Hair washing

I tried washing my dog today -she followed me into the shower, and she was a bit smelly. I usually use a dog shampoo bar, but today I just used water. I’ll see what she smell like later.

I’m reminded of a lovely lady I used to work with who loved to tell everyone that she was very lucky as the never perspired. ‘I have a shower every day but I never need to use deodorant’ she’d tell us . She was a very nice person but wow did she smell on hot days!

My elderly mother always had her hair washed, set, permed and coloured regularly by home hairdresser. Since rapid decline 4 months ago she has been bed bound at home on end of life care. She is a death’s door, and looks it but her hair ironically looks really healthy and lovely for not being washed, and without chemicals and detergents (shampoo) for months, despite her condition, and doesn’t smell at all!

My hair is still quite thick and grows very quickly needing to be trimmed every two weeks. Since I cannot be able to shower by myself, my help washes my hair with an olive oil no chemical shampoo and shower with a mild soap once a week. Other days a strip wash with mild soap. I use Vitapoint leave in conditioner when hair is dry.
I don’t think it is necessary to shower every day anyway unless you have a dirty job or sweat a lot. I always wash my bottom after going to the toilet as I don’t think wiping with paper is effective.

No, I don't want to be remembered by my grandchildren as the smelly Granny.

In the 90s a young local hairdresser undertook a trial of not washing her hair. It wasn't trrribly long but it was quite thick. Once her hair got greasy she wore it under a turban at work. At six weeks she unveiled her beautiful soft shiny hair, in terrific condition. Of course all the young folk wanted to try the same. One point I recall is that she started with clean shampooed hair with no hairspray or lotions of any kind on it. Didn't fancy it myself, couldn't go to work in a turban!

Gwenisgreat1

I buy shampoo in a soap bar. Very little is needed for the desired effect, and I love it! Unfortunately couldn't get conditioner in a soap bar - it's in a plastic bottle.

I use shampoo and conditioner bars. KinKind do both in different formulations for different hair types. They’re every bit as effective as liquid products and better for the environment. A bit more expensive than bottled but they last a lot longer.

Neither do I NotSpaghetti and resent the implication that I smell because I only wash my hair with warm water. It doesn't matter how much I explain the chemistry.

Mollygo Does it? Parabens in English are chemicals which can disrupt hormones, harm fertility and reproductive organs, affect birth outcomes, and increase the risk of cancer.

Seriously, and I mean this, there was a recent discussion about those who suffer debilitating menopauses and those who don't. There doesn't seem any pattern to it and I said I'd like to see longitudinal studies carried to see what other factors are at play.

We live in a unprecedented chemical world using far more than our mothers or grandmothers did. Why do so many women struggle with fertility? Why are so many children born with disabilities? Why is there so much cancer?

I have lost so many female friends to cancer in their 40s and 50s? Was it just bad luck - without exception all had parents who lived into their 80s and 90s - or could it be to do with all the chemical products we are persuaded to use by the advertising industry? The media constantly bombards us with adverts for hair products.

My dearest friend who died in her 50s asked her oncologist: Why me? His reply? That babyboomers have had a lifetime of exposure to chemicals, both wittingly and unwittingly. He called it "toxic insult". There is only so much I can control but I do what I can to reduce the toxic insult to my own body.

I've not done that but I do generally only wash My hair once a week and use Dry shampoo in between ...I try to preserve My hair colour ?

I buy shampoo in a soap bar. Very little is needed for the desired effect, and I love it! Unfortunately couldn't get conditioner in a soap bar - it's in a plastic bottle.

This reminds me of a BTCV holiday my husband went on, dry stone walling in Chester. One of the volunteers never washed her hair at all, and often mentioned it, saying that after several months it was 'self cleaning'.

We all took turns to cook the big meal, and just as we were about to tuck into the macaroni cheese she'd made, she shouted 'bon appetit everyone, I hope there isn't a hair in it'. Everyone but everyone on the table laughed in horror!

