Washing my hair has always been my least favorite part of showering! I love the hot water, the clean body, but taking the time to wash my hair, then blow it dry, then style it….well it takes too much time for my liking! So about a year ago I started to slowly train my hair to not need to be washed. In high school I would wash my hair every other day and I did that for most of college too, but then even that was taking up too much time for me. You can train your hair to not need to be washed as much, and today I am sharing how I trained my hair to go 3 weeks without washing it.
MY TIPS FOR TRAINING YOUR HAIR
1. Start Out Slow: You won’t go from one day to 3 weeks just like that, but if you start slowly, you can definitely get there. I would start going every other day, then move to two days, then four, then a week. You will want to do each of these until you feel like your hair is use to it. It won’t take one try, but you’ll have to spend a few weeks only going 4 days in between before you can move on to a week. After you can go a week I would try for 10 days, then 2 weeks, then 17 days, then 3 weeks. After awhile you’ll be able to go longer and longer in between and it won’t take you as long to get there.
(Tentative Schedule: Every Other Day —> Every 2 Days —> Every 4 Days —> Once A Week —> Every 10 Days —> Every 2 Weeks —> Every 17 Days —> Every 3 Weeks)
2. Use The Right Products: If you want to know why I am able to keep my hair so healthy without washing it, I would say it’s because of the products that I use. I make sure to use good, healthy products on my hair in between washing and use high end Shampoo and Conditioners when I finally do wash it. To see all the hair products I use, see my blog post here.
3. Be Strategic in How You Style Your Hair Each Day: I’ve learned that I can go longer between washes or hide my dirty hair depending on how I style my hair each day. Below I’ve created a graphic for how I style my hair each day during my 3 week stretch. Pin the graphic below to help you remember!
HOW I STYLE MY HAIR EACH DAY
Day 1-3: Straight
Day 4-7: Curly and Down
Day 8: Curly and Down with a Side Braid
Day 9: Curly and Down with Bangs Braided and Pulled Back
Day 10-11: Side Braid
Day 12-13: Half Up Ponytail with Curly Hair Down
Day 14-15: Half Up Bun with Curly Hair Down
Day 16-18: Hat (Curly and braid)
Day 19: Low Side Braid
Day 20: High Ponytail
Day 21: Low Ponytail with Bandana Tied Around It
*Optional For Any of The Days After Your First Week: Add A Hat
Straight Hair: Day 1-3
Curly Hair With Hat: Anytime After The First Week
Curly Hair: Day 4-7
Low Side Braid: Day10-11
Curly and Down with Side Braid: Day 8
Straight with a Hat: Anytime During The First Few Days
Half up in a Bun and Curly: Day 14-15
Hopefully these tips are helpful to get you on the path! Please note this took awhile to get to this point and it isn’t always the case depending on the weather or my activity. If I work out super hard during the week I normally only go 2 weeks. If the weather is crazy or humid, then I also can’t go as long. Sometimes although I can go this long, I don’t. This could be because of certain events or I have a day that I can spend the time to actually do my hair. Also the products I use to wash and style my hair have been lifesaving. You can view those products here.
such great styling ideas!
i may need to follow this in my own hair washing schedule 😉
xo, Jensyn
http://www.stripesinbloom.com
Yes girl! Do it! It’s nice knowing what types of styles you can do while your hair isn’t washed!
I wish I could go three weeks! I can only do about 1 right now!
Wow, that’s pretty amazing! The longest I have gone without washing my hair is about 2 weeks. I like that I didn’t have to wash my hair every day but I agree that it takes getting used to. If you are used to washing your hair daily then transition to not washing it for awhile may be painful. Great tips though and thanks to the many ways we can fix our hair, it’s definitely easier to get away with unwashed hair.
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com
Yes you definitely have to get your hair to that point for sure. Most weeks I only go about 2 weeks, but if I want I could totally go longer! Hopefully the ways to style your hair are helpful too! Thanks!
As a hair stylist I am absolutely disgusted by this and sad that you can believe this is healthy. And I know this will be deleted because you don’t handle constructive criticism well. However, this is not healthy at all. Weather you have “trained” your hair, you are allowing the oils and grease to build up at your scalp so much than your hair can’t grow and breath. Allowing the new Hair to grow in brittle and cause breakage, which you can clearly see in your photos. I didn’t know as I was watching your stories a few weeks ago and noticed how greasy your hair was, was because it had been three weeks.
Thanks for your comment! I’m so happy to hear your concern! I actually don’t always go three weeks. I normally go about 10 days, but I wanted to see what would happen and how long it would take me to get this way which it took me about a year. I thought I’d share my findings for everyone else. I definitely have learned that using high quality products does help your hair stay healthier and grow longer. I have extensions and my hair stylist has told me to at least wait one week between washes as to not ruin my hair extensions, so that’s why I wait about 10 days in between now. That’s only 3 days longer than my hair stylist recommends! I definitely trust her but I totally see where you are coming from. I don’t recommend to always go 3 weeks without washing it, but I found it an interesting experiment. Thanks for your comment! 🙂
This might be a dumb question, but what do you do with your hair when you shower? A shower cap? Do you get it wet but just not wash it? I’ve always wanted to go longer in between washings, but struggle with the shower part ?
I use a shower cap and it’s the best thing ever!!! I highly recommend getting one. I think I linked to one in the post but I just got mine from target.
I will never understand this no hair washing trend. It really doesn’t take that much time to wash your hair. I don’t think people realize that those around them can smell the oily sebum in your scalp- like a little kid that needs a shower. Gross.
Totally understand your point! My hair stylist actual told me to wait a week in between hair washes because of my extensions! So that’s why I do that. I thought I’d try to see how long I could go and that’s when I got to 3 weeks. I normally go about a week because my hair stylist recommended it to me! I make sure to keep care of it though by using very high quality products everyday to keep it clean even when I don’t wash with water. I wish washing my hair didn’t take so long or was so bad for my extensions. It takes me a hour just to try and straighten my hair and that’s not including me curling it so I definitely try to go in between because I don’t have 2 hours everyday to do my hair! Ha I wish I did!! Thanks for reading the post though! 🙂
You have some great styling tips and I can’t wait to try them out!! I’ve been training my hair now for about 1.5 years. I’m now up to 2 weeks with no shampoos. The longest I have gone was 18 days just to try and by then it wasn’t that I needed to wash my hair, I just had somewhere to be….that needed a fresh new hair-do look. I live in a city so I do have that to consider as far as pollutants and dirt….it just all depends on what type of weather we are having too. But honestly 9/10 I am able to get to my 2 week mark. It’s been great since oil production almost has stopped in my hair. It doesn’t get greasy at all until the last day. And I brush it daily to bring the oils from root to tips. My hair is softer and feels so much healthier. It’s grown longer much faster too. I’m so glad I learned about the hair training and tried it. It’s been great!!!!
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I am so happy that you’ve been training your hair, it really can be done and it can help it feel so much healthier. I’ve loved it. I hope the styling tips help you too! It helped me a lot to learn what hairstyles would work best while training. Thanks!!! xoxo