Should we wash our hair?

-- Queen Victoria --

Yes children, wash your hair, I don't care what you read on the internet.

I have to wash my hair everyday in the summer and at least every other day in winter or my whole face starts to get oily from hair touching it.

(What the hell went wrong with this guy, anyway? I remember he made a good record once.)

Oh, I can remember when he was at least tolerable.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12424901-13762,00.html

Just now?

"donald, when was the last time you washed your hair?"

pause

"like, with shampoo?"

"well, YEAH"

pause

pause

"er..."

You and those GOD... DAMN... OUTDOOR HEATERS! RAAAAHH!

*goes on rampage*

I have not found a deoderant that doesn't make me more sweaty or bring me out in a rash.

http://www.wvip.co.uk/images/dvd/Simpsons/willy.jpg

and everyone needs to be wearing the deordorant if they're nearby anybody else at all during the day. your ass is funkier than you realize it to be, unfortunately.

Too much of anything is bad, but that certainly includes too much B.O.

How can any sane person think this? Natural it may be, but so's dog shit and rotting kelp.

I'm bald and I wash my hair every day. When I had hair, every two days.

If you read the articles on the people who stop washing they admit it's unpleasant for the first month or so as your body gets acclimated to it, then everything's kosher. I say cheers to anyone who can pull it off. But since I have to dye my hair every month I can't go this au natural.

As for bar hair. . . Febreeze? This is such a hole in the hair product market. I haven't been able to find any product that's made to neturalize smoke odors and stuff from your hair. i usually only wash every 3-4 days but visit bars more often. I need such a product.

Since my hair is short AND oily, it helps to wash it every day. The oil doesn't have as much hair to cover, so the greasiness shows up more frequently. I have heard it's better to not wash so much, but I have the same problems with the itchiness. My brother, on the other hand, never washes because of that "poofiness" issue. But if you're going to do that, you need to be clean and not too sweaty, else you'll stink like crazy. You can combat the poofiness with some pomade or other product if need be.

This is probably the most boring thing I've ever posted. Uh...

It is a myth that shampooing your hair can cause baldness. It can break hair and strip it of its color, and may cause temporary thinning, but any kind of permanent baldness wouldn't be caused by washing your hair every day.

Millions of oral contraceptive pills containing synthetic oestrogen are consumed every day. This compound is ultimately discharged into the sewage system, and from there it is flushed into rivers and the sea, where it remains active for up to a month. In 2002, Environment Agency researchers suggested that the steady drop in male fertility in Britain may be caused by men ingesting female hormones in drinking water that is drawn from rivers that contain recycled sewage.

The only thing that worked for me was finding the mildest dandruff shampoo (Head and Shoulders, in my case) and using a quality conditioner afterward to resore some of the moisture. After a couple of weeks of consistent use, all was well. Maybe not for everyone, but worth a shot if you can't get something prescription-strength.

It's got bugger all to do with being 'natural'. Perfume makes me sneeze.

I use Charles Worthington Results - Shine, shine, shine gloss and refresh spray.

Its good stuff

I could totally try this, as I live in MENDOCINO.

And yeah, per Tom, rinsing with water is a huge help for banishing bedhead squashed hair or cutting the itch -- just don't add soap.

Oh, and if you're afraid of breakouts you can get around part of the problem by changing your pillow cases more often. Otherwise they pick up a lot of grease from hair and get dirty faster than the other bedding, transferring the grease to your skin when you roll over.

has anyone tried washing their hair with beer or eggs?

As for me, it's a bit of a psychological thing -- I just love showers in the morning in general, and washing my hair is part of it -- but also, frankly, the look of my hair in the morning without washing scares even me. I don't trust water to do the job on its own (based on a couple of attempts in the past!).

I live for Baberaham Lincoln hair...wash it every other day and use Jonathan Product.

We like to call it "wood alcohol" typically

Anyway it's been a week and a half, still getting compliments.

I had that Japanese thermal straightening done to my hair, and the ends are so dry that shampooing makes them look awful, really damaged and dried out. So I've only been able to use conditioner for quite a while, not fun since I love that soapy experience.

it's been over 2 months since I've used shampoo. verdict: not bad. not bad at all. it was a little gross for the first couple of weeks (i'm glad i did it during the cold season), but i rinsed it out with diluted apple cider vinegar whenever it got too greasy.

i rinse it out with water everyday, occasionally "wash" it with a decent conditioner and use the ACV treatment every couple of weeks or so. it's all but cured my propensity for dandruff (did NOT anticipate this being a benefit), and has made my weird, dry, puffy hair nice and shiny and manageable.

why no shampoo?

