I literally don’t use soap or conditioner in my hair except right before I get it cut. They are always like “wow! You have such healthy hair!” Your hair will take care of itself.
Dishwashing liquid? That’s just good bedhead.
Well, technically, good bedhead is something much more satisfying, but I hope y’all get my drift.
My brother spent a week using dog shampoo because he forgot to buy new shampoo. Hair looked the same
I prefer those too as the regular soap based shampoo leaves my hair very dry and electrostatic, and my scalp flaking. Well, I use baby shampoo, but dog shampoo is chemically almost the same.
Coming from a man, Woman’s hair products come across as such a scam.
It’s not about men vs. women, it’s short hair vs. long hair. Most men don’t have long hair, the dish soap works for short hair but depending on your hair type you want to use something better for long hair.
There’s a lot of nuance to this topic I think. In my (VERY anecdotal) experience men often have thicker hair which tends to be less brittle less quickly. At least that’s my experience as trans woman, around the time my treatment started my hair got slightly thinner and more prone to damage. So it’s probably also a hormonal thing.
Cis man here with long hair. My hair is super thin and breaks like crazy. I went to dermatologist (thought I was going bald lol) and it seems that hair changes a lot between people and some advice I’ve seen online isn’t as general as much as people think, like not washing your hair everyday (she told me my hair NEEDS to be washed everyday cause it gets mega oily quickly).
But yeah, longer hair needs more care for sure, like, I had never used hair conditioner before but now it’s a must, started using a hair drier sometimes too. I used to think that women taking a long time to shower and get ready we’re just slow but fuck, long hair is a lot of work.
I’d been scrolling through the comments, contemplating sharing my own “dish soap” story, when your comment and the one above both inspired different anecdotes. So although I’m responding to you, I’m just going to go ahead and tie all these topics into one post:
My hair is like yours. I’m a woman (though I don’t feel right saying “cis,” since I don’t really “get” gender) and have very fine hair on a very oily scalp. Like you, I cannot go a day without washing my hair, lest I encounter issues. 24 hours without a wash is obvious, by sight, by touch, and possibly by smell (if you were to get close.) I wish people would stop spreading that no-wash “advice” as if it’ll 100% work for everyone of every hair/skin type. For some of us, it can actually make problems worse.
I also had a time where I was losing my hair (unrelated to hygiene.) It turned out to be a hormone thing - but not in the way the above commenter hypothesized it would. My estrogen levels were low, which meant my testosterone levels were relatively high. Rather than fortifying my hair, testosterone was making my hair thinner, and the result resembled male pattern balding. Thank fuck, going on an estrogen pill managed to correct and even reverse most of the damage. (Though now I fear the US government trying to take away my birth control, which is actually “magical hair maintenance pills” in my mind. But that’s another topic for another day.) Either way, hormones absolutely play a role in hair. Pregnancy and its cocktail of hormones is well-known to cause changes in hair thickness, texture, and even color. However, there are too many variables to precisely pin any one particular effect to any one particular hormone across every single person. For me, estrogen vastly improved my hair. Others’ results may vary.
As to dish soap, I was around 11-13, middle school age. A (female) friend had said she used dish soap instead of shampoo. I was curious and decided to try it. It worked to wash my hair all right, but my hair didn’t feel the same afterwards. It’s hard to recall by now exactly what was different, but there was something about the resulting texture that was off. I’ve tried a number of different types of shampoo throughout my life, but every single one of them provided a certain result that dish soap couldn’t provide. So although it might suffice for some people, I’ll have to add “dish soap as shampoo” to the “things that personally don’t work for me” box.
I wash my very long hair 2-3 times a week and often get compliments from women. Many express some variation of “I wish my hair would grow that long” but none of them like the answer. “I do nothing to it. No heat treatments, no bleach, no color, no tight braids, no styling. Shampoo approximately every other day and condition weekly.”
(Dish soap would probably strip the natural oils too aggressively, even for short hair. Rough on the scalp.)
I also get those compliments and I also just use shampoo and conditioner (once or twice a week). When I travel and use hotel shampoo/conditioner my hair usually feels noticably worse after (sometimes the hotel stuff is actually nice though).
I think a lot of it is genetics, and not coloring or bleaching or anything also helps a lot. But conditioner is great and not a scam (and I don’t let the male targeted 2 in 1 soap/shampoo stuff anywhere near my hair anymore, that was noticably worse as well)
Dish soap on hair is actually awful, leaves it dry, clumped/stuck together, and unmanageable. I got something in my hair when I was under 10, all I remember is it was SO BAD I willingly went to wash my hair.
I have a similar routine to you I don’t blow dry either it is towel dry, except I condition each time I wash, and get the same responses from women who equally do not like the “I wash, condition, and cut it (well its been a few years now but) every 3 months, and do nothing else.”
