No {sham}poo. Has any one else tried it?

I have found a balance of being able to go at least 7-8 days between washes and only shampoo with no parabens or sulphates. I condition with no silicone. I don’t buy expense, have just managed to find high street products. My hair has never been so healthy or manageable and it was very hard to manage. Only greasey looking days is perhaps the last day but if I’m doing minimal styling I have been able to stretch it to 10 days without it looking oily.

When I worked I washed my hair every day. Since I retired I wash it most days, but missed now and then. Since lockdown I am washing it less often. at first partly to try to keep the colour, now just because I have got lazy I guess. It doesn’t seem to make any difference. It is not greasy or smelly. It is like not wearing make up. Nobody is going to see me.

I used only water to wash my hair for a long time, probably a couple of years.
It definitely didn't smell.
When I started using shampoo or shower gel again, tho, it felt softer and looked less 'tufty' (it's short).

Much depends on your hair type.

I wash my hair every other day. Occasionally, I do it two days running but, if I do it too often, it gets flyaway and doesn't look good.

Reporting back after six weeks: I washed my hair yesterday for the first time in 6 weeks, using a shampoo bar from Lush. My hair's been looking good, easy to style and not 'shampoo-shiny' but with the gloss you see on a healthy dog or horse! I think I'll continue to wash it, but less frequently and using a very mild shampoo - more research needed here. It's all been perfectly possible except for when it's wet. It felt horribly 'claggy' then and I had to resist putting a hand out for the shampoo bottle. When dry, it felt soft, never itchy and no dandruff.

Interesting Daisy. Why have you decided to wash your hair less frequently rather than just carry on using just water?

Why would anyone not wash their hair? With sweat, cooking smells, pollution, I think it's important to keep hair clean, which I don't believe can be achieved with water alone. I wash mine every morning, and on the odd occasion I leave it for a day, it feels horrible.

Reporting back after six weeks: I washed my hair yesterday for the first time in 6 weeks, using a shampoo bar from Lush. My hair's been looking good, easy to style and not 'shampoo-shiny' but with the gloss you see on a healthy dog or horse! I think I'll continue to wash it, but less frequently and using a very mild shampoo - more research needed here. It's all been perfectly possible except for when it's wet. It felt horribly 'claggy' then and I had to resist putting a hand out for the shampoo bottle. When dry, it felt soft, never itchy and no dandruff.

I tried not washing hair when I was young for a while, but soon got fed up as it looked lank, it's very straight.

Logically hair condition is dependant on hair follicles under skin, as hair seen on the head is dead. General health, diet, aging, and genes probably have the most influence on hair condition.

Washing hair just removes dirt, and conditioner coats the hair with an oil/waxy substance, but intrinsically doesn't alter the hair itself.

Not washing may make scalp feel better if inclined to be dry, but conversely can be uncomfortable if greasy. If oil not removed from scalp regularly perhaps it makes the hair slightly more oily/glossy looking?

I have seen several articles on this over the years. And Susannah Constatntine recently did an article on her
"lockdown hair experiment"

The link is below
www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8341177/Why-stopped-washing-hair-never-looked-better.html

Gosh! I remember the original thread. Have I been on here that long?
At one stage in his teens my DS had dreadlocks. He didn’t wash his hair. It looked reasonable and didn’t smell

I shower every day because it makes me feel fresh and bright and starts my day not because I m dirty It certainly hasn’t spoiled my skin which is pretty good for my age I never use any creams or potions on my skin it’s nice and pliable maybe
I m just lucky my Dad has a lovely skin with barely any wrinkles at 92 everyone thought he was in his 70 s

If you are happy with your hair after 6 weeks Daisy is that what you will always do or will you just keep going until it feels not good to you

Sparkling I'm sure it doesn't smell unpleasant. I can test this mostly by rubbing my fingers over my scalp and through my hair. It seems that many people's hair has benefited by not being washed for at least 6 weeks. Boheminan I'll report back at the end of the 6 weeks!
I shower twice a week. I can't see the necessity of showering every day under normal circumstances. Details of my everyday washing routine available on request!

