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Kate

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Linköping, Sweden
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How often do you wash?
Mar 4^th, 2004 at 4:06pm

Hi all -

I've been making a huge effort to wash my hair only every 3 days, I've found that it lies much better now - and since I also let it air dry I haven't had much problem with frizz. I do rinse my hair every morning with water.

HOWEVER! I've noticed that on the 3rd day, my hair smells! I sit with my hands in my hair a lot and the smell rubs off on my hands, it smells greasy-dirty-nasty and I can't stand it! Does anyone else have this problem and if so what on earth do you do to combat it?

/Kate

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bikerbraid Shooting Star Offline Life is short, Break the rules Posts: 6569 Bike Paths of the Midwest Gender:	Re: How often do you wash? Reply #1 - Mar 4^th, 2004 at 4:43pm I only wash my hair twice a week but have not really noticed any smell to my hair. However, I live and work in a smoke and scent free environment, which might make a difference. What kind of products do you use on your hair? Might they be contributing to the smell? How about your brush?
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Kate

Emerald

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Linköping, Sweden
Gender: female

Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #2 - Mar 4^th, 2004 at 4:59pm

Thanks for the quick reply!

I am also in a non-smokey environment, and most days I don't use anything on my hair. When I do, I use a tiny bit of L'Oreal Liss Control just to keep it manageable.

Also, my hair is quite curly, so I don't use a brush on it more than once or twice a week (I just finger-comb). And I wash my brush often

It's just so annoying that my hair gets this way as soon as it starts to look really good. It doesn't look or feel greasy. Do you think maybe a rinse would help?

/Kate

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bikerbraid

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Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #3 - Mar 4^th, 2004 at 5:19pm

I like to oil the ends of my hair with jojoba oil. I know some people will mix a bit of jojoba oil with distilled water, add a drop or two of a scented oil, shake well and spray lightly on their hair. This helps to control frizz, but can also add a bit of scent.

I'm not sure how long the scent lasts, but it might help.

You also mention rinsing your hair each day. You might try rinsing with distilled water instead of tap water. The distilled water would be less likely to add bacteria or other things that could be creating the smell.

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bikerbraid
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Rapunzel Global Salon Moderator Offline Life is like licking honey from a thorn. Posts: 674 East Nottingham, PA Gender:	Re: How often do you wash? Reply #4 - Mar 4^th, 2004 at 10:57pm You could try brushing just a little cornstarch through your hair as well.
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bikerbraid

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Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #5 - Mar 4^th, 2004 at 11:08pm

Quote:

You could try brushing just a little cornstarch through your hair as well.

Have you tried that? I remember my grandmother talking about doing that, but I have never tried it myself. I am fortunate to not have an oily head and have not felt a need to try it yet. (However, I do admit that sometimes I go a day or so beyond what might be socially acceptable for "clean" hair Shocked

, but I just put my hair in a bun and no one notices Grin

)

Back in the 70's there was a dry shampoo powder that you were supposed to be able to brush through your hair. I always figured it was a cornstarch type product - something that would absorb oils and then be brushed out.

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Christine

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Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #6 - Mar 5^th, 2004 at 4:43am

Hi Kate,

Can you wear your hair either in a braid or a bun? This might keep you from playing with your hair/scalp and thus keep your hair a little cleaner.

I've noticed almost exactly the same thing in myself: if, starting from the day I wash it, I keep it in a braid, it stays very clean for up to three days. (I even go running with a hat and nothing much seems to happen!)

However, if I wear it down for even one day - *especially* at work - then I tend to fidget and play with my hair/scalp a lot, and then my hair gets dirty quite fast.

Hope this helps!
Christine

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Rapunzel Global Salon Moderator Offline Life is like licking honey from a thorn. Posts: 674 East Nottingham, PA Gender:	Re: How often do you wash? Reply #7 - Mar 5^th, 2004 at 8:19am Quote: Have you tried that? Sure! I have oily hair, so I really can't go more than a day or so without at least washing my bangs. If I don't have time and I'm not going anywhere too important, a quick brush of cornstarch works almost as well.
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Kate

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Linköping, Sweden
Gender: female

Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #8 - Mar 8^th, 2004 at 12:07pm

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I suspect my biggest problem is that my hands are in my hair so much - it's still too short to put up so I'm constantly brushing it out of my face. Tomorrow will be the third day since washing so I'll try the cornstarch thingy tomorrow. I might try a chamomille rinse as well and see if it makes a difference (I've done it before but I never felt like I could smell the chamomille).

