One day…? Two days? Three days?? Four?!
My max is three days.
Or four. Sometimes I can do four as long as I haven’t worked out.
Buuuut, the longest I’ve ever gone was five days, and that was pretty rough. I had a really killer blowout, and I wanted to get as much milage out of it as I could.
I remember my scalp feeling really greasy on the fifth day… I almost went through an entire bottle of dry shampoo. 🙂
How about you? What’s the longest you can (happily) go without washing your hair?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I recently went 5 days (!!) without washing my hair. That’s the longest I’ve ever, ever gone – and without dry shampoo, I’m a mess on day 2. So 🙂 that was a new experience for me, lol! I typically go three days, sometimes four, without washing my hair. I’ve been getting a lot more mileage out of my ‘do with the non-aerosol dry shampoos by Blow Pro and Klorane. I’m hella in love with them! Instead of brushing them out, I’ll blow dry them out – I think it looks more natural, and doesn’t turn my hair into a huge static-y ball.
I’ll see your 5 (!!) and raise you 9 (!!!!!!)
I’d dyed my hair white-blonde one or two washes previously and my hair was basically so dry I got away with just leaving it until day 5 or so, then daily dry shampoo (Batiste) until I caved. It was zero degrees and we’d just turned our heating off to save money so I couldn’t bear to get my head wet.
Love that lip color on you! I usually wash every week but the max for me is two weeks. I can’t go too long without washing or my hair gets all itchy and smelly. So gross!
3 days I think. My hair doesn’t get greasy so I could probably go even 4 but by then my hair is usually flat so if I am going to be seen by the outside world, I definitely need to wash it. Until then, dry shampoo helps!
I have a big bush of dry, curly hair. I normally wash it every 3-4 days due to working out, but I can easily go a week. It doesn’t get greasy ever.
Ugh, I can barely make it a day. It gets oily at the roots. Plus I work out a lot and simply rinsing out the sweat doesn’t cut it at all!
Lately, I’ve been only fully washing (as in shampoo and conditioning my whole head) once or twice a week. The other days I either just rinse my hair with water, or put a little bit of shampoo just on my bangs and top of my head when it’s feeling particularly greasy.
Seems to be working pretty well for me!
Usually about 2, 3 days is the max. I can’t stand that greasy feeling.
I don’t find anything more intolerable than greasy dirty hair! I have no 2 or 3 day rule, I wash it as soon as it gets dirty!
I would say 2 days before it starts to get unpleasant. I have oily hair and dandruff issues, so I try to wash every other day. I can stretch to 4 days if I use dry shampoo.
If I am sick I can last 8 days, I wash my hair once a week cause is falling too much
Around 4 days before it starts to look dirty. I was up to a week, but I noticed towards the end I started to feel like a grease ball. My sister in law is a hairdresser and she does a week and looks great. She told me the key is brushing a lot, to make sure the oils are distributed evenly.
I can go 1 week to 2 weeks without washing my hair. But I am African American and we don’t produce oils on the scalp naturally. In fact unless we buy and put oils on our hair it gets extremely brittle and falls out. It also gets worse in dry climates. And when living in a dry climate like I do, I have to put oil on my hair every 3 days.
1 day, really. I have seborrheic dermatitis (adult version of cradle cap – aka greasy dandruff that doesn’t flake off, ugh) and it’s much worse if I skip any days washing.
I have to wash every day. Greasy hair completely grosses me out.
With a really good blowout, I can make it to day 4. Otherwise, I shampoo every other day and this seems to keep my hair in balance. My hair is fine textured, and it gets mashed down from sleep. I’ve read conflicting information about scalp health and shampooing. I think we can all agree there’s no one-size-fits-all rule. Knowing my hair type and scalp behavior, I don’t think my hair would grow as well if I consistently went several days in between shampoos. A clean, balanced scalp promotes healthy hair growth.
