it is.

[Vanilla]

In the winter, I can go about 4-5 days between washes. In the summer, I can only go around 3 days (a day or so fewer if I'm swimming). The longest I've ever streched washes was a week after coloring my hair red.

[hanne jensen]

I can go 4 days between hairwashes. I tried this summer to stretch hairwashes and totally fried my hair. I also got scalp fungus.

[Alaia]

I wash usually once a week (sometimes twice).

Went for 2 weeks without washing before but by the end of it my hair wasn't pleasant at all. :lol:

[morrigan*]

I can go up to 10 days without washes, but became very greasy and limp. I usually wash it once a week, twice if i'm active a lot. :D

[PolarCathy]

10 days or so without a rinse. (I am 99% water-only.) But I prefer to rinse every 2-3 days if I can. Before going WO, I used to wash my hair every 7-10 days only.

[Bazinga]

I can go 4 days without washing my hair. By then it starts to get sort of greasy and it doesn't feel good anymore. I brush my hair with a BBB in the evenings and then I spray my scalp with rooibos tea. That really helps me to stretch washes.

[duchesswannabe]

At this point, I am up to once every 7 days, and aim for even more of a stretch during the winter.

[Orangerthanred]

I can go three days without cowashing.

[Anywhere]

I go about a week. I heavily oil my hair after it dries (from about the nape down) so it stays sleek in my updos. The oil is usually mostly gone after the 4th day, so sometimes I add more.

To be honest, I think my ends would prefer daily or every other day washing. My scalp? Not so sure.

[fiddlefananb]

In reality, I should wash my hair every single day, maybe twice to get rid of all the oily look. My scalp is so oily I could bake biscuits by the second day. I wash my hair at night and when I wake up it is greasy behind my ears. So frustrating. I have used every shampoo and remedy you can imagine and no help at all. I hear the older you get the less oil you should produce but my mom is 57 and her hair is more oily than ever.

I have just ordered a few shampoo bar samples from Chagrin Valley soaps hoping I can stretch washes with those.

[JamieLeigh]

I'm sure I *could* stretch my washes longer, but I can only stand it up to about 7 days before I have to wash. The Gollum look doesn't work for me, plus it itches. Even though I wear it up most of the time, it still looks greasy and flat after the 4th day. :p

[maborosi]

I don't even really attempt to stretch my washes. I could probably go 2-3 days without washing, but that sometimes changes with the weather.

~maborosi~

[joflakes]

Now I have super-short hair I find I can't go as long as when I had longer hair. It seems to show up a lot more grease and stuff. Plus I start to fiddle with it.

I guess I go max 2 days without washing....I know it's probably bad but it's always been that way!

[alyanna]

3 days for me. Sometimes I can push to 4 but then my hair's really gross and obviously dirty. I also have to wear an updo on the third day. Day 1 and 2 are great though :)

[Anje]

Currently, it's getting pretty oily after 5-6 days, but I've been washing it relatively frequently and my scalp reacts pretty quickly to that. In the summer, if I don't get shampoo-happy or go swimming in a muddy lake, I can easily go a week between washes. In the winter I tend to get oilier, so 5 days is pushing it.

[JuliaDancer]

In summer, every other day or every day, depending on if I worked out a lot or how hot it is. Now it's fall, and I'm washing every 3 days. My problem is I work out almost every day, so it gets greasy faster.

[Madora]

A month, and sometimes 6 weeks. I'm indoors a great deal of time, which helps, and I also brush my hair with a clean bbb, 100 strokes, every day.

[melmmo]

I'm co washing every other day now, which is really stretching washes for me. By morning of the 2nd day I have about 3 inches of grease at my roots. It absolutely has to go into an updo on the 2nd day. By the end of the day it's worse, by the next morning my entire head of hair is grease down to about my shoulders. The length looks fine the whole time, although my ends get drier. I've tried moving the oil down to the ends using a BBB but I'm pretty sure the BBB is giving me split ends. It said it was 100% BBB but I'm beginning to wonder.