I thought I might work my way up to the conditioner-only wash as well. Do you wash with conditioner every day, or only every few days (using plain water the rest of the time)? And can you use any type of conditioner or are there specific ingredients to look for?

/Kate

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eifelwitch

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Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #9 - Mar 25^th, 2004 at 6:23am

dear kate,
I do the washing with conditioner only for about 3 month now, in the beginning I washed with Conditioner every second day now I am down to twice a week. On the days you just rinse with water, try rinsing with conditioner instead just water. I feel it cleans and smells better. The first two weeks it took my hair to adjust and the roots felt a little stiff or oily but it went away after a while. I hope this helps.

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Kate

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Linköping, Sweden
Gender: female

Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #10 - Mar 25^th, 2004 at 10:55am

I thought I'd better write an update of what I've been doing so you don't think I gave up and shaved my head (which is sometimes quite tempting).

I tried using cornstarch, but first I couldn't stop laughing because I looked like something from the 1700s, and I didn't think it helped too much anyway. Maybe I didn't brush/rinse enough out, because my hair felt dull afterwards.

I've also been trying to use only conditioner for every other wash, meaning that I use shampoo about once every 5-7 days. My hair feels quite dull and somewhat stringy doing this as well but it might be that I just have to get used to it like you said, eifelwitch. Is there any special sort of conditioner you're supposed to use?

I've started pinning my hair up on the sides, which keeps my hands out of my hair, so I haven't noticed any smelly hair lately!

/Kate

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strawberryfine Emerald Offline I love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 415 US Gender:	Re: How often do you wash? Reply #11 - Aug 13^th, 2004 at 4:52pm Hi Everyone, I am sooooo confused. I've done the CO washes since April 04, but every third week I shampoo my scalp. My question is this: My hair is fine and oily- would I be better off with CWC than CO? And HOW OFTEN? Anyone else with oily fine hair got any kind of tips for me, please------ strawberryfine
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Kate

Emerald

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Posts: 328
Linköping, Sweden
Gender: female

Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #12 - Aug 13^th, 2004 at 6:26pm

Hi strawberryfine,

Nowadays I do CO only - it did take my hair quite a while to adjust, but my hair is definitely happier away from shampoo. During the adjustment period my hair was oily, so I CO'ed every other day. Now I try to go 3 or 4 days between washes.

If you CO, and feel that your hair isn't getting clean, why don't you try using shampoo every other time or so? If your hair feels dry at any time, put some oil on the ends or do a deep condition.

I've been reading your posts about CWC vs CO and to be honest it sounds like CWC is a waste of time and product. If your scalp is getting greasy you can always do a scalp wash, but in my limited experience CO does a great job of actually *cleaning.* If you have to, you can CO every day.

Maybe you just need an adjustment period to teach your scalp to produce less oil?

Good luck,

/Kate

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leia

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Posts: 745
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Gender: female

Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #13 - Aug 14^th, 2004 at 12:13am

Hi Kate,

I wash once a week. What you could try doing is if your scalp gets greasy and you don't want to wash the length is putting your hair up (maybe in a braid or loose bun) and just washing the scalp.

For the smell, try misting your hair with distilled water that has some EO's in it for scent (and maybe a few drops of a carrier oil too for a little extra moisture.) HTH!

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Kate

Emerald

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Posts: 328
Linköping, Sweden
Gender: female

Re: How often do you wash?
Reply #14 - Aug 14^th, 2004 at 4:55pm

Hi Leia,

My hair is too short for me to do a scalp wash, and I CO so I figure that it doesn't hurt my hair to wash a little more often than I would like (once a week is my goal).

The smell problem is long gone. I only got that back when I first started trying to reduce my wash frequency. I had previously been washing every single day, and my scalp produced oils like crazy when I suddenly went to every 3 days!

/Kate

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