From Daily to Weekly, My Mission to Shampoo Less

For years I'd been reading that I shouldn't shampoo every day.

They said it dries your hair out, strips off color you just paid way too much for, and can damage hair.
Okay thats all well and good, but my hair is a greasy, flat mess by the next morning, so how am I supposed to not shampoo?!

Train your hair, they said.

Apparently, you produce grease for a reason: it protects your scalp and hair. By shampooing and removing the grease, you force your body into grease over-production. The more often you shampoo, the more quickly your body is forced to produce. Makes sense to me.
So to train your body to slow down grease production, you need to stop shampooing as often. Which sounds way easier than it is.

The first thing always recommended is dry shampoos.

Just skip washing your hair and use a dry shampoo to "refresh" it! Now some people swear by these, but I've had zero success. No matter what, my hair always feels sticky and gross after using dry shampoo, and NOT any cleaner!!
So dry shampoo isn't an option for me. If it works for you, more power to you!

Instead, I did something kinda weird. I got bangs.

You might be thinking, "Um, Danielle, how the hell is getting bangs going to make your hair less greasy?" I have a plan! Just listen!
I worked split shift at a daycare during undergrad. What that means is I opened the school in the morning at 6 AM, and worked until 9 AM, when all the teachers had arrived.  I then left, had a nap, and came back at 3 PM, when all the teachers were leaving, and worked till 6 PM. Then I went to classes until around 10 at night. (After which I stayed up till 1 or 2 in the morning cause I was young and stupid.)
Long story short, I was not getting up earlier in the morning than I had to. For any reason. Even to wash my hair.
What I would do was: wash just my bangs in the sink, and then wear my hair in a pony tail. Weird, I know, but it works.
When I got off at 9 AM, I'd properly wash my hair.
My whole point here is that I'd learned through my genius-laziness that if you have clean bangs, the rest of your hair magically looks cleaner. You know, if its hidden in a pony tail.

Okay, so back to the point.

I went out and got bangs because I knew I could give my shampoo one more day of lasting power by washing just my bangs and putting my hair up.
I was now down to washing every other day.
Better, but the goal was once a week.

Now I won't lie to you, at this point in the story I got hit a crazy curveball.

I fell down the stairs, broke my foot, and was unable to stand properly for 3 months.
I couldn't work, walk, stand, or shower.
A combination of not being able to shower, and not having anywhere to go, really helps you skip washing your hair!
To be honest, it was downright gross. I had to wash my hair in the kitchen sink, with my broken foot propped up on a chair, which was immensely uncomfortable painful. So I avoided doing it until I absolutely HAD to. In the beginning, I could only go a few days before my hair was disgusting. After about a month, I could go a whole week. After 3 months, my hair didn't really get disgusting, just flat and dull.

Eventually, I healed.

And this week I returned to work. But I was determined not to go back to washing my hair every day!!

Monday:

I washed my hair in the morning and wore it down.

Tuesday:

hair was still clean and non-greasy (thanks to my tireless training!) and I was able to wear it down. It was a little flatter than I'd like ideally, because I have thin hair. But after a few minutes with a flat iron, I was happy.

Wednesday:

my hair was really flat, and not as shiny as I'd like. I washed my bangs and wore it in a pony tail.

Thursday:

yuck. My hair was super flat! And dull looking. I pinned my bangs back in a mini-poof and wore it up again.

Friday:

I caved and washed my hair.
Okay, so I failed at my mission, but I did make it four days! Which is so much better than everyday.

Now don't go out breaking your foot, there's a way to do this without bodily injury.

If dry shampoo works for you, you've got it easy! Just skip shampooing every other day and use dry shampoo. Give that about a month and then start shampooing every few days, and only using dry shampoo when necessary. Keep in up until you can go as long as you like without shampooing.

If you're like me and dry shampoo is not an option, (and you don't want to try my genius bang idea,) its much harder. Find some updos that work for you, and use them on your skip days. As you increasingly wash your hair less, you will notice a difference and be able to treat your second day, third day hair like its freshly washed.

Things to keep in mind:

• In the beginning you will be dealing with greasy hair. Accept it. 
• Remember to wash your face twice a day or you can end up with breakouts from grease transfer. 
• Don't mess with your hair! I know you get an urge to keep fixing your hair when its not perfect, but touching your hair makes it greasier and dirtier. Stop it!

So what's your take? Would you like to wash your hair less?