Back when I had long hair down my back, I did nothing but wash it daily with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, blot it dry with a towel, air dry it by leaning down and flipping up, and brushing. I have fine hair and always envied people with long thick hair. There’s nothing I admire more. Women with luxurious hair down to your knees, I salute you, I love you, I kiss the ground you walk on.
I tend to agree with her. My mom says that the hair product companies are the ones who established the “daily shampoo” habit in the sixties and seventies (hippies notwithstanding).
I have 20" long hair and wash it just once a week. If I get especially sweaty, I’ll rinse it, but the application of shampoo and conditioner only happens once a week (barring any unusually messy circumstances). But when I decided to grow it long, I asked my mom what she did to her hair. She told me that when she was a little girl and all the girls had long hair, it was common practice to just shampoo once a week, and brush it out nightly with a soft bristled brush.
A couple of times a year (spring and fall, usually) I’ll go get the ends trimmed and have the neck fuzzies shorn off, and use the opportunity to have a conditioning treatment done.
In the mornings, I comb it out with a very coarse-toothed comb, and generally tie it back with a thick fabric band. In the evenings I will spend some time with a brush, if I remember. Sometimes lady bug will do this for me. Mostly it’s to get the oils from the root of the hair down to the ends. It keeps the top from looking too greasy and keeps the ends from drying out.
That’s it. I try not to brush or comb it when the hair is wet to prevent snarling and breaking. But a coarse comb in the shower does help to distribute the conditioner.
What spooje said. Well, except for the “beautiful” part…
It depends on when I wash it.
Most of the time I wash it the night before. Shampoo/conditioner (yes, I am lazy). Let it dry overnight. Then for school I just do whatever (i.e. down, up, whatever I have time for). If I am going out after I take a shower, then I curl my hair or scrunch it with some mousse. (Now that I think about it, I barely brush my hair. I don’t know why. I guess I just don’t think it needs it. Not tangly or dry. It is just perfect. I do have tons of brushes though. Probably from when I had really long hair.)
I don’t fix my hair much though. Unless I am going out with my friends or to a grand affair, then I don’t do anything to it. My hair is extremely healthy because of this. Also, I have short hair (mid-length - just above my shoulders). This helps me soooo much because I don’t have to worry about split ends, flat hair (I have a serious volume problem when it gets long), and sore arms(when I had to fix my hair). And my hair is thick and straight, so when I curl my hair it takes a while. When it is long, curling my hair took a couple hours. Uggggh! That is why I didn’t do it often.
This past Saturday evening I was with a friend, preparing to go out to a club (goth, mainly). I had no idea what to do with my hair, and she told me to coil it up into two little coils, like pigtail buds. It came out really cute, even thought my shadow looked like the Disneyworld/Mickey Mouse logo 
My usual morning haircare regimen involves only three things:
Edge Gel
A Gillette Sensor Excel
A towel
Lather
Shave
Rinse
Pat dry
I don’t know about beautiful, but bald is definitely cool.
You mean you looked like this ºoº? Cool. I wanna look like that, but my hair’s too short. 
Man, if I went two days without washing it, I’d be the greasyest SOB on the plannet. My hair doesn’t need much attention, but it must be washed.
I wash/condition/blow-dry every day, then depending on what I’m wearing, I’ll wear my hair down, in either a flip, or turned under, or I’ll put it up - sometimes in 2 braids, sometimes in a french twist. Today a have an Audrey Hepburnesque type up-do, ala Breakfast at Tiffinays.
Really, it depends on my mood.
Al.
Nothing much. Make sure none of my dreadlocks are sticking out at odd angles. Occassionally I need to do some waxing (my hair is very straight so I need to help the dreadlocking). But that’s about it.
Shampoo, towel dry, then brush. I then let my hair air-dry on the way to my first class. I do blow-dry my hair if it’s below 45°F outside.
Since replying to this thread a year ago, I’m now growing my hair long again—it’s within an inch or so of my shoulders—and I’ve realized that good old Dr. Bronner’s just isn’t good enough for hair care. I went to Fresh Fields and asked the Chinese girl who works there who has long, straight, perfect hair for a recommendation; she showed me Avalon Organics shampoo. The rosemary version. I tried it and was dismayed that it made my hair a fright wig. Then I figured out that you have to use the conditioner along with it duh and its corresponding conditioner was even shelved right next to it, so now that I use conditioner my hair looks better than ever.
I wash it, condition, turban a towel around it, take off the towel, bend down and flip it up to aereate it, and brush it. Once a day. That’s all it needs. Sometimes I’ll add to the brush a couple drops essential oil of rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis to promote growth. This time I’m going to grow it as long as I can get away with it.
Well even though I just noticed this thread is over a year old I’ll still respond.
I usually wash my hair three times a week or so. But after reading this thread I think I’ll switch to just once a week for awhile and see what happens. I have found though that brushing every day makes it look and feel much better so I try and do that every day, usually while watching the Simpsons.
I just noticed this thread too at the bottom of the page but what the heck. I love my hair but hate taking care of it. I usually wash it two to three times a week and only on mornings or nights when I have nowhere to be for awhile. I like to let it air-dry for awhile and then I put some leave-in conditioner and gel and let it air-dry some more, then blow-dry, add a little more gel, put it in a bun to help the curls straighten out a bit, and then put a headband on and I’m done! On mornings that I don’t wash it it’s a lot easier and faster! I had short hair almost all of my young adult life so I really don’t mind all the work and the compliments aern’t bad either.
Since I replied to this thread a year ago, a good amount of length in my mid-back, very curly/thick hair went the way of the dodo. I couldn’t deal anymore; there was too damn much of it. It’s currently barely shoulder length.
Funny enough, it doesn’t spring up when I cut it, as happens with many people with curly hair; it actually gets straighter. It’s now curly/wavy/straight (weird).
The cut made my maintence/styling process that I’ve always used work much better. The process is:
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Shower/shampoo/condition at night (comb the conditioner through).
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Squeeze water out with towel.
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Go to bed. (When I had long hair, I ponytailed it to sleep - I no longer have to, as now I can just finger-comb it in the AM)
Pre-haircut, I’d try & wear it loose, but pretty much always end up with a ponytail 'cause it got in the way. These days, I feel much more comfortable letting it loose.