So, I’ve been conducting a little hair experiment. Namely I haven’t been washing it. The reasons behind going a bit ‘hippie’ in the hair hygiene stakes are two-fold. 1/ I’ve got a new exciting, rather time consuming project that I’m working on, which means 6am starts with no time for long-winded ablutions 2/ I am about 2 inches off my dream ‘just past the nipple, mermaid worthy’ hair length and my stylist promises that the only way I’ll get there is by washing/styling it less.
I swear to God, the day I hit 13 and my hormones raged into life so did the glands on my scalp, it was an oil-slick up there, everyday. Of course my solution was to wash it daily, sometimes twice a day if I was going out in the evening which, as I know now (*old person sigh*) was making the situation a whole heap worse by over-stimulating my oil production levels. You see, hair (ergo oil levels) really can be trained.
In the space of a month I’ve gone from daily shampooing to Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Yep, I’ve cut out four-whole washes. Yes I’m going through dry shampoo like there is no tomorrow but hey, it’s progress. Here’s my hair this Saturday afternoon, a whole three days after I had last washed it – passable right?
Here are my hair training tips and products I swear by:
* Batiste dry shampoo in brunette/blonde/redhead – it’s worth the extra £1 or so to get a dry shampoo that matches your hair colour (and doesn’t smell like cheap air freshener) to save the tell-tale grey pallor to your locks.
* Washing your hair less means you can’t get away with a quick shampoo when you do lather up. Invest in a good pre-shampoo treatment (I love L’Oreal’s new Elvive Extraordinary Oil through my lengths for 10 mins prior to showering or Philip Kingsley’s Stimulating Scalp Treatment is a tingly, menthol ‘face pack’ for the scalp); a good cleansing but not stripping shampoo (I buy Aveda Shampure by the litre it is so brilliant); then a good mask/deep conditioner (I switch between John Frieda’s Full Repair Deep Conditioner Mask and Aussie’s 3-Minute Miracle Reconstructor). Once I’m out the shower I add Gielly Green’s Argan Rescue to soaking wet hair – just a drop and just to the ends – but I find it really does prevent split ends and softens my frazzled, bleached lengths. Oh, and once a week I do an overnight hair treatment with ESPA’s pink clay hair masque that I’m always raving about in any hair post.
Results? Other than the time saved, my hair has definitely calmed down in the oil production stakes and feels glossier and stronger (there is MUCH less hair in the bath plug which pleases my husband no end). Once I can get down to a bi-weekly wash I’m thinking of switching to salon blow-outs – or is that just too indulgently ridiculously Park Avenue Princess? My salon offers a blow-out with a junior for £7 during the week, I figure I spend more than £55 a month on hair products… *smells faint whiff of credit card burning*
