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I hear alot around here that you shouldn't wash your hair everyday. But when I had short hair I just kinda did, and that got me into the habit of it. Whenever I dont shower every day, my hair gets pretty greasy fast. Which I suppose is just because my body's oil's are so out of wack due to years of over-washing. How often should I shoot for in terms of washing my hair weekly? Has anyone experienced this similar thing, when they decided to take better care of their hair and noticed there was like, a transition period? Or am I just unlucky and have an overly greasy scalp?
Thanks for any advice. :)
This is one of those things that you kind of have to explore on your own, trying out how long you can tolerate dirty greasy hair between shampooing days. When I was younger, my hair seemed greasier (as well as occasionally some dandruff). Now that I'm an old geezer, neither grease nor dandruff are usually too much of a problem (especially the dandruff is long gone).
Everybody's hair is different, and everybody's scalp is different -- as well as whatever your job, your physical activities (like sports & hobbies), etc. are all different.
It's true that you eventually find out that there's LESS need to shampoo long hair as often as short; but again, this is in proportion to how long your hair is.
When my hair was much shorter, I had to shampoo every other day. As I grew my hair out the first time (when I was in my late 30s and into my 40s), I eventually cut back to shampooing & conditioning about every third day, sometimes even going for as long as every 4th day.
Nowadays I try to do a thorough shampooing only about once a week -- although I sometimes do Water Wash Only or Conditioner Only washes in-between.
It's all a matter of how you feel your hair looks and feels its best -- and whether or not you're getting any complaints from friends and/or relatives that your hair could fry an egg and also smells like last week's onion omelette (LOL)....
Hope that helps!
- Ken in San Francisco
Just find out what works for you, try washing your hair with shampoo every other day, and even if it seems greasy on one day just keep it up for a month or so and see if it is working out better, than you can try maybe going 3 days, just see how far you can go gradually. Good Luck!
I water washed when I had shorter hair and it was fine. Now that it's long, I have to shampoo it every day or it's really nasty. I tried for a whole year to minimize shampooing, but it didn't work. On the plus side, the oily skin that comes with the greasy hair makes me look ten years younger than most people my age.
Everyone has a difference in how oily or dry their scalp becomes and the frequency needed for washing it.
I too have a naturally oily scalp but have found that with longer hair the oil buildup is less concentrated as it once was with shorter hair mainly because shorter hair has less length then the longer hair which allows the oil to travel down the hair away from the scalp further.
As a result of longer hair the need for washing is less frequent and only wash when your scalp gets really itchy.
Duncan
I forgot to add.....
Another cause of excessive oiliness can be from eating a high cholestrol diet high in fat - from my own experience I have found eating less fatty things and more greens does make a difference in noticeably reducing oily scalp.
Duncan