new thread
Hello, I'm new to this community, and I've been growing my hair for a while now, I used to have a buzzcut but that was 3 months ago, I now look like a beatle (Hair grows quickly I must say). So, my question is, do you guys wash your hair once a week with shampoo, I know that. But, do you wash it with water the rest of the week, or just leave it like that? Because I only have 3 days without washing it with water and it's itching terribly.
Thanks for answering.
Joseph
I'm a woman,but i think i've been lurking around long enough to reply your question :D
If you're worried about the damage frequent washing will cause,don't worry because unless you wash your hair three times a day,it won't dry it out (depending on your post,i can tell you have greasy hair)
If you feel itchy,you should definitely wash it.
There are other solutions to the grease problem; you can gently brush your hair to take grease away from scalp and move it to the ends because that natural grease is very good for your hair.
i hope i could be of some help :)
Thanks for the reply. Hmm well I don't think I have greasy hair, because after washing it with shampoo and stuff, it gets so dry it feels like hay. I have to use a cap to grease the hair, otherwise, It'll stay dry loong time.
So, Should I wash one day with shampoo and the rest of the week with water?
itching is often caused by excessive grease on skin...at least that's what i know.
you should wash it when you think you should.washing with just water may help (though i only heard it,not tried it).
does your hair feel greasy after 3 days? or just the itching problem?
Sounds like you should use something else to get the dryness out of your hair - a shampoo that doesn't strip everything out, and/or a different kind of re-moisturizing product.
One thing I've recommended on this board before is 100% aloe vera gel (I use FOTE - Fruit of the Earth) - the clear stuff (colored AV gel has additives in it that you do not want). It isn't greasy, and washes out cleanly, and above all, doesn't make my hair itch 2 days after cleaning.
Good Luck!
Jim
I've seen more discussion on this board regarding washing with water only, or washing with cold water, or never washing and only brushing, or never brushing and only finger-combing... it makes my head spin! And don't get 'em started on drying methods! Now, I'm not knocking anyone who uses any of these methods of caring for their hair, but really, does it make that big a difference? I know a lot of women with really nice, healthy hair, all of whom shampoo and condition their hair (using--GASP--warm water!), every day or so. Why does it seem that men with long hair make a bigger deal about damage than women do?
Here are my suggestions, as a once-and-future longhair, for what it's worth: Keep your hair clean. If your head itches, it's time for a wash. Washing every day or two isn't going to hurt a thing. Shampoo is nothing to be afraid of, and will make your head smell nice. Use conditioner to keep your hair healthy. If you don't mind showering/washing your hair with cool or cold water, it does seem to make it a bit nicer (more smooth and shiny) than washing it with warm water. If you do mind cool or cold water, it's probably not that big a deal if you use warm, especially if you fortify your strands with conditioner. Use a de-tangler if tangling is a problem. Towel or air-dry. If you use a blow dryer, keep the heat exposure to a minimum.
Don't obsess so much over the process that it detracts from your enjoyment of the experience of having long hair!
--Val
Very well said, Val. Hair is much stronger than guys seem to think it is. And I just don't get the whole "no shampoo" thing--makes my head itch just to think about!!
I'll just talk about my own experience here, since hair is definitely one of those things where YMMV....
When I washed using shampoo and hot water, my hair ended in splits and it was rough and not very attractive. When I switched to cool water only, in time the splits all went away and my hair got very silky. And it looked a hell of a lot better. As for itching, one's scalp oil must reach an equilibrium. It can't do that with short hair because there just isn't enough hair to absorb the oil produced, but with longer hair you have enough hair to absorb the oil and get it off your scalp. After a few months of washing in water only, not only did the itching stop, but I ceased to have dandruff, something that had been a lifelong problem. For the first time in my life, my hair and scalp looked great!
Think about this: For millennia men did not have shampoo. They washed in water....
I had another interesting experience. In October 2006 I was in the hospital for three weeks, and because of a procedure I was undergoing, I could not apply water to anywhere on me above my shoulders. In other words, I could not wash my mane or my beard, not even in water. My hair got slightly greasy looking, but other than that, oil on everything reached an equilibrium and was fine. Some excess oil would accumulate on my scalp and chin (wherever hair grew) because I was never washing it off, and it would dry into a paste. THAT would slightly itch, and when I scratched it would come off under my fingernails. So long as I went through my scalp and chin areas every two or three days to remove that paste, I had no itching at all. I must admit, it FELT very good to get a good shower at the end of the three weeks, though!
My chin acted just like my scalp through this period, which may surprise those of you who have never thought about it, especially if you shave. My chin produced oil just like my scalp did, and the accumulation of the paste seemed to be about the same on both.
Bill
Because men with long hair are already stereotyped in the American mind as being dirty or unkempt. Therefore, men that worry about breaking or not fitting in with stereotypes try their best not to fit in with said stereotypes by keeping their hair as perfect as possible. The irony of this is that laziness and a general lack of concern over appearance is also a stereotypically male thing in western culture, so two conflicting forces are at work here. Note that as women with long hair are so vastly more common than men with long hair, people are more likely to excuse a random woman's unkempt hairstyle; we notice mistakes in rare things more easily.
You're generalizing too much. The advice you just gave can vary tremendously from head to head, particularly from hair type to hair type. Many women do, in fact, care a lot about their hair and use various methods of hair care to keep it healthy, as the general plan you outlined above doesn't work for them. Shampoo, for example, can be a real problem for very curly hair; I experienced this myself, and the problem worked out itself as I stopped using it. Generally, you gave good advice, but never assume that all of anything is necessarily and absolutely the same.
