How to Keep Your Hair Fresh Without Washing It
Whether you’re going on a week-long camping trip or finding yourself without running water at home, you still need to keep your hair from getting too greasy and grimy to ensure that it stays healthy and easy to manage. Regular hair washing with a great shampoo and conditioner will maintain the right balance on your scalp so that your hair can grow well and you don’t deal with irritation or dandruff.
Now, you can go much longer without washing your hair than you think. I go about a week before I shampoo and condition. This timeframe will vary depending on your own needs and lifestyle, with more active individuals needing a little more frequency and those dealing with a dry scalp should wash their hair less (as a general rule of thumb, not a strict suggestion).
Something that helps make it easier for me to go a full week before my next hair wash is that throughout the week, I use water-based products that are easy to rinse out with just water. I typically rinse my hair daily before going to bed and find that the product choice helps keep my hair from building up too much grease.
But if you’re in a situation where you can’t rinse out the hair all the time, then you’ll need a product that can help address that directly.
Products to Refresh the Hair
Most people tend to lean towards dry shampoos, which are an excellent choice for taming down grease and build-up in the hair. My only issue with them is that they can be very drying to the hair, and can leave the hair very tangled when over-used [1].
Instead, I would recommend that people try adding a hair tonic into their routine to keep their hair fresh when washing isn’t possible.
I’ve written about this product before, and how it was designed as an all-in-one hair refresher that helps to break down products, improve scalp and hair health, and act as a styling aid that is applied before blow drying to increase body and hold.
This type of product is very versatile and different tonics offer different unique benefits. Some are formulated more to boost texture, others can amplify the thickness of the hair, and others can nourish the scalp and soothe irritation [2].
In my previous post about tonics, I compared them to salt sprays and leave-in conditioners and concluded that they were the perfect combination of both stand-alone products. For similar reasons explored, I would argue that you should use a tonic over a dry shampoo to keep your hair fresh.
There are simply much more compounding benefits to using a good tonic than just a dry shampoo.
Dry shampoos are not recommended as a replacement for regular shampoo and conditioning. What a dry shampoo does is absorb the oils and dirt on the hair, so that the hair can temporarily look fresher, but it doesn’t get rid of them completely. Instead, the product will sit on the scalp and over time will continue to build up, which may lead to scalp issues if not properly washed out.
Tonics on the other hand are designed to nourish the scalp, soothe irritation, and break down existing products already in the hair. Usually, tonics contain natural oil extracts that promote hair and scalp health [3]. They will also contain ingredients that protect the hair from damage, such as from the heat of a blow dryer so that you can restyle your hair as needed. This combination will leave your hair feeling cleaner and healthier.
Now, neither dry shampoo nor hair tonic can be a complete replacement for actual shampoo and conditioner, but if you find yourself in circumstances where you aren’t able to wash your hair properly, then reaching for the tonic instead of the dry shampoo will do you more favours.
Recommended Products
The tonic that I would recommend the most is the Chin Whiskey Texture Tonic. This is a pretty biased take, as the barbershop I work at has its own line of premium hair products, and the texture tonic is one of my favourites to use. I’ve explored this product before in my previous tonic post, so you can read all about it there!
If you are looking for alternatives to the Chin Whiskey Texture Tonic, then the Grooming Tonic from Reuzel is a similar product that carries many of the benefits associated with a traditional hair tonic.
The Aveda Thickening Tonic is another one to consider for those who have finer hair. The product is formulated to plump up the hair strands and give them more body and structure, eliminating the issue of flat, lifeless hair.
References:
1- https://www.webmd.com/beauty/what-is-dry-shampoo
2- https://www.naturalherbalhaircare.com.sg/blog/Hair-Tonic-101#:~:text=A
Hope You Found This Helpful!
My name is Wesley, I am a Barber located in the city of Calgary helping my clients become more confident with all things related to their hair by providing customized haircuts that suit them best while demystifying all the complicated hair information out there!
