What's with the trend of not washing hair everyday?

[Anonymous]

If I washed my hair every time I worked out, it would add basically another hour to my routine and I just don't have that.

[Anonymous]

The total missing link in all of this pearl clutching about not washing hair every day is that your hair adapts to what you do. I had an extended medical issue a year or so ago and I was not able to shower at all, and I had to sponge bath and wash my hair in the sink. I wasn't really well enough to stand and wash it very often, and the first couple of weeks it got so gross between washes (I normally wash every day). But after a month or so, it didn't get gross or oily or smelly at all - I washed it once a week and it looked great. I was very conscious of it so I would have known. Just because you didn't realize that a lot of people don't wash every day doesn't make it bad! Super normal.

Also - we (I assume most of us!) are not teenagers anymore. Your hair does not get as oily as it used to, even if you think it does. I am back to every day and trying hard to skip days when I can because I know it's better for my hair.

[Anonymous]

If our scalps get used to not producing as much oil if we do not wash our hair as often, why does my coworker's hair, which is washed once a week, start to smell bad by Wednesday? By Friday, it is very, very noticeable.
If the scalp is now used to it, why is it noticeably greasy and smelly? By the logic explained here, there should not be any smell, nor should it look dirty.

[Anonymous]

I assume most people responding are white? I am too, but my daughter is mixed white and Black, and there is no way she could or would wash her hair every day.

[Anonymous]

Living in the DMV I wash my hair at least every other day. However, if I spend a lot of times outdoors, I have to wash it that night because for some reason when I'm outside for too long, my hair starts to smell like wet dog. It is really nasty and I don't know why. I've only noticed it living here in the DMV area. I was in California a couple weeks ago and did not have the same problem. Being outside did not make my hair stink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume most people responding are white? I am too, but my daughter is mixed white and Black, and there is no way she could or would wash her hair every day.

Thread specifically states white women's hair and that OP doesn't know anything about hair of other types.

[Anonymous]

My DD has thick, long blond hair and washes it about twice/week. Any more than that and her scalp will dry out. Her hair is beautiful and silky — probably because she doesn’t wash it all the time!

[Anonymous]

I’ve never washed my hair daily, did my mom or my sister, or my daughters. So the hair never got used to be washed daily. The second day it looks exactly the same, and the third day it looks fine in a pony tail.

I literally can’t imagine having the time to wash/dry/style my hair daily! It takes me 45 minutes!

[Anonymous]

My hair is simply amazing when I wash it every day. However, kids …. and it’s tough to get a proper shower every day. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

I have fine straight brown hair. I feel gross if I don't wash it in the morning. Yesterday I went to the pool in the afternoon so I washed it after the pool and didn't wash it this morning. My scalp felt itchy and my hair felt sticky all day.

I think your natural oil production matters. When I was pregnant I think I produced less oil and don't feel this way after missing a morning shampoo.

Oh and washing it daily is not what makes my hair fine. My 5 yo has the exact same hair as I do. She can go a week or more without a shampoo and be fine (though less so in the summer). Her hair is just as fine as mine.

[Anonymous]

Horrible hard water around here and crappier more drying shampoo these days make it impossible to shampoo daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to my hairdresser, and she was appalled that I wash my hair every day. She strongly advised me against it. My DD is also against washing hair all the time.
I remember being a teen with greasy hair and not washing it, and I feel gross just remembering it. I know some of my coworkers do not wash their hair as much, and honestly, if you are close, their hair stinks. Where is this new "hair mantra" coming from?
I am talking about a white woman's hair here. I know that different types of hair need different care, but I know that white women in the U.S., in my circles, used to wash hair every day in the 90s and 2000s.

It's so weird that you're lumping all white women in together, as if we all have the same kind of hair. I'm white and my hair is curly/frizzy/dry. It definitely looks better when I wash it every few days as opposed to every day, which only serves to dry it out. You must have very greasy hair to require washing it every day. It's generally understood that unless your hair is super oily, it's much better not to wash it more than a couple of times a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume most people responding are white? I am too, but my daughter is mixed white and Black, and there is no way she could or would wash her hair every day.

Thread specifically states white women's hair and that OP doesn't know anything about hair of other types.

And she seems to think that all white women have fine, straight, oily hair. We don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to my hairdresser, and she was appalled that I wash my hair every day. She strongly advised me against it. My DD is also against washing hair all the time.
I remember being a teen with greasy hair and not washing it, and I feel gross just remembering it. I know some of my coworkers do not wash their hair as much, and honestly, if you are close, their hair stinks. Where is this new "hair mantra" coming from?
I am talking about a white woman's hair here. I know that different types of hair need different care, but I know that white women in the U.S., in my circles, used to wash hair every day in the 90s and 2000s.

It's so weird that you're lumping all white women in together, as if we all have the same kind of hair. I'm white and my hair is curly/frizzy/dry. It definitely looks better when I wash it every few days as opposed to every day, which only serves to dry it out. You must have very greasy hair to require washing it every day. It's generally understood that unless your hair is super oily, it's much better not to wash it more than a couple of times a week.

Nonsense. OP states white women in the U.S., in my circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to my hairdresser, and she was appalled that I wash my hair every day. She strongly advised me against it. My DD is also against washing hair all the time.
I remember being a teen with greasy hair and not washing it, and I feel gross just remembering it. I know some of my coworkers do not wash their hair as much, and honestly, if you are close, their hair stinks. Where is this new "hair mantra" coming from?
I am talking about a white woman's hair here. I know that different types of hair need different care, but I know that white women in the U.S., in my circles, used to wash hair every day in the 90s and 2000s.

It's so weird that you're lumping all white women in together, as if we all have the same kind of hair. I'm white and my hair is curly/frizzy/dry. It definitely looks better when I wash it every few days as opposed to every day, which only serves to dry it out. You must have very greasy hair to require washing it every day. It's generally understood that unless your hair is super oily, it's much better not to wash it more than a couple of times a week.

Agreed. It's not like there are just two kinds of hair and all white women have one kind and all black women have the other.

I have wavy hair that is prone to frizz. If I wash it daily I can make it look nice by blow drying it straight and curling it or using a flat iron. Every day. Or I can wear it very short and use a ton of product.

But if I want "wash and wear" hair that I can let air dry and will look good with less effort I can't wash it daily. It doesn't look perfect every day but it looks reasonably good (and *great* on the days I do wash it). It's not frizzy and looks healthy and also I can grow it longer so that I can put it up on days where it doesn't look great so I don't have to wear it in a pixie or a short bob.

There is just a broad spectrum of hair in the world and what works for one person might not work for the next.
I find all the pearl clutching on this thread about "dirty" hair ridiculous. Are you rolling around in the mud or visitin sand dunes on a windy day. If the thing that is making your hair "dirty" is just existing and the natural oils and some sweat from your scalp moving into your hair then it is not dirty. Depending on your hair type and your habits it might looke better or worse with more of these natural oils in it. That's it.