LOL - I still wash my head with shampoo and I haven't even had hair for 2 years.

A year in June since I last put anything called shampoo in my hair. My results are the same as will's. I had a haystack; now I have hair.

why no shampoo?

Sigh. Read the thread. I understand, it BLOWS PEOPLE'S MINDS.

my hair is pretty long now and i'm starting to feel the urge to shampoo a bit more often, but usually i try to keep it at once every 2 weeks maybe

Sigh. Read the thread. I understand, it BLOWS PEOPLE'S MINDS.

it's a bit much to read all the way through for me at the moment. if the answer is embedded in the 200 posts upthread, i'll scan for it later.

(that is, if it's pointless/totally duplicative to ask for his personal opinion, and i'm better served investing the time to review the entire thread, i'll do that later).

first post itt more or less covers it - scalp secretes sebum, which naturally lubricates and protects hair against dirt and bacteria. Left to their own devices, our own natural oils in effect wash our hair without water or extra products. In fact, hair products have been shown to over-stimulate oil glands and attract dirt

my hair has always been a minor annoyance. no matter what kind of shampoo/ conditioner i used it always looked really retarded and "big" after washing it. so i started waiting longer and longer between washings, and then i read a couple of articles on the internet about folks skipping washing altogether. i also wonder if the harsh sulfates in like 99% of commercial shampoos might have been actually causing my bouts w/ dandruff. i.e. my scalp would try to normalize itself after washing, which would lead to over-production of sebum, etc.

i tried this last summer but i didn't realize it was six whole weeks of greasiness

it looks like some ppl are hardcore and don't ever wash with water. i'm not sure i could handle that...

3 years since I stopped shampooing every day. Maybe once a week I use some non-SLS neem oil based suds. My scalp is happier than it's ever been.

i would try this if i was, for whatever reason, going to be isolated from society for the duration. My hair is extremely greasy and looks gross if i don't wash it every day, dread to think what it would look like after, say, a week.

I have gone through months of never shampooing and just using shower gel on my hair, this doesn't seem to make its condition any worse; my hair is, perhaps because of the greasiness, generally shiny and smooth.

we also have really "hard" water here, which may help (or hurt, if you're using harsh sulfate-based shampoos)

i did have some minor acne outbreaks in areas where my hair touched my face during the first couple of weeks, but that seems to have cleared up along with the initial greasiness

I don't mind not washing if I can use cider vinegar and dry shampoo, but my scalp does get flaky after a couple of days. Maybe I'd have to go on a more serious regimen of non-SLS products for a longer time in order to see the true results.

man i love this thread so much. its really one of my favorites.

i went back to baking-soda-twice-a-week only a month ago! it's just got beyond the messed-up changeover period into soft&curly. i rub half a lime into my head rather than using cider vinegar, mostly just cos i can't be arsed to go out and find a bottle of aspall's or whatever. Plus it's more portable.

i spent like a year w/ no shampoo and it was great, but i had to start using again cause of dandruff

guuuuuuuuuuuuys ... I just washed my haaaaair

WITH SHAMPOO

so clean and shiiiiiiny

gonna use brand-name shampoo
gonna give my kids vaccines
not gonna fall for that nuevo-hippie
buuuuuuuuuuuulllshit

but but buying shampoo is so much effffffort

Do the folks doing this sweat much? Daily gym/sauna + working outdoors in Texas makes me leery.

that's what washing your hair with just water is for, i think? apparently you are supposed to massage yr scalp and stuff and that will make everything okay?

the one thing i do not enjoy is the sebum-and-dead-skin buildup on hairbrushes, which is pretty ew.

hey guys why do we even wear clothes? just another case of the man tellin us how to live our lives i guess! fuck those fascists imo, wrap the same blanket around yourself you use to sleep at night, same warmth, anybody doesn't like it tell em you're living FREE from now on

Do the folks doing this sweat much? Daily gym/sauna + working outdoors in Texas makes me leery.