[auroraclio]

3 days is my maximum right now, which I think is good, when I came to LHC I was washing everyday

[gossamer]

Madora raises a good point about brushing the oils away from the scalp towards her ends with her BBB. I probably wash once every 4-5 days, although sometimes it ends up being 7 without me noticing too much. I'm not very good about remembering to brush, so if I followed Madora's example, I could probably stretch to 7-8 days regularly, if not longer.

Hmm, It's Tuesday and I last washed on Friday night - that puts me on day 4 already, right?

[Madora]

Madora raises a good point about brushing the oils away from the scalp towards her ends with her BBB. I probably wash once every 4-5 days, although sometimes it ends up being 7 without me noticing too much. I'm not very good about remembering to brush, so if I followed Madora's example, I could probably stretch to 7-8 days regularly, if not longer.

Hmm, It's Tuesday and I last washed on Friday night - that puts me on day 4 already, right?

I forgot to mention that my scalp is on the dry side, so I suppose that helps in extending washes. But the brushing really does help and my hair loves it.

[CurlyMopTop]

I've been working on stretching my washes lately. The last couple of weeks I've washed every 4 days, but I think that I'm ready to go to 5. My end goal is to wash once a week. :) When I do wash, I have to bun or clip my hair while it's wet so that it drys as straight and smooth as possible on wash day. Then on the rest of the days I detangle in the morning with a tangle teaser and BBB very carefully. I put my hair up immediately afterwards. :D

So far, I'm loving the results and haven't noticed any damage from the brushing.

[lapushka]

For reasons beyond my control, I've had to stretch washes to 2 weeks (the only thing I can say is: what a mess). Normally, under ideal circumstances, my hair needs to be washed 2 times a week. The most washing can be stretched to without it looking greasy is 5 days, at the most. Otherwise, it's just not presentable.

[Lucky]

I wash mine frequently, I can go *max* 2 days in between washes, but that second day is "greee-say"! I usually do every other day, but it's a big step for me because I used to be a lot more greasy when I was younger.

[squee]

if I oil everyday/most days I can go 3wks or so

[teal]

Usually about a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It did take a few weeks for the sebum production to regulate... before this, it was 2-3x/week.

[irishlady]

I generally wash my hair every 3 days, depending on how my day went. Ugh I hate my job :(

[WaitingSoLong]

I can only manage about 5 days, and that is pushing it. My scalp will get so greasy that even with all my hair in a bun it still looks awful. I use too many cones to go longer. Ah well. My hair likes cones!

ETA: BBB brushing does nothing for me. I swear it make me have MORE greasiness. I probably need a new BBB. I have been using the same one for...well...I think 10+ years.

[heidi w.]

I want to establish that different people have different issues with scalp skin that may indeed affect their ability to wait some frame of time to wash hair. I know of one person who went for quite some time washing only with water, and his head was fine for it. But that is relatively an unusual experience, I would say.

For one, I experience more shedding when I wait overly long. Because I Seborrheic Dermatitus, and if it gets too icky on my scalp skin with sebum building up, it can go into a kind of turn where the bacteria begin to attack my live hair at the root, and I ccan then lose otherwise healthy hair.

Just FYI for some who may be wondering, why should I wash my hair? Washing the hair as a phrase, is in my mind, a misnomer. Washing is a hygienic practice for keeping the scalp skin healthy. Extremes tend to cause issues, for many. Not everyone, but each person's experience and ability can be entirely different.

Jes Sayin'

heidi w.

ETA: I would say, that for most, waiting 4 or 5 days max, to wash hair is the max. Most are in the zone of waiting 3-4 days before needing to wash hair.

Something to keep in mind as we pursue our individual routines, is to know that often, where it concerns hair care, more is not better.

[Yozhik]

I can stretch my washes to as long as 6 days, but I usually go 4-5 days in between washes.

I like to have the option of taking my hair down from updos, and if I wash less frequently than that, my oily roots make it all too apparent that I haven't washed (if I take my hair down).

[lapushka]

Something to keep in mind as we pursue our individual routines, is to know that often, where it concerns hair care, more is not better.

