Extending the Life of Your Hairstyle

I promised my friend Rebekah I'd write about this many moons ago. Last January I was perusing some of my fav blogs when I found this article called "Going poo-free" (as in no shampoo ever again). I also let a friend/hairstylist cut my hair.* She told me she washed her hair once or twice a week. I talked about it with another friend who's mom washes her hair once a week (I think), and uses a specific product for her scalp. Here are the tips I heard for going more than one day without washing your hair:

1. If your scalp starts to get oily, lightly sprinkle/rub some baby powder or corn starch in. It absorbs the oil and deters future oil.

2. Spritz roots with hair spray before going to bed; it'll dry up the oil, but your hair won't be stiff in the morning.

3. Rat just the roots. Gives hair lift, so there's less contact with scalp oils, and it doesn't look matted down.

4. Nioxin used once a week to help with the scalp.

5. If you have your hair colored or highlighted, you shouldn't wash as often anyway; coloring dries out the hair.


So, my story. Starting in January, I began by going every other day without washing my hair. After about two weeks my hair was starting to get used to it. Then I went to every three days. Then, twice a week. And last, I made a big jump to once a week. (I waited a month before making any changes.) For now, once a week is my limit. If I try to go farther than that my scalp itches and I just don't like it. Not that I've seriously tried. I like once a week. Every Saturday morning, I pamper myself a little. I do a face mask; I exfoliate my skin and heels; I wash and spend time styling my hair. I take that one morning where I spend 45 min. or so on me. For a mom, that's a lot.

My routine is this (pics are under the day of the week I took them on):

Sat - Wash and style hair. If I don't style it on wash day, it looks kind of bad the rest of the week.

Sun - Just wake up, put my hair up to shower, and go. No styling necessary, and it's my best hair day.


Mon. - use baby powder at the roots and rat roots. I can wear it down, up, half-up, whatever.

Tues.- Maybe use baby powder, but usually not. I usually start wearing my hair at least halfway up.



Wed.- pony tail or pig tails or back in a hair clip


Thurs - Definitely a pony tail and headband. Almost every week.

Fri - Pony tail, french braid, tight bun, or dork knots. Kind of sucks for my hair to feel it's icky if I'm on a date, but I still prefer Sat as my wash day.

Here are my big pros for this: I spend less time in the shower and save money and water; I feel better about my hair because, overall, it looks much better than when I tried to style it every single day (even my ponytails look better); I use less shampoo. Cons: Sometimes I have an itchy scalp on the last day; my hair doesn't always look nice Wed-Fri, so if I go out on those nights, it's not quite as fun... but hair still looks ok.

Note that I don't use tips 2, 4, or 5. So, there's plenty more you can do, I just don't. Happy hair styling!


*Please note: I have cut my hair since high school with three exceptions by two friends I watched VERY closely before I let them touch my hair. After many many bad experiences, I figured that if I was going to be angry at anyone for my bad haircut, it would be me. And before I let those two ladies cut my hair, I made absolutely sure I'd seen enough that they couldn't disappoint me. So, it took me a long time before I actually heard any of this advice.