― a cross between lily allen and fetal alcohol syndrome (milo z), Monday, April 26, 2010 1:24 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i mean u still gotta take a shower and rinse

all you dudes who think this is way awesome, when your SO leaves you and hooks up with somebody who say WASHES HIS HAIR DAILY LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING, I hope you don't get all mopey about it

hey man im not telling anyone how to do they damn hair

this thread has inspired me to wipe my ass with grass cuttings, take that you Charmin bastards

i know it sounds crazy, but my dandruff/scalp itchiness has totally cleared up and the only thing i can reasonably attribute it to is drinking lots and lots of green tea. which in turn has allowed me to start washing my hair a lot less--once every 5 days or so at the moment.

wash it with green tea.

I've thought about doing that!

For me this question has devolved to: should we wash our scalps?

i have tried a bunch of times to wash my hair less but i quit. i like washing it too much. i have dandruff though :/

all you dudes who think this is way awesome, when your SO leaves you and hooks up with somebody who say WASHES HIS HAIR DAILY LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING, I hope you don't get all mopey about it

awkward times: when an ahem new acquaintance goes to take a shower in the morning and is all 'dude, i couldn't find the shampoo?' and you're like 'oh um er gosh i forgot i'd run out' because it turns out you don't actually want to discuss the fact that you're a secret hippy.

I wash w/ SHAMPOO probably once a week, which is just before it gets appallingly greasy. would consider going the no shampoo route, but since I don't currently comb it it'd either be more effort or surely disastrous.

lol SECRET HIPPY

i put my gf on hair & scalp patrol, making her promise to let me know if it became noticeably gross or smelly. she has not complained yet and she is pretty OCD about cleanliness

I will admit that I am probably a special case, because my hair (just like dear ol' dad's) has always been extremely dry, brittle, thick as thorns, and totally unmanageable. Going "no poo" was a revelation for me. I didn't have any greasy phase, my hair just slowly approached normal. Which is where it currently resides, and you can't talk me into going back to shampooing. And no, it does not stink, and no, there is no green dandruff, and no, my SO is not leaving me. She has nothing but positive reviews, actually.

My hair has always been pretty unmanageable so I'm kind of curious as to what this would do to it, but I think I'd go crazy trying to wait out the initial period. I had some head surgery a while ago and was told not to touch it or get it wet for 2 weeks, and by day 9-10 I felt really pretty horrible all over, like no matter how much I washed the rest of me my head was so greasy that none of me could stay clean. Admittedly I hadn't washed in plain water either.

(and I am totally not a wash-hair-every-day person to start with, it takes too long and gets even more unmanageable)

I had wanted to do this for like 7 years and finally did it late last year. Haven't used shampoo since Oct and I absolutely love it; it used to get weird and puffy and now it's thicker, shinier, and more pliable. I mean you can see/feel a bit of the natural oils in it but it's not excessively greasy like one might imagine. My in between period was really only 2 or so weeks but I hadn't been shampooing daily for years.

can't make up my mind as to whether i wanna full commit to no-poo or not. i had it going for about a couple months at one wash every 2 wks, now it's at a wash per every 10 days, and for whatever reason i just decided to incorporate conditioner sans shampoo into a bi-daily thing.

i have supremely thick hair, such that it barbers will 100% no fail say something along the lines of "my god your hair is thick" and it doesn't dwell well w/ the fact that denver is so murderously dry. it's just like this everlasting battle against being fuzz-head. my bangs just shoot out in this vague semblance of uniformity.

anyway, i keep thinking no-poo is THE ANSWER but there are times spent in which it's so unfathomably hard to run my hand from one side of my head to the other - my hair being choked with grease - that i dread just what it looks like visually to someone who doesn't have to see this mop on a minutely-basis (& consequently gets used to it)

anyway, anyway, my question is: no-poo'ers, have you cut shampooing out *entirely*? or do you still wash at least every once in a while. i realize a lot of the fault of my worry lies in the fact that i haven't yet passed that threshold of the intermediary phase, but i'm more curious to see what others have done before i embark upon it.

anyway, i keep thinking no-poo is THE ANSWER

gettin perilously close to the 2 year mark dudes

(in all honesty, i've probably slipped up and washed my hair w/ shampoo abt 3-4x since Feb 2010, and definitely still doing diluted apple cider vinegar approx 1/week)

nb our municipal water is very "hard" here and our atmosphere very humid, so ymmv

If you go...no-poo...and you go to get a haircut, do you insist the haircutters not shampoo your hair?

i love everything needs to get their hair did

i have definitely done that. most just wet it down anyway, a couple of times they cut it dry. one may have convinced me to let her rinse it out w conditioner

xp

I haven't washed my hair regularly since I was a child, if I lived in place w/hard water I prob would tho, hard water is the pits

I'm in a hard water jurisdiction right now and my hair is nast n greasy, maybe I will wash and condition it

weird... my hair gets much nastier in 'soft' water environs. 'hard' water makes my hair dry n' puffy

i use a no-poo "conditioning cleanser" from deva. it costs $18 a bottle but i only wash my hair once or twice a week, so i make it last.