Long haired cismale here. I can use the cheapest shower gel and look magnificent.
Good for you. My hair is frizzy as fuck and I can tell you there is certainly a difference between a $3 and $12 conditioner.
I feel you. There’s also a huge difference between cheap conditioner and no conditioner.
Water hardness matters a lot, too. When I visit my family and shower with their super soft water, I could use industrial degreaser and my hair would be just fine.
But when I’m at home where the water is super hard? I better use a shampoo without sodium laureth sulfate and condition regularly or my hair will become an uncombable abomination within a few days.
This actually might be the secret! I live in a hard water area but I’ve got a water softener for my hot water in the house. I’ll have to test this out when I visit friends next who don’t have a softener.
My hair is also frizzy as fuck and the only thing that matters is styling gel. Hair care routine is basically meaningless for me, when either washed or unwashed, I get the same frizzy style until I gel up and style my hair.
Possibly the flashy flatulence helps?
Hello name sibling! I’m a long haired lady person.
I bet we’d look glorious, side by side, hair billowing in our combined, sparkling winds.
i can second this
Him looking magnificent?
sure what else could i have meant
Long haired woman here: I use dr bronners and no conditioner and it suits my purposes. It does feel nicer with a deep conditioner, but it’s not worth the extra time imo
I’m a guy. I’ve had very long hair and very short hair, and everything in between. I’ve always just used regular shampoo whatever generic regular brand I find.
As someone else mentioned it’s more about the styling afterwards. And also the hair type.
For me it didn’t matter what I used, until I tried growing it out and trying long hair. Frizzy hair horrors, until I figured out what hair care process worked for me.
Jojoba oil and grapeseed oil are a game changer.
As a guy with long curly hair, it is not that simple.
I get natural C curls from just one wash a week, no fuss. truly blessed
also has fuckall to do with gender
True, when I plan well enough it’s glorious: shower the night before, CG shampoo bar + stay in conditioner and I can just run my fingers trough my hair to style it the day after
When I shower before an event it’s a very thin line between too frizzy or too greasy and flat.
Counterpoint: look at any rock band from the 1970s to see what just plain washing with shampoo (very occasionally, apparently) produces. If they ever invent time travel, I’m going to let everybody else handle killing baby hitler (and baby cheetoh I suppose) and go back to the '70s with some conditioner. I will rule the rock world!
Edit: I might also try at least mentioning to people how fucked up it was that these guys were raping 14-year-old girls all the time (and sometimes the same 14-year-old girl).
Ah yes. Hair, and bdw raping children. Can’t have a day without genocide and paedophilia.
As a man who used to have long hair for decades, this is just wrong. But also, usually using more than one shampoo + one conditioner is not going to make much difference.
Length and type of hair is what matters. Men with a typical short haircut with straight hair do not benefit from conditioner.
As a man with frizzy, dry and curly hair. I have to say “doubt” on the dishwashing liquid.
More like “get that fat-solvant out of my sight, or you’re gonna get it”. No shampoo, only conditioner and you barely rinse it.
Am girl. I don’t find that the kind of shampoos and conditioners really matter. I buy all kinds of volume ones for example, and there’s barely any difference. It’s more the styling that comes after. Getting a haircut that works for your hair helps too
Part of the solution is actually not washing your hair too much, or using too much product.
Your scalp naturally produces a lot of oils etc to keep your hair healthy, and shampoo actually removes this to an extent. Conditioner helps, but it’s not the same.
Can I share this in !Womensstuff@piefed.blahaj.zone
“If it’s good enough for penguins, it’s good enough for me. 😎”
The amount of upvotes this boomer shit has is just fucking embarrassing. Gender has absolutely zero impact on hair. It’s all genetics. I’m male and my hair is long and thin as fuck.
Gender has absolutely zero impact on hair.
I used to think this also when I had long, wavy locks. Then met my secret new friend who was hiding away in the back of my genes “male pattern baldness” and now I know that men very much have different hair concerns than most women.
Also, it’s not a joke about gender having an impact on hair, it’s a joke about gendered roles having an impact on hair and how pointless a lot of the gendered expectations and marketed products are. Take a breath and learn the difference.
Hormones can play a role as well. Anecdotally, my wife’s hair during pregnancy became fuller and less brittle. Duckduckgo “pregnancy hair”. A monthly cycle, being on hormonal birth control, etc. will likely have some effect. I definitely agree that genetics does play a bigger role, but claiming that gender/sex plays no role is definitely incorrect.
Cool. Joke is “men dont buy products so they use shit at hand”.
So, still boomer humor based on manufactured gender division. Cool.
You’re That
GuyPerson at parties right?If you look for things to be angry about, you’re going to find them. This seems like a silly hill to die on