Well, true. Of course, following a bad process can indirectly detract from the enjoyment, as well.
and welcome back its been awhile FA.
Val, that summary is perfect. I see people anxious about hair care because they don't know the reason behind what is done and when it would apply to them. Waiting between washes works best for people who already have lower length hair to brush the oils into. Men with three inches of hair all around shouldn't worry they are trashing their hair because they wash it daily.
You'll find as much concern over methods on hair boards for women growing long hair. The women you know probably trim regularly and are not going for extreme lengths. When you need your hairs to last long term that's when care becomes more important. Daily washing for hair that will only be around three years is different from the wear that will accumulate when hair has been growing for nine years. Still, there is one long hair salon and line of products that advocates daily washing so perhaps hair is tougher than we think.
Other people have concern about ingredients or being as natural as possible with their hair care so they avoid shampoos. On the most basic level people with long hair might also wash less frequently because it is more of a chore than when it was shorter.
Elizabeth
I agree. I agree! But...
Spending some time on the Long Hair Community board, I've seen that it's not just a guy thing. Women can obsess to even greater lengths about the "right" way to treat their hair.
Plus, isn't obsession about hair one of the reasons that MLHH exists? Of course, that's essentially a rhetorical question. I'm known among my friends for researching exhaustively whatever I happen to be interested in.
But back to your basic point...sticking to the basics is good practice. While I understand treating hair with gentleness, some of the advice out there mystifies me. I remember seeing one message (not on here) claiming that washing your hair in hot water will cause the same kind of damage as a hair dryer on high ("bubble hair"). Now come on, in order to do that someone would have to use water so hot that it would scald, and even then I'm not sure that hot water would do that. But, there it was and I'm sure that a few people turned the temperature down because of it.
Chris
Validus, to be frank, you may not understand partly because you are young enough to have what appears to be a robust head of hair. May you always be so. In my case some of the obsession for care however misguided it may be, is due to the realization that I don't have enough as it is, and anything that might promote the damage or loss of more would be unwelcome. So yes, I get protective about it and some of that may seem silly. I know women who do all sorts of damaging things to their hair, but women experience thinning hair a bit differently so they can afford a more cavalier way of handling it.
No, it's not a guy thing. As Elizabeth says it's related to length. The average woman only has shoulder length hair and doesn't think it's long, and many man who think they have long hair don't have it as long as that.
It's a matter of length versus oil (actually sebum) production. Your hair makes the same amount of natural oils regardless of length, so the longer the hair the further the oils have to spread, and the less you should wash it. OTOH, conditioner can take the place of natural oils up to a point. Also, different people have different amounts of natural oils, and the same person has different amounts at different stages in their life.
Mostly, if your hair is really long you need to cut back on washing and maybe use more conditioner than shampoo. Some gals as well as guys wash their hair with water only or with conditioner only, but your hair has to be pretty long to consider those techniques, certainly much more then shoulder length IMHO. If you don't find that necessary your hair probably isn't all that long, and/or it's really dry because you aren't doing that, or maybe if you are young you have much greasier hair than us older guys. We used to once upon a time.
I don't know how old you are or really how long your hair is, but you are clearly younger than me, and it doesn't look long in the pic, although I assume it has grown well past that now.
If you feel the need to wash your hair every day, there are such things as 'frequent use' shampoos that are more dilute. Take a look around the drugstore. Of course, you could just dilute the regular stuff yourself! I doubt if it's really anything special.
I should add that I meant someone with longer hair should be cutting back on washing and using more conditioner, not that they should necessarily use water only or conditioner only. I don't do the latter things myself, I just wash my hair less frequently and typically use more conditioner than shampoo, whereas the manufacturers seem to think you should only need half as much instead of actually more.
Thanks for the answers guys.
I'm 16 years old, I've been cutting my hair buzz style, so I'm trying to grow my hair. So far I think it's fine, I wash it once every 4 days. But the time I wash it it gets incredibly dry and it curls up terribly. I don't know if I should cut the ends because last time I cut my hair the hairdresser did it with those razor scissors, I think that made my hair way too frizzy.
I need some advice guys, thanks.
Maybe i'll post a pic later.
It's probably not much help, but you're not alone. I wash my hair about every three to four days, and the day I wash it it's always dryer and frizzier. I use a good dose of leave-in conditioner and some oil when it's nearly dry, and by the next day it's more managable. After that, I only oil it if it feels too dry, and I brush daily to keep the natural oils moving down the hair shaft.
Maybe it's over-simplistic, but I just don't expect my hair to act exactly the same every day and I adjust accordingly.
Mouse
The thing with washing your hair is it gets used to how often you wash it and your scalp also gets used to the amount of oil on it. If you've been washing it daily for years, your scalp will be used to having very little oil on it, so it will itch. You can train it up to a longer interval between washes, and some people get away without washing it at all. It's like Bill said, you reach an equilibrium. Allegedly, that takes about eight weeks without washing it, but I've never been able to leave it more than a week.
I wash mine about twice a week just now using shampoo each time because I find that washing with just water or conditioner leaves my hair looking lank and flat. However, everyone's different, so what works for me may not work for you. Experiment and find what suits you best.
Off on a slight tangent, my granny had about four feet of hair which she would wash maybe once every three to four weeks. Once a week, she would comb through a hair tonic. Her hair was in excellent condition. I know because I used to have to help her comb it. She had no trouble with split ends and her hair had a lovely sheen to it.
I think that these days, we're obsessed with washing everything too often. Shampooing strips the natural oils out of the hair so we have to apply conditioner. Who tells us to wash so often? Shampoo manufactuers. Who makes the conditioner? It's down to marketing.