In have v striaght thick hair not sure if that matters, it prob p oily too like if I don't shower for a day it's def kinda oily

(xp) this is it. it has some parabens, but no sulfates.

http://www.sleekhair.com/10500.html

I stopped using shampoo about two months ago, but I wash my hair once a week with baking soda. Seems just as good as shampoo. I also do a honey/lemon juice rinse. My original plan was to do nothing until everything balanced out, but two weeks in I felt gross and wasn't even sure if the "cold turkey" method was going to get me anywhere. Does it get better if you do nothing but hot water rinses for a long enough period of time?

Okay, so I reread this thread (hadn't seen it in a while) as well as some other message boards, and there seem to be two schools of shampoo quitters: those who replace shampoo with baking soda and some kind of acid, and those who do the six weeks of nothing and end up with magic hair. Currently part of the former group but, man, I wish I had the persistence to join the latter.

I noticed an acquaintance/friend had excellent hair, and I told him so, I said, "you have the ideal hair." He told me that he hadn't washed it in seven years. I decided, that day, to stop washing my own. At first, it was just tangled. But over the next month, my scalp transformed from being healthy and happy to being an utter nightmare of itching, flaking, wheezing and coughing. I have been washing it again for the past couple weeks, but it still hasn't recovered. Furthermore: sebum? The scalp secretes sebum? That is earwax, that is gross, I have enough earwax in my life, thanks. Of course I wish I'd hung on longer, probably will try again in summertime.

Does anyone have a semi-scientific explanation for where the "initial greasiness" goes, exactly, when that initial period is over? There's a lot of handwaving going on, but I'm not convinced yet that it's not just a matter of getting used to the greasiness. Help me- I would love to stop shampooing! I want magic hair!

do you think that shaving your head + embarking on a no-wash program would help control the greasiness?

i think the idea is that shampoo etc. actually causes your scalp to produce excess oils and throws it out of balance. once you stop using products and your scalp finally balances out, it starts producing the right amount of oils.

^ the amount of sebum produced is exactly the same long hair or short. having longer hair would actually allot you to more days in which you don't appear "greasy" as it'd start off w/ hair closer to your head before gravitating out.
whether you think short, greasy hair is as noticeable as long, sopping hair is up to personal opinion. i will say that you certainly there's no potential for grease tentacles w/ a buzz cut.

but sebum does not come from hair, it comes from skin, so you could still have a greasy scalp. all in all, just like skin health and related 'problems', not all hair is created equal, so for some people not washing for years works just fine while for others it would result in a very bad hair and scalp situation.

Add me to the list of non-shampooers! My hair used to get really bushy and frizzy, and I was never happy with it, whether it was short or long. I've switched to apple cider vinegar, and I love it! I'm growing my hair out and it's not turning into a big bush. My hair also seems healthier and stronger. I'm not going back to shampoo, ever. So, yeah. Apple cider vinegar. I like the

Nice one. I was going to say, I like the way it smells, too.

I'm currently going from a period where I washed my hair every time I took a shower to thinking I need to do it once a week. So hair's been unwashed since some time last week and I'm feeling it.
Had me thinking earlier That I somehow went through a phase of several years where I didn't wash it. Can't remember the results. Was about 10 years ago.
Have had it in dreads for about 27 years though. Might make some difference.
& the ends rarely get washed these days, mainly the scalp and top part does.

I can never do no shampoo but I've started using sulfate free shampoo and my hair feels so much healthier after two weeks.

Between my balding on top and my trimming what little hair I have left very short, I now have so little hair that washing it is mostly an exercise in washing my scalp. So I just use Kirk's castile soap for everything now.

stopped using shampoo years ago and haven't looked back. i was on tour w a dozen other people and showers were scarce. i saw someone using baby powder to fix their hair when it got too greasy and her hair looked incredible so i took that up. also got super into the habit of using baking soda as all-purpose soap/deoderant for washing my face/hair, brushing teeth, etc. it smells so so good after you wash your face with baking soda.