Two days, but that’s it. I have a rather oily scalp. When I was on roaccutane I could stretch it to four though. Good times…
Long weeks in the field camping with no running water and working in dirt meant the longest I’ve gone was technically a week if you count lathering some environmentally friendly soap and running some river water over it. A few weeks if you don’t count that 😛 fortunately I don’t have super oily hair and a french braid really saves the day. When I’m in civilization I think 3-4 days is my absolute max. Haha now I feel like a dirty fiend.
1 day, and I regret nothing. I cannot do dry shampoo. It makes my (dark) hair look gray and/or like I have dandruff and it makes my scalp itch. It doesn’t matter how much I brush my hair after applying it. And my hair just lays there, plastered to my head, looking greasy even though I used dry shampoo. People can insist washing your hair every day is bad for your hair all they want, but I will always wash it every day, and I’ve never heard a negative word about my hair from a stylist.
I have such dry hair and scalp I wash once a week even though I work out every day! On off days I don’t even rinse it, and it’s rare I use dry shampoo on the last day or so. My hairdresser LOVES it 🙂
I can easily go a week but I like to wash my hair every 3-4 days optimally. I have fine, color treated hair so if I don’t use too much product I can get a longer period of time before it drives me batty.
If I do a special style with product and spray, I might get 3 days but product definitely makes my hair heavier and I think product attracts dirt.
I wash my hair every day and feel I must. A bit TMI but my hair doesn’t feel clean to me otherwise.
I can go two days max. I’ve not washed it for three if I’m just at home and not going anywhere but I feel so gross!
My hair gets pretty oily quickly, so I end up having to wash my hair about every other day! The longest I’ve gone without washing my hair was eight days, I think, when my parent’s water system at their rural property wasn’t working!
Maximum 4 days… but i’ve never tried dry shampoo!
I have very oily skin and hair, and the longest I can comfortably go between shampoos is about two days.
[Warning, Grossness Straight Ahead:]
In 2001, I was in the hospital for an extended time due to a major illness, and since I was bed-ridden at the time, all I got in the way of personal cleaning were sponge baths. I’m not sure how long I went without having my hair washed, but it was long enough so that my hair actually began to SMELL BAD. Yes, hair CAN get that nasty, if left to its own devices! It’s been nowhere near that dirty since then, thank God, but, as long as I live, I don’t think I’ll EVER not savor the feel and scent of my own freshly-washed hair.
At the moment 2 days. Before I cut it I could do 3 days. But that’s the maximum. After 2 days it gets greasy and my scalp gets itchy and all. And if I walk in the rain I have to wash my hair as well. The rain makes it all itchy and I need to give it a wash..
Okay for some reason even thinking about all this makes my head itchy..
I have to wash it every day! My hair is VERY fine and it looks super greasy (even though it isn’t) if I don’t wash daily.
Me too!!! I read all about how you’re not supposed to wash every day but it just doesn’t work! I’m so much happier with clean hair.
I usually skip two days and wash it on the third. Bare minimum I go every other day. I think I’ve partly trained it to go longer (thanks to dry shampoo, Dove is my current fave), and partly my skin and scalp are drier now that I’ve passed the 30 mark. 🙂 And having long hair that I can put up to hide any bedhead kinks helps!
I tend to go 4-5 without washing it if I’m doing a multi-day backcountry hike, but then it’s bundled up under a hat/balaclava or something, so I don’t really notice. Special circumstances!
If I don’t go out or do much, I can stretch it to two or three days, but I hate the way it looks/feels, and I start to get spots.
Normally I wash it every other day!
I’m like you, I usually go 3-4 days but I have been known to go 5 days on occasion. 🙂
My hair gets too dry and damaged if I wash it too often. I wash and deep condition every other week unless I have major product buildup. Occasionally I’ll use dry shampoo but it gives my hair a dry texture.
I love that lipstick Karen!!!
FIVE days on average. Have really fine curly hair. No problem with oily scalp. Crazy I know! 🙂
The most I probably did was three days, but 2 is the most I stretch it on a regular basis. My hair is probably of average oiliness, but dry shampoos do NOTHING to help it on the second day.
Two days is my absolute limit. I have fine hair, and around the 36-hour mark it starts looking like I haven’t washed it in a week. And since I have a pixie cut, I can’t just put it up!
