How often do you wash?

[Indigostreams]

I'm still learning about how to care for long hair. And I have a question: When some of you say that you "wash" your hair once or twice a week, does this mean that you use shampoo once or twice a week? Or does it mean that you CO wash once or twice a week?

[TiffanieJean]

I wash (with shampoo and conditioner) every 3-4 days. Every 4 days more often then every 3, so 1 or 2 times a week.

[rock007junkie]

You are going to get a lot of different responses from people given that everyone has a different method of washing.
I wash twice a week. What I use to wash depends on my mood for the day. Among the things I use are: Zizyphus, Soapbars, Shea moisture shampoo and bentonite clay.
How often you wash it'll depend on you. If your hair feels clean for a week I don't see a reason to wash more often than that.

[Idjit]

When someone says they wash their hair however many times a week it means whatever method they chose to clean their hair. Shampoo is not necessary to get hair clean. For some, washing could even mean just using water.

I wash my hair whenever I feel the need to, which was once or twice a week but now that it's getting hot again it's sometimes 3 times a week. I usually use diluted shampoo. Right now I'm experimenting with full strength Toadstool shampoo. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

[ravenreed]

I clean my hair every other day. That might mean CO, or it might (rarely) mean traditional shampoo and conditioner (although I never shampoo my scalp anymore). I usually call it CO washing.

[Alva]

I wash every other day, I first put conditioner on my length, then wash my scalp with shampoo and rinse all out together.

[Carissamarie08]

I wash every other day with shampoo and conditioner.

[Mononoke]

I wash twice a week with shampoo and conditioner, and don't wet my hair at all on the other days. However, I'm trying to stretch to once a week.

[maborosi]

I co-wash every day. Pretty much any time I'm in the shower- which is usually twice a day. Shampoo- not too often unless I'm about to color it. If I want to clean my hair, I rinse with green tea. If I really absolutely need to shampoo, I dilute it with water first.

~maborosi~

[Kira94]

It depends. :) If I wear my hair curly and natural then I can last 3 - 4 days. But if I do bun waves/bun on top of my head, my hair in one spot in the back gets oily quicker and I have to wash every other day or every two days.

[*Rose Red*]

twice a week

[Ephemeral]

I CO wash every 3-5 days, unless I get really sweaty or a special occasion comes up where I have to do it earlier

[Mina17]

I wash with shampoo every 2-3 days.

[princesitamaria]

when my scalp gets itchy or when it just looks blah so prob like twice a week

[Colourful]

Twice a week. I don't want to ruin this routine even if this means oily hair. Thankfully my hair doesn't get very oily though and often looks rather clean even if it's not. :-)

[Topaz]

I was CO washing my hair once a week. Now that I've discovered Toadstool products, I'm shampooing and conditioning with Toadstool about once every week-and-a-half with a good possibility now of stretching to once every 2 weeks. (Toadstool is that good!) But keep in mind this length of time between washes is something you have to work your way towards in baby steps. It took me about 2 years to stretch my washes this far. Other people's scalps simply don't allow it EVER. I think I'm very lucky. :)

[Aeltt]

My mother always told me it was bad to wash everyday, so i've always washed twice a week.
Then I discovered LHC and that i didn't need to wash my hair if it wasn't dirty. So i wash once a week now, with shampoo and conditioner.
I have shedding if i stretch more, so once a week is fine for me.

[eicamawa]

I wash wit shampoo and conditioner moslty two times a week. I tried to do it only once a week, but my hair became greasy at the same time anyway.

[afu]

I tried stretching washes and using shampoo and conditioner about once a week, i did this for about 5 months but it just wasn't doing anything for my hair, my hair still felt dry and straw-like despite being clean. Now i wahs about every 2 days using CO and its a miracle :D I could stretch washes further if i wanted to but i actually really like washing my hair. If i ever need to clarify i use baking soda mixed with conditioner, shampoo is a big no for me

[dwell_in_safety]

I CO wash once a week. I used to do a WO rinse between CO washes, with an ACV rinse to follow that, just to keep my hair looking fresh, but after 4-5 months of that my hair stopped needing it to look good throughout the week. During that time, because I considered myself a CO-washer, I would still say I washed my hair only once a week, with a WO rinse. Someone that is truly WO would refer to that as another wash, I'm sure.

