Can you really get away with washing your hair only four times in 40 days? That's nearly six weeks! I am telling you it's possible, that there's benefits to your hair health, the environment, and it'll save you time and money!
Also, WELCOME BACK! I took a long break from blog for various reasons but I'm happy to be back and sharing some thoughts, recipes, photos and fun with ya'll again 😃
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| Accidental Matching Coconuts ;) And six days without washing my hair! |
Let me start by explaining that I didn't plan on doing this experiment until I was unknowingly two weeks into it. My friend, Jess, and I planned an outing in Venice and I knew washing my hair, drying it, and then walking around would be a waste of a blow-out and extra heat damage when it would be windy by the beach and ruin it anyway. So I let it go, threw on my Yankee's hat and we were off to Venice. We arrived at Venice Ale House and I introduced Jess to Coconut Sake Bombs (which are exactly like they sound, fresh coconuts, cut open right in front of you and a generous pour of sake on the side to put into said coconut). We cheersed the table next to us since I had asked one of the guys to take a photo of us earlier and now there was a gal sitting with them and I didn't want to be rude so I introduced myself to her. She was so instantly kind and genuine, a rarity in LA, that we got to talking about food, fashion and then hair. She told us how she hadn't washed her hair in over a month but then she got to a point where she couldn't stand it anymore. She explained that you basically wet lather your hair with just water, put in a little leave-in conditioner or condition the ends, rinse and go. You could use dry shampoo between washes but because she left her hair in a bun most of the time, it didn't really matter. And she noticed her hair became healthier, shinier, and it seemed to grow faster. I was in!
My hair is naturally wavy and fine; it holds curl and a style well and for the most part doesn't get oily for a few days. I normally shampoo once every 3-4 days, plan my intense work-outs around my hair washing, and go on with my week. This required me to cut my shampooing to once every 7-10 days; so I did a wet lather intermittently where you get your hair wet, give yourself a little head and scalp massage, then condition the ends with conditioner and you're done. It definitely cut a couple minutes from my showers! We all know more time for all the fun things is worth it!
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| Ten days without a shampoo and waves galore when helping Lauren move! |
I noticed when I styled my hair after that rare shampoo, the style lasted even longer (my hair dried quicker and it was a lot easier to do) it looked healthier, shinier, fuller/volume-wise, and on the days I didn't shampoo it, it still did what it needed to do but I tended to keep it in a bun or went more natural and embraced my waves and curls. Leaving it wavy/curly allowed me to skip the days between shampooing even more because I only had to dampen my hair to reactivate the product I used the first day and on day five, sometimes it looked better than on day two! Before I knew it, I was at 34 days with only four shampoos. And today I hit 40.
Let's look at the known benefits for a second. The more you give your hair and scalp a chance to breathe and cut back on the chemicals and sulfates, the more balanced your hair will be, giving it the opportunity to be in it's best physical shape. You can't eat pizza every day and expect to lose weight (hey, I've tried) and the same goes for your hair. While the sulfates clean your hair and make the shampoo lather, they also strip your hair of the natural oils in it, causing dryness, brittleness, hair-breakage, dullness, and over time a build-up of products. Your hair has a natural growing out period, so pulling back on shampooing will essential re-set or train your hair back to the beginning where it creates the right amount of oil to keep your hair healthy and growing long and strong because it's renewing it's natural oils! It may take a little time to adjust but that's what you're training your scalp to do! You can't run a marathon without training and prep.
I haven't colored my hair even semi-permanently in at least seven years but for those who color their hair, this will help keep your color brighter and lasting longer. Even just using water on it can cause color to fade so the longer you can go between washes will save your color and money because you'll be coloring less! Plus, over-washing can actually aggravate your scalp more since excess oils can cause an itchy or flaky scalp to worsen. I definitely noticed the dryness of my hair and scalp went MAJORLY down the further I got into my 40 days.
Lastly, the less you're washing your hair, even getting it wet, the less shampoo and conditioner you'll be using, meaning you'll be saving money and adding less plastic waste to the environment going through multiple bottles of shampoo every year. And for those of you who don't know me, saving money is my jam!
I know your concern might be what if you work-out, what if your head/hair doesn't smell good between shampoos and I totally get it. I pull my hair into a bun before my work-outs and when I'm done and it's not one of my intense workouts where I actually shampoo or at the very least do the wet lather, I'll just blow dry my hair on a cool/warm setting and when I let it out of the bun, it has a nice wave to it. And scent...I had multiple people compliment me on how great my hair smelled when it had been six days since my last shampoo! And I didn't ask them to smell my hair although it kind of became a game as I was getting closer to hitting 40 days.
You're not going to see results overnight, or even in a week because this process takes time, but perhaps you can cut down from 3-4 shampoo's a week to two, then maybe one, and see where it takes you! I want to hear your thoughts on this! Have you tried the wet lather routine before and did it work for you? What did you like, what didn't you like? Feel free to share your stories in the comments below💓
It's good to be back here with my blog so Welcome Back and thanks for joining me on this adventure again 😘