So true, Heidi! (This coming from someone who sporadically has SD too.)

I totally get that stretching washes is, well, nothing to strive for, really. :o

[embee]

Yesterday was my one year mark - if I remember right. :) I wanted to try NW/SO last winter because I *hate* washing my hair in the winter... well, more like I hate drying my hair in the winter! ;)

I never thought I would make it through the summer, but here I am.

Now there has been some scalp rinse, when water got on my scalp (near my hairline) during a shower, but my hair is tucked up in a shower cap so it does not get wet and there is no shampoo or conditioner being used.

I could *never* have done this when I was young, I was just a greaseball. But now my skin/scalp is dryer and I brush (like Madora) so it's working for me.

I've thought about washing now, but why bother? My updo works great and all is good. :D

[pepperminttea]

About ten days, if I don't have to leave the house for the last three of those. After that my scalp goes into itchy overdrive (thanks psoriasis :p ). I normally wash my hair once or twice a week.

[SarahKayfa]

I can go for a month without shampoo, or two weeks without CO washing.
But I really like to CO wash every week or week and a half because my hair gets so dry at the ends and begins to tangle.

[RedBlue]

I wash my hair every other night. Sometimes, I won't wash it that night, but I'll wash it the next morning. I wash at night, because if I wash in the morning, it'll be so greasy the next day.

[Panth]

I can go several months. I don't, though. Usually I wash every 3-8 days, depending on how busy/tired/ill I am. Being blonde, my scalp starts looking nasty and oily by day 4 or so. However, I have been known to ignore this (based on busyness/tiredness/illness).

When I did go NW/SO for several months (which happens in the summer holidays, when I'm at home, don't go out anywhere for people to see me and, if I want to wash my hair, have to use the kitchen sink) I notice my hair gets worse and worse for about 2-3 weeks then stops getting worse. However, it generally stays at about a 'day 7' level of greasiness, which I don't really like as it makes my scalp hair look nasty. I've never had any luck with my BBB - if anything it seems to make me look greasier.

I'm sure if I had exactly the same hair and routine but had dark brown/black hair I'd be able to stretch washes much further. Blonde is not very forgiving, unfortunately.

[ladonna]

I COwash every Sunday, I think I could go longer but I am kind of OCD about routines. It was hard for me to stop actual shampooing every other day when I first joined, my hair doesn't even get greasy during the week so I'm guessing I could go longer.

[Galdr]

If I stay at home, my hair will feel clean for days but if i go to crowded and, well yes, stinky places, (especiallly bars), it will feel dirty in 2 days. so basically, other people make your hair dirtier :p. i like to wash it twice a week

[Beatnik Guy]

Scalp, 3, 4 or 5 days max; length, much longer (no pun intended :rolleyes:)

[C.H.]

A month is usually my max, then I might procrastinate another week or two after that thinking the whole time that I have really got to wash my hair *tomorrow*. But ideally, I'd wash my hair once a week or every other week. Basically, I tend to procrastinate about washing, and my hair is of the type that allows me to get away with it for a very long time. Heavy oilings really enable, too.

[milk]

I can easily go about a month without washing, but it tends to be really dry at that point, never greasy. Normally I wash once a week (or maybe 10 days), twice if I've been going out clubbing, because of smoke, people spilling drinks, touching my hair etc.

[Earelia]

When I had dreads I washed once or twice a week. Now I wash every other day... I'd like to cut down a lot.

[MissManda]

I'd love to be able to wash my hair only once a month, but that's not gonna happen. ;) I think the longest I went without washing my hair was ten or twelve days, but usually I wash every three or four days. I can stretch washes by doing scalp massage to distribute sebum if I really need to. The greasies are pretty obvious with my fine hair, so I have to be very careful.

[Alix]

I'm a rower, so it gets Mississippi water in it pretty often, but I go every two or three days without washing it, especially when it's got color in it.

[jujube]

I can't usually go more than 4-5 days, but I'm in the process of stretching washes. Once a week would already be a great start.

