# Do you experience good results when you wash your hair less? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143 "2009-03-11T23:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143/41 "2009-03-13T15:05:20Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > No one else has mentioned this, so I figured I’d throw it out there: don’t you start to smell your hair if you don’t wash it? On the days when I’m not leaving the house, I don’t wash it, and I can smell the hair oil. It doesn’t reek, but it smells like the inside of my husband’s baseball hat, and I don’t particularly like it. On the extremely rare occasions when I’ve gone more than two days without washing, the smells becomes more pronounced and definitely not OK. I can also smell other people’s hair if they haven’t washed it for a while, so it’s not just a personal thing. > > I wouldn’t go out in public without washing my hair, partially for that reason, and partially because my scalp feels oily to me after a day, definitely after two. Could be psychosomatic, as I have very thick, wavy hair, which is the type you all are saying could profit from missing a few shampoos. Damn my overly sensitive nose! I’m with you on the smell, too. And I hate to break it to some people … but sometimes when your hair looks OK after not washing it for three days … it can still smell bad. And I don’t even mean from smoking or some other environmental factor – naturally-oily hair often reeks. EDDIT: **Anaamika** is right, though, in that the natural-hair-oils smell varies considerably from person to person. ---
**Author:** ![Unsquare\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Unsquare\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unsquare_Dance)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143/42 "2009-03-13T15:09:41Z")
I wash mine every three days or so, but my hair is thick with a very fine texture, and has a tendency to get oily if I use product or shampoo or even conditioner. I don’t style my hair or anything, so I just do this to keep it from looking greasy. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143/43 "2009-03-13T15:22:29Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > Hair looks fine if I skip a day, but my face tends to break out. So I wash it daily. Same here. My hair can actually go for a few days while still looking good unwashed - it’s very straight, but thick & short, so that helps, but either the oils or leftover hair products get on my face & cause breakouts. A lot of people have good luck using baking soda paste on their hair. I liked it, but I dye my hair and it strips color pretty fast, so never stuck with using it. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143/44 "2009-03-13T17:19:57Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > No one else has mentioned this, so I figured I’d throw it out there: don’t you start to smell your hair if you don’t wash it? On the days when I’m not leaving the house, I don’t wash it, and I can smell the hair oil. It doesn’t reek, but it smells like the inside of my husband’s baseball hat, and I don’t particularly like it. On the extremely rare occasions when I’ve gone more than two days without washing, the smells becomes more pronounced and definitely not OK. I can also smell other people’s hair if they haven’t washed it for a while, so it’s not just a personal thing. A few months ago when I was washing it less (like every 3-4 days), I never noticed a smell. And now that I’m back on my almost every day schedule, of course, there’s no smell. The only problem I got was that when it got oily, it would get super flakey and I had to bust out the Head and Shoulders to get it to stop. Grody! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143/45 "2009-03-13T17:57:32Z")
I meant to add one more thing. It also depends on how oily your hair is to start with! My hair was always dry, and after trying everything else I reluctantly started washing it less often, and it made a big difference. It will never be shiny but it is much less dry. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143/46 "2009-03-13T20:56:57Z")
I have very fine, straight hair (fine enough that it’s hard to get barrettes and ponytail holders to stay in) that is fairly oily. If I go even one day without washing it, it’s a mess. I only use conditioner maybe three times a week, tops - it weighs it down too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-experience-good-results-when-you-wash-your-hair-less/489143.md?page=2)