Dry Shampoo Challenge: Could You Wash Your Hair Just Once A Month? - Mommy Greenest

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My sister in law has the most amazing hair — threaded with beautiful streaks of pure silver. We both stopped trimming during the pandemic and now we each have hair that reaches nearly to our waists. But while hers is thick all the way to the ends, mine keeps getting thinner. What’s her secret?

She washes her hair just once a month!

This is crazy to me, as I’m a person who used to shampoo every day. Recently I realized how harmful excessive shampooing is for my hair and scalp — not to mention the environment. I began following a regimen to help fight the hair loss that naturallycomes with aging, which includes less shampooing. (Added bonus: Washing less saves water!)

But THIRTY DAYS? That seems insane. Yet my SIL swears it’s easy: She just uses dry shampoo.

Hair powdering tracks back to the 17th century, when Kind Louis Xlll began wearing a wig to mask premature balding. For most of the 20th century, people washed their hair just once monthly and used hair powder in between. 

It was only until companies began marketing directly to consumers — a practice that reached new heights in the 1970s with shampoo ads starring luminaries like Farrah Fawcett and Christie Brinkley — that many Americans adopted a daily hair wash practice. Then Heather Locklear told two friends about Breck and the rest was history.

Dry shampoo powders typically include mattifiers like rice starch, arrowroot, or clay. For years, I’ve used them to reduce oil between washes.

But in dark hair like mine, the powder residue can show up — once, my husband referred to this as my “George Washington” look. (I was not amused.) And although tinted dry shampoo powder would seem to provide a solution, when I tried those the color just ended up on my scalp.

Instead, my SIL uses dry shampoo spray. The product is more evenly dispersed throughout the hair and shows less residue.

Dry shampoo sprays used to be made with chlorofluorocarbons, known as CFCs, which damaged the ozone layer. Now, those have been federally banned and the ozone layer is repairing. Yay!

But there are still potentially toxic ingredients in both spray and powder dry shampoos that can the especially toxic if they are inhaled. Avoid dry shampoo powders made with talc, which can be toxic when inhaled, as well as sprays that use vinyl chloride as a propellant. Read your labels to avoid red-flag ingredients.

Right now, I’m loving the Gro Dry Shampoo from Vegamour. It’s made with USDA Certified Organic rice hulls and other vegan ingredients and has a refreshing, citrus-y scent that wears off quickly and doesn’t leave you smelling like you just walked through the perfume section of a department store. (Full disclosure: Vegamour did not sponsor this post, but they did sponsor a previous Mommy Greenest post.)

Whether you use powder or spray dry shampoo, the trick is how you use it:

1. Apply to roots — especially at the crown and around the ears, where oil glands are most active. You can spray or tap powder directly onto the scalp; I’ve also found that tapping powder into my palms and rubbing them through my hair works great.

2. Now flip your hair upside-down and rub your scalp and strands with your fingertips, just like you would do if you were shampooing your hair. 

3. Then brush the product all the way through your hair. You should not see any white spots or sprinkles. If you do, brush again until they’re gone.

I follow this practice daily, as dry shampoos also help to give my thin hair body and volume. So far, I can skip shampooing for about four days: The first two days are okay, but by day four it all goes up in a ponytail or bun.

How about you — how many days can you go without shampooing? Please tell me, in comments below.