I can go to upto 3 days feeling okay but the 4th day my scalp feels really filthy and I have to wash!
2 days max! Yeah I have a very short tolerance level when it comes to unwashed hair (on me that is )!
I have to wash my hair on daily basis, my scalp is very grease, I should eat less cheese and grease food in general, I’m bad
As an AA, especially with natural hair, I can go up to a month without washing because I wear “protective styles.” Styles that I put my hair into to prevent having to do it daily. These styles also protect my hair from damage from daily wear & tear. Otherwise, I wash my hair once a week. Or maybe once every two weeks- depends on my mood. And my hair’s mood. Haha
I wash mine everyday. I WISH that I could skip a day or days,but I can’t because I feel itchy. I love the fresh shampoo smell anyway!
When I have a psoriasis outbreak, every day (otherwise I get the lovely psoriasis smell that gets worse with less washes). Otherwise, I typically go 2 to 3 days without a wash. I’ve gone as much as a week, and French braids and ponytails are a lifesaver. I have dry shampoo but I don’t use it all the time.
Its usually 2-3 days but I can go for 4 if i am really worked up and yes 5 at times too.. but that day my hair feels like a dirty mop… 😛
I regularly go a week or a week and a half between washes…I have really long curly hair so I usually wash my hair and then don’t touch it after that. After a week it gets too tangled to deal with so I brush it out and wear it in a braid. When I’m really lazy I can go 2 weeks without washing it, but that’s pushing it. Recently I went 3 weeks without washing it and even though it was sorta greasy and dandruff-y I felt so lazy I could have kept going without washing it (but I didn’t because that’s gross).
…Although if by “washing”, you mean “shampooing”, I’ve gone the better part of 5 or 6 years without it. The secret is to wash your hair with conditioner as if it was shampoo, like rubbing it into your scalp and stuff. It washes off the oil and dirt and moisturizes your scalp so that your hair gets less oily less often.
2-3 day’s! My hair is very fine and gets oily! Can’t stand putting my head on my pillow otherwise…usually 2! Thats about all I can stand!!!
I wash everyday, I’m paranoid about smelly hair. Every so often I’m out and about and I get a whiff of funky hair smell when someone walks by. I worry I wouldn’t smell my own funky hair smell, plus I like the way my hair looks first thing in the morning after I shampoo.
I wash my hair every other day. I can go for 3 days with dry shampoo but I can’t stand with the feeling of greasy hair.
Certified member of the dirty bird club. I’ve gone nearly 14 days before. But I also have an extreme amount of dry hair – so …. In a normal week it depends on how much hair I’m sporting. At the moment it’s short so maybe wash twice a week to help the color. What I usually end up doing is once a week (I am a master of maintaining blow-outs etc)
I can go up to 5 days without washing my hair, it’s curly and very dry so it’s not a problem for me. But I practice co-washing which is a lot more healthy for my hair <3
Cindy’s Little Black Book
no more than 3 days
I will routinely try only wash my hair once per week ! It’s long, blonde, thick, and tends to be on the dry side. I put it up in a ‘sock bun’ every night. It’s never looked and felt healthier ! I don’t use hairspray, or other ‘styling products’ except a really good shampoo and conditioner when I do wash it. The only other thing I add to it occasionally is the new Aveda oil, and only on the very ends…
I guess we need to define washing? Sometimes I co-wash or no-poo wash with ACV. I’d say 3 days usually, but if I’ve really worked up a sweat, I’ll do co-wash or no-poo if I have to double up the showers. With a good dry shampoo I can get maybe 4 days.
I’ve superdry hair, so I wash it once a week
I used to wash it every 2 days but my hair dresser said hold off one more day ! I can last one week but I hate it !
Michele
I try to wash weekly, but the longest I can go is a week and half.
strangely, if i’ve in in the ocean multiple days, the last washing can be as far as 6 days. the scalp and hair just feel extra super duper clean.
Longest I’ve gone (which sounds entirely GROSS to most) is 3 weeks, or 21 days…sounds like something a pig would do, but the natural oils actually really helped make my hair shinier after I washed it!