[EdG]

Three days is usually the limit.
Ed

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

I have dandruff and tend to NEED to wash my at least every 2 days. Every other day, if im feeling like it, because I actually enjoy showering. >.> But ill go about 3 days, and then remember that I have school and public places to go and a boyfriend that likes a clean girlfriend, lol. I dont think id ever want to go LONGER than 3 days anyway ;P I went a week without washing my hair once back when I was bleach blonde all over, showering still every other day, and just felt.. off. Lol.

[Arashi]

3 days is generally about as far as I can(or want to) go without washing my scalp. I do have bangs, though, and that can only go 2 days (I will wash just my bangs over the sink if I push not washing the rest of my hair).

[misspurdy06]

I can go weeks and still be fine. When I was a kid it was a bad idea but now my scalp could care less.

[DreamDance]

I CAN go about 2 weeks without dying of mortification in public (I work in cosmetics so I have to be presentable), and have gone 2 months SO in the past. However, the longest I'm really comfortable with is 5 days, and I actually prefer to CO my hair every morning and damp bun it throughout the day. That way when I shower and take down my hair at night it still feels fresh and clean. I grew up being told to "Use shampoo and get your hair clean" every night. I just don't speak to my mother about my hair routines anymore, but I still feel dirty if I don't wet my hair down every day. If I don't get a chance to fully wet it I spray my roots down with a spray bottle of distilled water and Rosemary EO and comb it through my hair.

[shakba]

I wish I could stretch out my washes more, my hair is disgusting if I don't wash it every other day

[owlathena]

Sometimes I have to wash the next day, sometimes I can go a week :shrug:

[Modarunner]

The most I can go is a week. After that my scalp gets way too oily and starts itching like crazy. For my scalps sake I have to wash at that point.

[CurlyGirly]

I've gone an embarassingly long time (longer than a month) once. My hair tends to be on the dryer side though so it takes forever to get greasy. If it's straight, I can easily go for two weeks with no problems.

[Kyaatje]

I can go for about a week. I tend to use some powder to absorb the first greasyness on day 5 or 6 though.
If it wasn't for grease I could hold out longer my hair smells really nice even on day 7.
I remember that when I had dreads I didn't wash for 2 months but then my scalp became itchy

[Lissandria]

The longest I can go is four days, after that is impossibly greasy. Nothing but shampoo will remove that grease (i've had inconsistent results with CO). Usually wash my hair every 2-3 days. Wish I could get it down to once or twice a week. That would be great. Although I have SD so maybe not.

[Eternal.Fiend]

Currently? Every four/five days. But I've just tried my first CO wash, and I'd like to strech even longer with those, to probably about once a week. It's dificult for me though, because the longer parts of my hair don't get as greasy as my fringe.... so I could probably stretch it now, but by that point, nothing I do on my fringe hides that greasiness....

[McFearless]

Well I'm trying WO washing..3 days is as far as I can go before I have to reset my curls with water.

[Chamomile betty]

Depends on the time of year. In the spring/summer I go about every 2 days. Now, in the fall/winter I can stretch it 3 to 4 days. The furnace and woodburner dry my scalp/hair so I can go longer without a wash.

[redwoman]

Twice a week or my scalp gets gunky. Maybe every five or six days in the dead of winter. It depends.

[Amber_Maiden]

About a week I go... But max, about 10 days...

[allmixedup88]

I didn't wash my hair for 3 days while in Vegas and the water turned brownish.
Gross.....

If I am in my normal environment and what not I usually wash my hair 3 times a month.

[Lostsoule77]

I usually wash every 7 days or so, but I've stretched it to 2 weeks before without much issue. During the summer it usually gets washed anywhere from 1-2 times a week though.

[Aqua Gal]

I can go a week with no problem (yay dry shampoo!), but I prefer to co about every 3 or 4 days.

[KwaveT]

My oil glands are still overactive. By the third day my hair is thoroughly oily.

[tori93]

2 days maximum for me, i can't believe how many of you can go for a week! i didn't think that was possible. Maybe hair gets less oilier when it is longer :confused:

[AnaGeorgette]

I've been washing it every other day for a few years, before then every day. I've only started stretching my washes about a month ago because I was too scared to before XD I'm up to 4-5 days now. =) I'm trying to stretch it to a week.

