the great shampoo debate! how to wash your hair less

Washing your hair has kinda recently become a topic of debate among ~beauty experts~. Condition before or after shampoo? How much washing is too much washing?

Confession: For most of my life I've been one of those people who washes their hair every single day. Shocked gasp. But that had to change when I started dyeing my hair, because hair dye and shampoo are not friends.

Now I condition my hair every day and shampoo it about every other day. Sometimes a little more or less often depending on how my hair's doing. I know that's not that crazy. There are plenty of people who wash their hair like twice a week, and good for them. But my hair is just not quite ready for that.

So, how do you start washing your hair less without looking like a greasy mess?

suffer

Joking! Kinda. Not really.

Sorry, but when you start washing your hair less, you're gonna almost definitely go through a greasy period. Your scalp is used to producing enough oil to deal with your shampoo removing it all every day (or however often you normally wash your hair), and it's gonna keep producing all that oil for a while after you stop shampooing as often. Power through, though, and your scalp will chill out and adjust its oil production in a couple weeks or so.

dry shampoo is your friend

Seriously, if you don't already have some, get some. This is what keeps you looking like a human who bathes regularly during that oil adjustment period. I've been using this organic dry shampoo from Captain Blankenship and loving it, but you can diy some with cornstarch, arrowroot powder, or baby powder.

keep conditioning

When I shower on days I'm not using shampoo, I wet my hair and massage it to spread the oils around a bit and then follow up with a conditioner. Even if you're not washing your hair every day you should still be conditioning it. First: conditioner is good for your hair. Second: most conditioners have some cleaning properties, so it can help manage your hair's greasiness a little bit.

My hair is blonde right now, so I'm using Shimmer Lights purple conditioner. I'm thinking about trying LUSH's purple conditioner bar. I really like the LUSH shampoo bar I bought, but I've never tried their conditioners. If any of you have, let me know!

So, that's it! Cutting back on shampooing is actually pretty simple. You just need a little determination (and a lot of dry shampoo) to make it through the greasy stage. Then you can enjoy  your healthier hair.