Daisyanswerdo. I admire you for trying this ecologically sound experiment. As a child in the 50's all members of my family bathed and hair washed once a week. My mum was known for her beautiful shiny locks and my hair was in good condition. I now wash my hair every 3 days (coming down from every day) and it does feel in better condition than previously. There are hair sprays now that act as hair perfumes (Lush does a great one). I'd be interested to hear in a couple of weeks how you get along

I wash mine once a week but run it thoroughly under the shower in between times. I couldn't bear the thought or smell of dirty hair. The rare time when it's gone over a week, the greatest joy is getting clean under the shower. I do feel this obsession of showering once or twice a day is not good for your skin, taking the natural oils out. Can I ask why you would want to not wash it for 6 weeks, it must smell by now.

I personally feel dirty if I don’t wash my hair and my body each day I don’t understand how anyone would want to go a month sorry daisy I know it can be done but I can see why you would want to ..... I have smelt unwashed hair

if your hair doesn’t need washing for a month why does your body ?

Anyone remember that tv series 'Living in the past'? The participants used mud to cleanse their hair. They said it was messy but left their hair in wonderful condition.

I tried it not so long ago and I wen on for about 3 weeks. I was fine as I usually wear a bun or a braid and for me it looked okay. Then one day my DGD sent me a bunch of my pictures, they were heavily edited and I had longish and bushy red hair. I asked her about it and she laughed, telling me that she just tries photo editing in some program she read about and she decided to practice on me because my hair looked so sleek and even flat that she "didn't have to ask me to put them under the bandana to make her practice possible". After that I gave up ditching washing, haha!
So yeah, my results of that look like this: my hair looked flat, I read the article my DGD told me about, I tried to learn this program. Not exactly the result I wanted, but still alright . I was a little bit offended that she tried to make be look better, because that means I look really bad .

I have psoriasis on my scalp (and everywhere else), so not washing isn't an option but I use olive oil soap which is just that, solidified olive oil only, used across the Middle East and Mediterranean. There are many eco-soaps around but most still contain lye - this doesn't.

I have very dry flyaway grey hair which I used to wash every other day. I once tried wetting hair, conditioning, leaving on and then rinsing off and shampooing. Apparently most people never rinse their conditioner out thoroughly enough. It was okay, but after I while, I felt my hair got ever drier. However, since lockdown and all the articles about not washing it as often, I've taken to washing it every 5 days. I must admit, it's not as flyaway, doesn't smell and feels nicer. It's also a lot quicker in the shower. I suppose not having greasy hair makes a huge difference. My OH has greasy hair and if he doesn't wash it for a few days, it smells horrible.

No, PinkCakes, no disability or mobility problems - thanks for asking. I think everyone who's tried this says it is difficult for the first 3 or 4 weeks but if you can stand it, the scalp then starts to adjust, as geekesse says. I do run hot water through it of course, and as it happens, I finish my shower with cold water, but I expect this will only convince everyone that I'm some kind of freak. It might affect my hair - I don't know. My hair today feels soft, not greasy, looks good and as for whether it smells - I live alone so can't be sure, but it's ok for me to live with! It's much less itchy than it used to be, that's certain.

I always remember years ago, Bob Geldolf saying he followed this practice. Saw him on t.v. recently, he was not an advert for this method!

I don’t use shampoo and only co-wash once a week. My hair can go about 10 days before it starts to look in need of a wash. If you gradually extend the gap between washes, your scalp adjusts. It took me about a month to go from daily washing to weekly washing. When I used shampoo and washed more often, I had itchy, flaky skin on my head and perpetual mild dandruff. Now I have no dandruff, and strong, glossy hair (though the colour of a Brillo pad, alas!).

(I should add I do wash every day - just not all over, if you get my meaning!)

My skin is now very dry. I think it used up all the oil allowance is my first 50 years. The doctor advised only showering once a week, I compromise with every four or maybe five days. My skin has definitely improved, and my hair also. But my hair looks suddenly awful after five days.