Forgot to say we all have lovely odour free skin and hair.

I don’t use soap on my skin- except hands after using the toilet and before food prep/ after gardening. A good rub down all over is all I need. My children too. If they have bern playing football and have ground in mud then a a little soap is used. As for hair - I’m curly so I wash one a week then daily in the shower rinse and condition. The children I do shampoo their hair every other day or after swimming.

Yes, I have periodically only washed my hair in lukewarm water. Usually whilst in trekking holidays.

Neither my hair nor my scalp felt dirty, or smelled different, apart from not smelling of shampoo.

I finish up going back to a mild shampoo every time, because I don't care for the feel of my scalp after a month or so without using shampoo. However, I never wash my hair more often than once every week., as I have always been told that daily shampooing is bad for you, your hair and the enviroment.

It’s another personal choice thing. Anyone on here remember ‘rinse your hair with beer’? I use a shampoo with none of the nasties on here. When I retire I guess I could try the no shampoo method-no worry about the settling in period then.
Incidentally in Portugal, Parabéns means congratulations.

Some of us have experienced working/living with people who don't use products on their hair and do not smell - apegirl, GSM and others who have no experience of this, I don't understand why you are quite so scathing about it.
Nobody is expecting anyone to do it if they don't want to. It seems to me ti just be another personal choice.
I worked with my colleague for a year or more before we even discussed it. I don't suppose we would have ever learned about it but a new person joined the team and commented on her "always luscious locks" and asked what she used to keep her hair so lovely...

It might be good for your hair but not so good for your social life - just watch people backing away from the smell of dirty hair.

It's a total myth that not washing your hair is fine and that it somehow cleans itself. It simply doesn't. Why NOT wash it properly? Doesn't it feel fresh and clean? You wash your body with soap (or whatever unguents of choice) so why not your hair?

I have very curly hair and have to use products to stop it looking like candyfloss or a brillo pad. They don't wash out with just warm water. I have tried different regimes but have have returned to a gentle 'natural' shampoo. I guess it really depends on your hair type.

No I like my hair to smell nice so every day in the shower it gets a wash

There is a transition period icanhandthenback not dissimilar say to when skin condition improves for people switching from a poor, greasy diet to a healthy one. Except with hair it takes longer. Easier if hair is short.

It’s often occurred to me that you hardly ever see dandruff on shoulders any more, though it used to be fairly common.

It must surely be down to people washing their hair that much more often, and I’m sure they don’t all use Head and Shoulders.

For those of us who have eczema on our scalps, one of the best solutions is not to wash your hair. I was given that solution by a medical specialist but have never found a period of time where I didn't need my hair to look good so I have always ended up washing it.
There are other areas of your body, some intimate places, where you shouldn't be using soaps but we all do.

I have naturally curly hair and use shampoo with no sulphate’s parabens or other nasties.

Wash my hair once a week, then on other days I wet hair, apply conditioner and rinse.

Even if you don’t have curly hair it’s a good idea to use gentle products, as most shampoo have the same ingredients as washing up liquid.

I love the noughty range.

lovenoughty.co.uk

Sweat has no odour. It's only when sweat encounters bacteria on the skin that a smell can emerge. Sebum is similar. Only those with a hypersensitivity to smell can detect it c/f the nurse in Scotland who can detect a change in the smell of sebum in people with Parkinson’s. We know that dogs are being used to early-detect illness in people via smell. In that respect, stripping sebum and masking natural body smell smells with chemicals could hinder detection.

The only products I use are a natural soap bar to wash my hands and an aluminum-free natural deodorant for underarms. Otherwise, I just wash my body and hair in warm water. The people here knocking unshampooed hair seem to be those who haven’t tried it and are reluctant to try it which is hardly scientific. The fewer products I use on my body and the less grey water I dump into the drainage system is a sensible, healthy and environmentally sound choice for me.