[Madora]

I shampoo and conditon when my hair is dirty, which for me is once a month. Between washes, I brush my hair 100 strokes every day with a clean, pure bbb.

[igetbored]

Every 3 to 4 days, with shampoo, sometimes conditioner if I'm not too lazy

[Indigostreams]

Thank you all! Wow, Each person who responded has a different routine! It's gonna take me forever to figure out what works best for me.

[turquoisedays]

I wash every other day while at uni, but at home I'll stretch to once every four days. I only shampoo my roots and do conditioner from my nape to my ends.

[palaeoqueen]

My hair is is similar to yours and I wash twice a week if that helps. I was alternating shampoo/conditioner with a CO wash but I have just started with CWC washes to help protect the length. I used to wash it every single day and I honestly thought it needed it (well it did at the time in the sense that it got very greasy after one day). It's so much less hassle now!

[MiamiPineapple]

I atleast wet my hair everyday and oil it, usually CO wash 3 times a week and just once a week with shampoo unless I have to do something important and need to have my hair down.

[jacqueline101]

I shampoo and condition weekly with mane n tail.

[mzBANGBANG]

I shampoo at maximum once every 2 days, and stretch a few days in between if I can get away with it. I've done WO and love the results, however my pride is in my hair color, and WO made me a brunette in comparison.

Every other wash, I am sure to oil before shampooing. My hair currently is more dry than I would like, so it is probably time to tweak the routine a little more.

[PixxieStix]

I wash my hair every 4-5 days usually, if I need to wear it down and have it look presentable for something then I'll go wash it. My current routine is using oil shampoo on the scalp and length, rinsing, doing a diluted ACV rinse, leave it on for a minute, then do a cold water rinse on the length. My hair is very happy with the routine, and I think I joined at the beginning of August, and had found this routine by October/November last year, so I found a good routine pretty quickly. It can take forever, but the trick is to do things slowly so you can figure out what works and what doesn't. I found scalp massages have helped immensely too for stretching.

[Anje]

In the summer, I wash about every 3-5 days. Usually CO, lately I've shampooed a bit more because I've felt like it. As often as not, I wash because I ended up dumping too much oil on my hair after a few days or because now my hair is full of cat hair or pond water. In the winter, my scalp produces a bit more oil and so I wash more on the order of every 3 days than every 5.

Listen to your scalp, try not to use anything too harsh. Most people only need to shampoo once and tend to overdry their scalps doing it twice (and many overdry scalps do pump out oil to try to compensate). Some people can stretch washes to more than a month, some people find they always need to wash every day or two. It all depends on how much oil YOUR scalp produces, which differs from person to person.

[LoveAngelBeauty]

I wash whenever it feels gross...but this could be with just water, conditioner, cleansing conditioner, moisturizing shampoo or clarifying shampoo. depends on how dirty my hair is...

[Natalia]

im mostly wo and i get my hair wet and "wash" and distribute oil every day ocasionally i co (about once a month) if i get dry areas and i s&c when the greasies or the itchies get to me (at the moment im exactly 2 months since my last s&c and doing fine).

[soniqui]

I Water Only wash every 2 days, but am trying to stretch it to 3. However my fringe just gets way to greasy for this. Have been doing this for 6 weeks now. Before I used to S&C every 2 days.

[terylenerose]

I wash twice a week with shikakai (when I have it) and whatever else is on hand (when I don't). It should be once a week, but I really can't deal with the transition period yet until my routine is settled down. As you can tell from my siggy, I don't use shampoo.

[elbow chic]

Every other, or every third day, depending on weather, if I'm going somewhere important, etc. Sometimes I'll stretch it to a fourth day but only if I can be sure that I'm going to be home alone all that day. :p

[AmandaKoiter]

I am still trying to find my "routine" and products. But the thing that never really changes is that whether or not I am S&Cing, COing, WOing, or doing Baking Soda followed by Vinegar rinses I almost always wash every 3 days. By that I mean I wash one day then go without for two days and then wash again on the third day. I really can't go much longer than that between washes as my hair gets ubber greasy at that point.

