Stretching Washes

I remember there used to be a science TV show here in the 80s, no idea of the name now or anything about it other than there was a Doctor on it (maybe the one who was part of the Goodies, over 30s will remember...)

Anyway, they did and experiment with people not washing their hair. They made them leave it about 6 weeks I think. I'm fairly certain around the 2 week period there was an ungodly smell lol but the longer it was left, the more it was fine. The hair smelt normal and felt fab. Doesn't have much to do with what you're asking really, but it reminded me.

What's wrong with it producing less oils? If you're not stripping them you don't need more. If it feels drier it's probably partly the sun on the ends at the moment, or wind seeing as we're having a lot of that in London! It's crazy windy up here in High Barnet! What's most li

As for the bacteria. Don't know. I think we are trained to worry a bit too much about that these days. Adverts for various products make us paranoid. Not that there isn't something to worry about, but you can go too far. Yeah, I don't know! Not something that would have occurred to me.

I hadn't thought about it, but it seems like yeah if you are getting rid of oils with dry shampoo isn't that defeating the purpose?  I went about 6 months stretching washes after I had damaged my hair.  I'm now back to washing everyday or every other day.  Whether it's good for my hair or not I don't know - but it just feels and looks and smells so much better.  And for me, isn't that the whole point LOL?

As I said in the dry hair thread, the oil isn't GONE when you use dry shampoo. The excess is soaked up. The oils are still there.

Washing your hair everyday/every other day is bad for you hair. You should really leave it at least 3 days. The smell can't be THAT bad after three days (unless your job involves some nasty smells...).

I generally only wash every 7 to 10 days, as my hair/scalp don't get particularly greasy (unless i have been playing with my hair a lot) I tend to wash it when it starts to feel grimy, dust and environmental dirt does stick to it, especially if I have used a lot of oils. I rarely venture into cities, (I am such a country bumpkin lol) but when I do my hair gets really dirty really quickly. I think I would at least need to rinse it every couple of days if I lived in a city. If you are really worried about bacteria, coconut oil has natural anti bacterial and anti fungal properties.

Great conversation, gals, thanks!

Janine, enjoyed the story about the 80s science show.  Reminds me I bought that book by Janet Street-Porter (called Life's Too F***ing Short, just had to look up the title!), and she says the same thing about not washing hair for days on end, that it eventually reaches an equilibrium.

Now I fully 'get' that dry shampoo won't soak up all the oils, and I think it is still very beneficial to keep water off the hair as much as possible due to the damage that can be caused by messing with it whilst it's wet.  I think I can go a week for long-term, that's not a big deal, but I sense I will probably go back to twice a week when dance resumes.  For some reason, I like to start the working week feeling like I've got clean hair.

Wicked Pixie, thanks for reminding me about coconut oil!  That's almost the best leave-in cleanser you can use then.  I'm not sure my hair would look great if I 'cleanse' with coconut oil, but it may make me feel like it's refreshed a bit.  Then with a spritz of dry shampoo... that's definitely worth a try.

I suppose being a train-traveller, I'm so tempted to cover my hair when I'm on the train because (sorry, this is horrible to say, but) you know they don't bother to disinfect those seats; I sort of wish they weren't covered in fabric, lol.  That is probably the down-side to living and travelling in a bigger city, you do get more pollution and grime - you don't always see it but you've been told it's there!

My hair is naturally wavy and dry and it really doesn't get oily no matter how long I go, I just don't like the way it feels or looks after a few days.  I do live in the city so I'm sure that doesn't help.  And don't get me wrong I don't have a stinky job LOL, but there's a difference (with me anyway) with freshly washed hair, it looks and smells so much nicer.  When I haven't washed in a while my hair even  though it's dry, gets a more matted down look to it.  When I wash I always use conditioner, and every few days a deep conditioner and alternate with my Joico reconstructor.  Sometimes I just cowash.  I let it air dry and don't use heat on it of any kind.  Is this really hurting my hair? 

That freshly washed feeling is because all the oils have been stripped lol. You don't get that with CO washing IME. it feels just as clean 3 days later. When I shampoo my hair feels squeaky clean, but gets greasy really quickly after. With CO washing you don't get those swings from greasy to over clean and back again, it stays much more balanced.

I think it's probably more likely the oils and products I put on my hair myself get washed off.    I usually use a leave in conditioner by Naked as well as coconut oil every day to keep the frizz at bay, (especially in humid weather.)  One of my problems is because my hair is wavy/curly combing it makes it frizzy and breaks up the curls.  The day I wash I just comb it once or use my fingers when wet to get everything in place then I don't touch afterwards and it curls on its own and looks fine.  If I sleep in it I have to comb it the next day, then I have the frizz is and have to put on more hair product.  So in writing this I've discovered my problem as to why it feels so gross after a few days but I don't see a way around it.  Cowashing still makes my hair feel better then leaving it go unwashed and it never gets greasy, so I think I'll just cut back on shampoo and co wash most of the time. 

My hair is also naturally curly, but since i went sulfate/silicone free i don't have the same issues with frizz that I used to have. I do dry it quite straight now (the weight pulls it down as well now it is long) which helps with not having to brush it so much.

I've had my hair straightened a few times at a salon and it looks nice and frizz free the day or two after too, but my hair would hate me for it if I did it regularly! I wouldn't be able to straighten without a flattening iron or a lot of work with big brushes and a hair dryer which I think is harder on my hair than washing.  Oh that reminds me I  have one of those waving irons by Babybliss, makes my hair look fantastic and I love it but it's so drying.  I stopped using it after frying my hair doing highlights with 40 volume bleach....... I save it for only special occasions now even though my highlights are grown out & cut off.    It gives a mermaid-y look and smooths all the frizzy bits.

Sorry, didn't explain that well, I don't use any heat on my hair at all (except when i have dye on it) I just twist it with coconut oil while it is drying and my curls become waves with ringlets just at the bottom. It is pretty time consuming, but I only wash my hair once a week max so not too much effort really. My hair is bleached and waist length it would be breaking off if I heat styled it lol. I gave up all heat styling when I gave up shampoo and silicones. It is a combination of all those things and the use of natural oils that has almost completely eliminated frizz for me.