new thread
I gather that it's best to shampoo and condition 2 or 3 times a week, and let oil the scalp produces moisturize it.
I get best results when I shampoo and then use a LOT of conditioner, and leave it in for 15 minutes or so. I do this every day. My "bad hair days" are either when I don't moisturize enough with conditioner (dry, frizzy hair) or when I go without washing my hair (really oily).
If I try going a couple days without washing, my hair feels gross and seems weighed down by the oil. Also, not a whole lot of it seems to travel down the hair shaft, so my scalp looks very oily when I do this. My hair is thick, and a boar bristle brush doesn't do much to help move scalp oil down. In addition, I have more dandruff when I do this.
It's supposed to be better for long, healthy hair to cut washing down to a couple of times a week or so, but to me it seems not to be a very pleasant experience. Is there something I'm missing about this? Right now it should be OK, because my hair is just a few inches below my shoulders, but I want to grow my hair very long.
you have to do what works for you. sebum production varies with age, and climate. a washing regimen that works for a 50 or 60 year old man in Singapore, who's skin oil production is down from a few decades earlier may not work for you.
If water only or shampoo very infrequently works for some guys, fine, however I wonder if they really ever take a close look at their scalps with a couple of mirrors. the litmus question for me was this: Would I want to go for weeks, never using soap in another part of my body where hair grows (you know, about 6 inches down from my navel)? Well, uh, yech, no thanks. Okay, is the scalp that much different, in terms of hygiene? Skin, pores producing oil, hair folicles, it's all there for a buildup of grunge and clogged pores....I decided to stick with shampoo. The trick is using the right shampoos--yes you have to use more than one type. I alternate between Suave Daily Clarifying on one day (it's cheap, leaves no residue and is just as good as any other expensive salon clarifying shampoos) to strip off buildup, and a moisurizing volumizing shampoo (TIGI Bed Head Control Freak shampoo) for volume a day or two later. TIGI makes a Moisture Maniac shampoo for volume, but it really has very little volumizing ingredients. I'm using the TIGI product because it's what's available here that's decent--what I used to use which was perfectly fine and less expensive, was Garnier Fructis Volumizing for Fine Hair. these may or may not work for you depending on your hair.
the problem with hair care products is what works for me may not work for you, what's available to me may not be available to you, and most annoying, once you find something that works, by then, the distributor will quit carrying it, or the manufacturer will drop it from their line, or fiddle with it and turn it into something that doesn't work anymore. Then you have to go through the business of finding a replacement again. things like this have happened to me a couple of times. I was having great results with the Aussie Knot Forgotten detangler, then it disappeared with no warning, when Aussie evidently overhauled their entire line. That hacked me off--all the stuff I liked they dropped and everything they have now is in packaging with these completely useless product descriptions--just a lot of garbage about surfing and catching the next great wave and putting that wave into your hair blah blah. Anyway, you can overdo anything and while I advocate shampooing, it isn't or shouldn't be a daily task. After a day with the clarifying shampoo for example, you should be able to go a day or two just rinsing and conditioning before you wash it out with volumizing or whatever you want to use.