@tori93 if you stretch your washes one day at a time over a longer period (or however long your hair needs) your scalp re-regulates it's oil production so that it takes longer to get greasy. When I washed it every other day it was always greasy by day two, but now it only starts getting oily by the fifth day. =)

[freckles]

I can go 5/6 days and still feel I look okay to nip to the shops or whatever, but I wouldn't say I look 'good'. I prefer to wash after 3/4 days, so, twice a week-ish.

[RedDevil]

one day max! I see sick patients all day long so I simply must wash my hair daily. I try not to shampoo on my days off :)

[*Rose Red*]

it looks good up to three days, it´s ok on the fourth day, but I don´t want to go out on the fith day (if I go to work or so I wash it on day 3 or at least at the end of day 4)

[CavySong]

I have been lurking this thread for a while, I guess I would modify the question to "How long to you go without shampoo?" or "What do you consider 'washing'?"

I may be confused, which is OK, happens all the time, But some seem to use water or conditioner between shampoos, some seem to use water rinses between CO washing, some don't get their hair wet at all between. How do I tell which are which?

Perhaps the answers would best be over in the "Share your Routine" thread?

[PolarCathy]

I have been lurking this thread for a while, I guess I would modify the question to "How long to you go without shampoo?" or "What do you consider 'washing'?"


Good question... without shampoo, what was it... 3 years now :) :D

[luthein]

I used to wash two times a week. I'm up to 3-4 times because I now take dance classes 3x/week.

[tigereye]

I usually go a week between, but thats primarily because my ends get dry and horrible, and leave-ins just don't feel nice when I finger comb. I'm slightly tempted to see how long I can go without washing at all (ie. see how long before my scalp gets horrendous) if I just apply a leave-in to the ends whenever it gets dry. But oil doesn't get on with my hair, and I think most conditioners would leave build up if I wasn't washing it out.

The longest I ever went was 11 days, and that was because wash day was due to be when I was on my gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition, and I forgot to do it before I left. I just left it in a bunned dutch braid the 5 days I was away though. My ends were really dry.

[RitaPG]

I think the longest amount of time I've been without washing it was one week, but under normal conditions I can go up to 4 days without washing and still have nice looking hair.

[UP Lisa]

If I wash mine in the morning, it is good for two days. If I wash it at night, it is only good for the next day. Sleeping on it for two nights is no good.

[Celtic Morla]

I usually go 1 week between washings and no water rinses in the week. Right now though it's been 11 days and not at all greasy.

[UP Lisa]

I can identify. My Mother does not have oily hair, but my Dad is 86, and as oily as ever. Lucky me; I get it from him. I'm turning 51 on Wednesday, and no sign of it slowing up.



In reality, I should wash my hair every single day, maybe twice to get rid of all the oily look. My scalp is so oily I could bake biscuits by the second day. I wash my hair at night and when I wake up it is greasy behind my ears. So frustrating. I have used every shampoo and remedy you can imagine and no help at all. I hear the older you get the less oil you should produce but my mom is 57 and her hair is more oily than ever.

I have just ordered a few shampoo bar samples from Chagrin Valley soaps hoping I can stretch washes with those.

[Shuan]

My hair starts feeling greasy after about 5+ days. I usually wash my hair once in 2-3 days with conditioner and shampoo.

[UP Lisa]

You're right about the color. My hair is naturally blond, and starts looking greasy very quickly. When I have had it Red, it does not show as quickly.



I can go several months. I don't, though. Usually I wash every 3-8 days, depending on how busy/tired/ill I am. Being blonde, my scalp starts looking nasty and oily by day 4 or so. However, I have been known to ignore this (based on busyness/tiredness/illness).

When I did go NW/SO for several months (which happens in the summer holidays, when I'm at home, don't go out anywhere for people to see me and, if I want to wash my hair, have to use the kitchen sink) I notice my hair gets worse and worse for about 2-3 weeks then stops getting worse. However, it generally stays at about a 'day 7' level of greasiness, which I don't really like as it makes my scalp hair look nasty. I've never had any luck with my BBB - if anything it seems to make me look greasier.

