This has been an interesting thread to read. Until now, I always assumed that when people said they only washed their hair once a week, that meant they didn't even get it WET the other 6 days and just had to keep re-styling dirty hair. That just sounds so gross, because my head gets itchy and my hair looks unstyled and gross after just 1 day. So it was like a revelation to read that "not washing the hair for several days" means not SHAMPOOING for several days.

My hair only looks good when it's freshly styled. After I've slept on it it looks like.....well, like I've slept on it. Brushing, curling, spraying....that doesn't work so well on my hair if it hasn't been washed. I haven't tried just wetting, rinsing, and applying conditioner, though. Since my hair does sometimes get frizzy on the ends and underneath, I think I'll give this a shot.

The idea of not washing your hair comes from the hair has a natural ability to clean itself. So, if you were to not wash your hair for say three months, your hair would gradually go back to the natural state, before products were introduced to it. Saying that the reaction is that your hair will be oily and your scalp will react with itch. It will be oily at first because your hair has had the oils stripped from it with washing. So, eventually your hair would level out and thus you would have naturally cleaning hair. Of course you can do rinses and what not, comb oils into the hair, etc. There are many options and methods. It is exciting to try though! :D

Saying that, I do have to wash my hair every day mostly because of my scalp, which has issues. I have many skin related issues and have to scrub down every single day, I cannot go a day without a shower. Just how it is for me, but I do use a shampoo that is designed for my scalp condition, fragrance free, and I use a conditioner that is just organic and natural. I have gone two months without washing, but I found that with my skin issues it just doesn't work for me, my scalp didn't get better. My hair was very soft though, not very oily at all. I did rinses and things, sometimes with essential oils and that made my hair smell so good.

Now my hair is thick, wavy, and soft. That is from washing every day. My scalp feels a bit better, I will always have issues though. Allergies and what not! :D

I am going to start doing coconut oil treatments again. I did like that. You rub the coconut oil into your hair and scalp, let it sit, then wash it out. :D

I wash my hair almost daily (every once in a while I'll skip a day) with a gentle shampoo followed by a good conditioner. I think it looks and feels best on that schedule -- any more than that and it starts to get dry, and less than that is an oily, itchy mess.

My hair has always needed to be washed every day, I just did it. I've now started to leave it for 2 days but I still wash my bangs in the morning with a touch of soap.
I still like it best washed every day but thought it would be better to leave it if I can. I have very oily skin, face and hair which people say is good. I'm not sure about that however.

2 days seems to be the max, 3 days and I just can't stand it anymore. My hair is also long and straight so the part looks greasy after 1 day.

I use gentle shampoo and use tons of conditioner because I get highlights put in.

Since this thread came out I decided to do an experiment. I used to be one of those people that had to wash my hair every day or else it would look greasy and limp. I was obsessed with getting my hair squeaky clean. But I decided to just rinse my hair every day and shampoo only once a week and see what happens. I also bought one of those little gadgets that remove the chlorine from the showerhead too.

I can't emphasize how much more volume my hair has now, just 3months after starting this. It is not dirty at all, it does not feel greasy but it feels like I have more bouncy fluffy hair!

My shampoo bills have gone down drastically, my showers are faster and more economical, and I just realized.... I don't have to load up my head with chemicals just because shampoo companies want to make more money. Rinse, lather and repeat THAT Pantene!!!

wannabeskinny, thanks for posting your experience. Interesting idea, I might test it out. My problem is my scalp gets not just itchy but also painful after more than a couple days. But I never tried rinsing.

That is what I have been doing as well for the past couple months and I can definitely see a difference in how my hair looks and feels.

Okay I'm in for the rinse everyday and wash once a week :)
Might as well try it if it works so well.

Do you put any conditioner on???

I'm kinda worried though.........:dizzy:

What I do is this..

Sunday night I wash with shampoo and deep condition my hair. Mon - Sat I only rinse with warm water. My hair looks healthier and shinier and feels softer and doesn't stink and is not oily at all. But this is me and I am not in any way, shape or form saying everyone should do this or that everyone will have the same results but it can't hurt to give it a try anyway :)

I keep my hair very short, (a bit longer than a marine), color it regularly, and shampoo 6 days a week.

That being said, I use a minimal amount of shampoo, and rinse well.

The thing I don't do is use the hair dryer a lot or load my hair up with gel, mousse, spray, etc.

My hair is in good shape.

The other thing that is good for your hair is omega 3 fatty acids. Not an issue to work into your food plan. Just eat some tuna or salmon once or twice a week.

FYI, when I had long hair, I conditioned once a month with full fat, regular mayo, smear it in hair, cover with a plastic grocery bag and a towel hot from the dryer, wait 20 mins and rinse. Yeah, I know, you smell like potato salad, oh well.

Every other weekend, I would shampoo and then rinse with vinegar to strip all the soap, detergent, etc.

To this day, no matter what shampoo I'm using, I use as little as possible, rinse well, warm not hot water, and try not to subject my hair to, too much hair dryer, gel, mousse or spray.

It works for me.

I guess it would depend on your hair. My hair is very fine so I only condition once a week when I shampoo.

I'll be honest, it took a while to get used to. When your hair is abused by shampoo every day it just learns to automatically produce more oil to replace the oil the chemicals strip away. So it takes a couple of weeks for your hair to readjust. I'm no scientist but that's what makes sense to me. Good luck with this, it doesn't hurt to try it out and at the very least you'll be giving your hair a much needed break from soap.

Thanks Wannabeskinny and Janelle :)

hmm, I'm going to try that!

I tried the "just rinsing" thing for a couple of days and my scalp itched so bad that I couldn't stand it and I had to shampoo. My hair has been looking and feeling really dry on the ends lately, and I suspect that it's all the blow drying and product that I put on it. I could try to cut back on that, but if I don't use hairspray, my hair just lies there, flat and lank. (I have a lot of hair but it's kind of heavy and just lays there if I don't fuss with it).