Hello, I am an unwashed swamp creature.
At least that is my husband’s opinion on the frequency with which I wash my hair.
It is super in vogue to not wash your hair these days. But I have been not-washing my hair since before it was cool. I used to hide in the bathroom like I was doing something naughty to sprinkle my roots with baby powder. Now I will brag to anyone who will listen that it’s been 5 days since I last washed my hair.
But guys, I still shower.
Most of the time. I definitely have never swiped a baby wipe under my armpits and called it good.
Ahem, moving on. I used to wash my hair about every other day. But in the last few years, born of necessity from my children, I can usually make it 4-5 days before it’s time to lather up again. Nowadays, there are a million dry shampoos out there to aid in my quest to never wash my hair. But there’s really sort of an art behind hiding my true swamp creature identity. And you can do it too! Join me in my not greasy glory!
“But my hair is so oily, I have to wash it every day.”
No you don’t! It requires some training of your hair, but anyone can train their hair to produce less oil and therefore require less washing. Looking decent with minimal effort is something I am very passionate about, and I want to share The Life Changing Magic of Not Washing Up. I should have my own Netflix show.
With the right tools, and the right process, you can join the ranks of unwashed swamp creatures with great hair.
THE TOOLS
You’re going to need some dry shampoo. Yes, I am a licensed cosmetologist. And yes, I use a lot of professional products. BUT YES, I buy my dry shampoo from Target or Amazon. Report me to the Cosmetologist Gone Rogue authorities. Whatever. I go through it pretty quick and I honestly prefer these cheapo brands. I like to try a lot of different kinds, but these two are my favorites right now, and they both are coincidentally one sale on Amazon right now!
Not Your Mother’s Beach Babe Texturizing Dry Shampoo
Stay with me here, because we’re about to get weird. Another staple in my unwashed routine is baby powder. Just the regular ol’ stuff. This does the heavy lifting of absorbing grease when I need more than just a quick refresh. I like to buy the tiny travel sized bottles so there’s less chance of dumping the whole thing on my head, and for ease of application. I’ve used baby powder when I’ve been brunette and as long as I massage it in well and apply it at night, I’ve never had any issues with white hair.
You’ll also need a blow dryer and a paddle brush. My favorite blow dryer is a little spendy, but very worth it. It dries my hair so fast.
BaBylissPRO Nano Titanium Volare V1 Ferrari-Designed Engine Full-Size Dryer, Red, 3 lb.
THE TRAINING
If you are new to not washing your hair, you’re going to need to train your hair to produce less oil. The more you wash your hair, the more you strip the oils from your scalp; stimulating your scalp to produce more oil. Eventually, your body will catch up to the game. In the meantime, the forecast shows some greasy days ahead. Don’t worry; I gotchu fam! We can get through this without anyone directing you to the nearest homeless shelter.
Start by applying baby powder and/or dry shampoo AT NIGHT. Before you go to bed, sprinkle baby powder on the roots of your hair. Avoid sprinkling it right onto your part. Sprinkle it all around and massage it in with your fingers. If your hair is not very greasy, you can use dry shampoo here instead. I like to use baby powder because it’s super cheap, and it absorbs well over night. Using dry shampoo at night gives your head all night to absorb any white powder and baby powder smell.
Start by trying to stretch one day between washing your hair. Once your hair gets used to that, add another day. Throw on a hat or work the Messy Bun to get you through some greasy days.
THE PROCESS
This is me right after my work out this morning:
Cute, right? I love my post-baby regrowth, it’s really fun. My hair is a little greasy, a lot sweaty, and just generally sort of a disaster at the start of this process. I take a 30 second shower and get to work on taming my hairs.
Step 1
If your hair is sweaty, blow dry the sweat out. If you are worried that blow drying the sweat into your hair is gross, I advise you to get over it. If it’s just limp and sad from sleeping on it, blow dry it to smooth out any super wonky bits and give it some life. Blow dry upside down to get volume and lift.
I tried to take a picture of this step, and this is what I got. Ha. Notice the baby trying to eat baby powder in the background. This is why time is of the essence, people. Ain’t nobody got time for daily shampooing and conditioning and full blow drying when there are babies afoot.
These little stinkers.
The trick to smoothing out any weird parts of your hair from sleeping or working out or whatever is using a paddle brush, with the hair under tension.
Put your brush on the section you want to smooth. In one motion, swoop the brush down and flip it over, so that the hair makes a “J” shape in your brush. Point your blow dryer down the hair shaft and slowly pull the brush through. The tension from the “J” of your hair in the brush and the heat of the blow dryer will smooth out your hair. Blow drying and brushing also serves to redistribute the oils in your hair.
Is my eye here judging you or trying to seduce you? It’s anyone’s guess. 
See the “J” shape of my hair in the brush? Hair should travel through the bristles like this to add tension as you brush through, and the heat from the blow dryer will smooth out the hair.
Step 2
Apply dry shampoo. Spray your dry shampoo on your roots. Once again, try to avoid spraying right at your part. Go nuts and flip your hair all around and keep spraying at the roots. 
I like to part my hair in different spots all around, avoiding the part I will use when I style my hair, and spray the dry shampoo right at my roots, from 6-12 inches away. Flip your head upside down and massage in the dry shampoo with your fingers. The dry shampoo and massaging upside down will give you great volume!
Step 3
Style as desired (I used my super fast Beach Wave curling iron trick) and high five yourself for making it another day without washing your hair! 
Ta-da! Volume, body, and not greasy. Haven’t washed my hair since Friday, and still feeling cute and relatively well groomed. Let me know if this works for you! I wanna change the world, one unwashed head of hair at a time.
**This post contains Amazon Affiliate links, which gives me a tiny kickback if you buy any of the products I linked to.
Love this! I seriously was one of the people saying I have to shampoo my hair because it’s so thin and gets oily, but I can now go 3-4 days between shampoos. Sometimes I do even get my hair wet and conditioner, but I totally love this!!
Life changing!!