I'm sure if I had exactly the same hair and routine but had dark brown/black hair I'd be able to stretch washes much further. Blonde is not very forgiving, unfortunately.

[UP Lisa]

I have to wash MORE often with CO.



Currently? Every four/five days. But I've just tried my first CO wash, and I'd like to strech even longer with those, to probably about once a week. It's dificult for me though, because the longer parts of my hair don't get as greasy as my fringe.... so I could probably stretch it now, but by that point, nothing I do on my fringe hides that greasiness....

[UP Lisa]

This does not work for everyone.:mad:



I've been washing it every other day for a few years, before then every day. I've only started stretching my washes about a month ago because I was too scared to before XD I'm up to 4-5 days now. =) I'm trying to stretch it to a week.

@tori93 if you stretch your washes one day at a time over a longer period (or however long your hair needs) your scalp re-regulates it's oil production so that it takes longer to get greasy. When I washed it every other day it was always greasy by day two, but now it only starts getting oily by the fifth day. =)

[xoerincolleen]

I could go 4 days without washing, but I really like washing my hair...I don't really try to stretch. I usually do every other day.

[UP Lisa]

It is truly amazing to me how long some of you can go without washing. Ever since I became a teenager, my scalp has been so oily that I can't imagine even being able to go three days!

[fiddlefananb]

It is truly amazing to me how long some of you can go without washing. Ever since I became a teenager, my scalp has been so oily that I can't imagine even being able to go three days!
I know right? 3 days and my hair still looking decent, I would be ecstatic!:poot:

I received my sample bars from Chagrin Valley and have been trying them to see if I can get my oil to slow down. Too early to tell as it hasn't been a full week though. Fingers crossed!

So far they really make my hair squeaky clean and very tangly so I am not sure yet.

[UP Lisa]

I have never tried shampoo bars. Just figured it would be too much of a pain with my hard water.



I know right? 3 days and my hair still looking decent, I would be ecstatic!:poot:

I received my sample bars from Chagrin Valley and have been trying them to see if I can get my oil to slow down. Too early to tell as it hasn't been a full week though. Fingers crossed!

So far they really make my hair squeaky clean and very tangly so I am not sure yet.

[nazzooyzo]

i cant go more than 3 days!

[LocustSpawning]

Only about 4 days sadly... although ultimately I want to be one of those people that can not wash for like a week and still have fresh looking hair. I find dry shampoo helps a TONNE though.

[Fufu]

3 days max

[Plume]

Before I started to use henna and other natural hair treatments,I used to wash my hair every 3 days ...and couldn't wait more! Now, I shampoo every 5 days.

[jasper]

4 days. after that I will get itchy.

[Feng-Shui]

I can go 2-3 week without problems.

From time too time I wash only once in the month.
But it sees then greasily out in the last week.

[sun-kissed]

I really can only go four days before it gets nasty, but I'm trying to stretch so I wash my hair once a week.
Huge improvement from my every-day routine I had before LHC, nine weeks ago I couldn't skip one day without it being gross - now I'm on my way to once a week or beyond. :D

[Capybara]

4 days. My scalp hurts any longer than that.

[Cirafly24]

I prefer not to go more than 4 days, but I can last up to a week if necessary. I almost always wash twice a week. My hair is greasy by the second day, though. I still haven't found anything that helps lower my sebum production!

[summerjade]

When I was trying to stretch out my washings, I developed scalp folliculitis. ( This is where the sebum gets clogged in the hair follicule and causes inflammation and infection). So I am back to washing every day. I do envy you that can go a few days without washing !!

[UP Lisa]

I worry about the dry shampoos clogging pores. In fact, I have read that they do.

[HumanBean]

I've just joined here but I've been washing my hair every 5-7 days for decades. I'm comfortable with that routine. I've not been tracking it but it seems like I've needed to wash more often now that I'm trying CO.