If there is one beauty maintenance thing I hate to do, it’s washing my hair. My hair just takes foreveerrr to dry and then you start dealing with those weird nuances of not wanting to sleep on it wet, making the time to blow dry. It’s just all around a chore I dread doing. Which is probably why I started my journey in washing it less often.
I have been a firm believer in washing your hair only once a week for years! It seems so crazy until you actually start to do it.
Why Wash Less
Washing your hair frequently is actually not great for your hair because it strips your hair of the essential oils your body creates that keeps your hair healthy. By washing it less, you are allowing your hair to soak in all the good things it produces on its own and creating happier and healthier hair.
Washing your hair too frequently can damage it by drying it out. Same with above, stripping your hair of these oils can cause breakage to the hair and dryness on your scalp.
What You Can Do
I think the biggest thing is just training your hair to not be washed as often. It sounds silly, but if you are used to fresh and clean hair it can be hard to go longer between washes. The more you start doing it the easier it will be.
If you wash your hair everyday, try to go two days, then three days until you are ideally at one to two hair wash days a week.
There are a few things I recommend to train your hair to go longer between washes. The biggest is dry shampoo! My favorite dry shampoo is all natural (we’re talking cornstarch and lavender) and it’s super gentle to your hair. Be cautious on which dry shampoo you use because some dry shampoos contain chemicals that do more harm to your hair than good! These are the alcohols to look out for: isopropyl alcohol (most common) ethanol, SD alcohol, SD alcohol 40, denatured alcohol, propanol, and propyl alcohol. Not all of these are found in dry shampoos but I thought it would be good to include them all for your reference!
You can also try using a silk pillowcase at night! My hair (and my skin!) have transformed since I started using a silk pillowcase and I will never go back! If your hair gets tangled easily, a silk pillowcase should help alleviate that. This is the one I have and a more affordable option here.
What My Schedule Looks Like
I wanted to share my schedule because the above tips would work for any hair type and my method works for my hair type but might have things you can implement into your routine!
I wash my hair twice a week, once on Fridays so it is fresh for the weekend and once on Sundays or Monday to have it clean for the week!
One thing I like to do is only blow dry my hair once a week. I do this because I don’t love to have too much heat on my hair and try to limit how much I am putting on it. I’ll usually blow it dry on Fridays! On Mondays, I’ll wash it out from the weekend and let it air dry.
Another thing I like to do is not sleep on it wet. Sleeping on my hair wet makes it super knotted and frizzy and even though my hair takes forever to dry, it always looks better than when I sleep on it wet!
Once a month (if I am able to it’s more like every two months) I like to let my hair get super greasy for a week and use no dry shampoo and just let all the oils build up in my hair. I think this allows my hair to have a nice balance and really lets me make the most of those natural oils that are so good for your hair! It’s almost like giving my hair a week to naturally deep condition.
Remember the more you do it the easier it will be!
That’s about it for all my tips! I hope you found this helpful and are able to implement some of these tips into your routine! How many times a week do you wash your hair?!
P.s. These pics were taken during quarantine when my hair was super grown out and I hadn’t washed it in a WEEK! Once your hair is trained, it will shine!
xoxo,
Zoe