I’m probably the worst person in the world when it comes to hair care. It seems like I go a solid 12 hours after washing before my hair is greasy again. Although my hair is greasy, my scalp is also extremely dry. Every time I go to the hairdressers they say “Do you know your scalp is really dry?” and I go “Yep!” before they recommend some expensive products I’ve already tried a thousand times to no avail.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’ve tried about every kind of shampoo in the drug store, from “clarifying,” to “tea tree,” and of course, the classic Head and Shoulders. I’ve never been great at beauty, to begin with, but I feel like in the last 23 years I should have a better understanding of how to take care of my hair.
What I’ve gathered in my own research is that the more you wash your hair, the greasier it gets. So then you end up in an endless cycle of shampooing and making your hair worse with no end in sight. Some people have decided to forego shampoo altogether to get out of this cycle, in what’s known as the “No Poo” method. Although the No Poo website claims that your hair should reset in 2-6 weeks of no shampooing, I didn’t think that I could just stop washing my hair right away. No Poo recommends using baking soda and apple cider vinegar to cleanse your hair instead of shampooing, but I wasn’t sure I wanted my hair to smell like apple cider vinegar.
I decided to just try going longer without shampooing to see if my hair would begin to reset, and let me tell you, these last few weeks have been rough. I’ve failed pretty much every week by the third morning. I kept telling myself “This week you’ll go three days! You need to go three days to write your article!” So although I could really only make it 48 hours most days, I actually made it 72 hours in the last week, and I’m proud!
For reference: this is my hair 24 hours after washing. I was still annoyed this week because my hair seemed to be greasier than normal after I’ve put it through an inconsistent wash cycle the last few weeks. I used my typical OGX Renewing Argan Oil of Morocco shampoo, which is the best I’ve found so far.
48 Hours
I already felt gross two days after washing, but unlike the other few weeks, I decided to keep pushing through. I started telling everyone what I was doing so that if they thought I looked gross, they’d understand why. My boss said it didn’t look like I hadn’t washed my hair on this day, so I call it a success.
72 Hours
I felt disgusting today, but I think that it was partially in my head. I realize it’s dramatic to be so uncomfortable from three days without washing my hair, but after going from washing once a day, this was a lot. I had to run a bunch of errands, including picking up new glasses, so I couldn’t hide in my room to disguise my hair. I think that going the three days definitely gave me some more confidence though. It showed me that no one really cared if I didn’t wash my hair.
I was fully planning to go a fourth day without washing my hair, but by the time I took a shower, I decided to give in. Three days was much better than the two I had gone before!
I don’t really know if I’ll ever be “No Poo” but I have noticed that my hair is much less greasy even after breaking the one-day washing cycle this month to go two days. I’ve also realized that touching my hair is a big problem. I touch my hair whenever I’m bored, but that makes it even greasier. Of course, I knew this before, but I don’t think I realized just how much I was touching my hair.
The takeaway? Beauty is hard, but I don’t think anyone notices my hair as much as I do. If anything this experience has helped me feel more comfortable not looking my best in public. And hey, maybe one day I’ll be full on “No Poo” and never look back.