[ladylowtide]

I wash every 6-7 days. By that I mean that I CWC every 6-7 days with diluted sulphate free shampoo, and cone free conditioner.

Between those washes when I am washing my body in the shower, I wet the ends and condition them. Not really a wash, not really CO cause it i just the ends that I get wet.

[jessa]

I CO once every 7 days, followed my ACV and coconut oil when drying. I never use shampoo, ever.

[Indigostreams]

So many different styles....Well for a few weeks I've been generously oiling my hair with coconut oil every night before I wash. And I CO wash everyday, and I can't believe how it gets my hair as clean as shampoo! It even leaves it kinda dry. Makes me wonder how much shampoo must have been drying out my hair when I used to shampoo + condition everyday. I guess my problem is that CO washing seems to be working well for me, but since it does such a good job getting my hair clean, it's putting the moisture back in where I'm having trouble. I've tried using the LCH recommended amounts of either coconut oil or jojoba oil, and it always makes my hair too oily! But if I don't use enough it doesn't do anything, and then my hair is dry and frizzed out. And when I use a leave in conditioner, it doesn't seem to do anything. Does anyone else experience this?

[auroraclio]

Every 2-3 days, depends if it's during the week I do it every 2 days as I work in an office and refuse to come to work with greasy hair. On the weekends I just ignore it

[KwaveT]

I do my hair every three days. I shampoo the scalp and condition the hair from the ears down. CO messed my scalp up. Now I get these brown pieces fallen off my scalp since it flakes off the scalp. I am constantly digging this stuff out of my hair with a tight-toothed comb.

[Servana]

Every day, no question about it. I have extremely oily hair & skin, & suffered greatly during childhood when I only washed my hair every other day. It was sooo oily.

[DancingQueen]

I wash my hair every 3 days with shampoo and conditioner. I don't wet my hair in the days in-between. :)

[BeatlesFanGirl]

Usually every 5th day, sometimes I extend it to 6. On a rare occasion, when there's an event and I want to have clean hair, I wash it on the 4th. I used to wash once a week, always on Sunday, but I hated that I always had dirty hair on weekends. My hair is quite dry and coarse, so there's no need to wash it more frequently. My hair looks good on day 4, and gets a bit greasy on day 5.

[Pierre]

I wash once or twice a week with WO. If I keep my hair up and rinse out sweat, that doesn't count as a wash.

[Covet]

I CO wash every 3-4 days on average.

[faellen]

I wash every 2-3 days with shampoo and conditioner or 2-in-1. I sometimes stretch to every 4 days but my hair is usually very greasy by then so I'll use a dry shampoo.

[SnowWhite]

I'm stretching my washes to every 3 days...

[OilPaint]

I usually shampoo my hair every 3-5 days, taking into consideration weather and activity. I only condition the length and ends. If I wash my hair more often I'm a walking ball of static and dandruff; not fun. In the summer I'll work a little baby powder through my hair between showers; it really helps when it gets up to 90+ degrees and over 90% humidity!

It's nice to see the wide array of answers to this post. I know that some of my friends with much shorter hair look at me like I'm crazy when they ask how often I shampoo and tell them that it's only once or twice a week.

[Faux]

I shampoo and condition twice a week. I usually flat iron my hair and try to keep it straight for a few days, though some days it needs a touch up.

[catamonica]

I wash my hair once a week. And do a scalp wash during the week.

[Shesta]

I CWC once per week. If hair feels yuki in between - I might do a WO wash or a CO and that fixes it.

[HairySherry]

At the moment I condition/shampoo/oil about every 3 days. I condition the length, rinse, shampoo my scalp, rinse and then put a little bit of oil (I use Proclaim Natural 7 oil) on just the ends.

[ladyfey]

I'm back to daily, I had gone to every other day but my scalp didn't like it :)

[Amber_Maiden]

Used to be once a week, now I wash every two weeks.

[aaliasmith]

I wash my hairs twice in a week.

[Shepherdess]

I wash my hair about once or twice a week and use a natural Shea butter conditioner. I think my hair is healthier looking since I stopped washing it so frequently. :) Although I will wash my hair whenever I think that it needs it; like if I am working in our barn and it gets dirty, then I will wash it .

[alex68]

I wash my hairs twice in a week with shampoo (scalp) and conditioner (lenghts).

[longhairdream]

every other day with shampoo & conditioner

[Zesty]

I wash every other day or sometimes every three days with shampoo and conditioner.

[coldclarity]

Every three or four days. I was doing cwc, switched to co about a week ago.

[NataschaB.]

I wash my hair about three times a week using shampoo and conditioner :D

[carmac21]

I wash my hair every second day with shampoo and conditioner, but trying to stretch wash, its taking a while but I can nearly go three days

[Indigostreams]

I know it's so good for your hair to stretch washes as long as you can, but I can't stand the smell of sebum. That's why I hope that if I am just co washing every day, and washing with shampoo every once in a while, it won't totally suck the moisture outta my hair.

[Fireweed]

I wash once a month

[seven77]

When I had long hair I washed (shampoo and conditioner) every third day. Now that my hair is short, I wash every other day to keep it styled.

[Amapola]

Wow, Fireweed - once a month! That would be so cool! :)

I have fringe so I wash every three or four days, sometimes I can go five days before the fringe starts looking really crappy. I use shampoo on the scalp only, conditioner on the rest.

[ladyfitzgerald]

I wash after 3 or 4 days, with shampoo otherwise my hair looks oily

[lesbia]

I wash twice a week:
- first time: I wash scalp only (with a conefree and a sls free shampoo)
- second time: I let conditioner on all my lenght and my scalp for 4-5 hours (it depends on how much time I have) and then I rinse out and wash with a conefree and a sls free shampoo :)

[miss_rv]

Out of curiosity, is washing your hair every day bad? I wash mine every solid day and I apply a hot oil once a week (three times a week if I'm on holiday) I always condition afterwards though.

[Strelitzia]

I wash my hair once a week or a little longer, depending on how lazy I feel and whether my hair still looks clean! :D
I wash with Pantene, shampoo on scalp followed by plenty of conditioner on length and a little on the top of my head. Finish with either coconut oil or Pantene leave-in conditioner on damp hair. I don't wet it between washes, just maybe a touch of oil to tame frizz.
So interesting to read everyone else's routine!

[DayDreamerDani]

I wash almost daily. I condition my ends first. Let it sit for a bit then shampoo my scalp only. Rinse, then take half honey, half conditioner and apply to whole head. I let that sit until I'm done with all of my other shower duties :) then I rinse and apply one more coat of conditioner.

[BlueRabbit]

I know this thread is kind of old, but I think it is interesting to see how often and how everyone washes. I have curly/wavy fine/dry hair that is thick because of many individual strands. I wash my hair once a month. That's right- no water touches these tresses until the moon is new. Right now I'm trying CO on my wash... because the longer I go without washing, the fluffier my hair gets. It has been a lot stronger when I keep it away from any styling or washing.

[Symphony]

I have to wet my hair somewhat regularly because I work out and maybe I am perhaps a sweaty/smelly type anyways.. so I wash my scalp with sulfate-free shampoo + condition about once a week, and I am trying to water-wash my hair +condition once a week... so wetting my hair twice a week. I also oil my hair religiously... seriously put oil on my hair about everyday, so that might contribute to my smell if I don't wash regularly.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Myself? Every day:p My hair? Once a week. Present time excluded as I am currently trying to solve a waxy gluey oily hair problem.

[MaryO]

I'm currently doing a wait and see thing with washing days. Alot of the time I will think may hair is still ok for the day and then it actually gets greasy during the day but I generally wash every thrid day using sulfate free shampoo and cone free conditioner. :-)

[Weewah]

I co-wash almost every day... when I don't have to work or do anything I'll give my hair a break and let it be greasy. My hair gets greasy really fast. :( When I get to the 4th wash day in a row my hair starts getting stretchy though. It's hard for me to try to stretch washes too because my wave pattern gets completely wrecked after a day and I can't wear it up for work. I dream of one day being able to stretch my washes somehow.