Did your grandma ever wash her hair? All my life I remember my grandma going to “get her hair done.” Each Saturday at noon she would go barely a mile from her house, and have her hair “set.” She never washed her hair any of the days between. She always used a shower cap. On Saturday when she would get her hair done, she would get it washed, set in curlers, dried, combed out and then of course the massive amounts of hair spray to keep it in place for a week.
Granny Smith and me in 2002
She went on Saturday so her hair would look best for church on Sunday and of course as the week went on it lost a bit of its oomph. Nevertheless, I am in awe that her hair was only washed once a week. I am psyched at my twice a week washing – going crazy as it gets closer to the day I wash it. How did she ever go an entire week? How did it not feel incredibly greasy? Of course she was not running the number of miles I do each day, so sweat was not a factor (especially with the air conditioning running most of the time she was indoors).
Not washing hair was how grandma grew up. It was normal to her. I do wonder today if women still get their hair set, or is that something that happens with older women? In the 1950’s, women only washed their hair once a week. As the article states you can use a dry shampoo made from cornstarch and baby powder as I do, to allow your hair to absorb extra oils, and resulting in not needing to wash your hair as often. I can attest that it works, but I know my grandma was not using cornstarch on her hair, so did it just get used to only being washed once a week?
What do you remember about your grandma? Did she wash her hair? Was it short or long? I just wonder if there is something we can learn from them in regards to our hair. Maybe we overly heat, straighten, add chemicals, and maybe we need to go natural, wash once a week and see what happens.
random olio 
Great observation!
Funny you mention this as when i was younger and in much more possession of hair, i grew it out like plumage on a peacock. To get past the awkward stage where your hair begins to look like the ’50’s Beatles, i would get it cut by a professional. First thing he said to do was to stop washing my hair on the weekends. wet it and brush it back but do not wash. so i follow my expert’s directions and did not wash it. Over time, this made his life easier as the natural oils would keep the hair from splitting and, over time, it would develop a very healthy shine to it. because i did not add dry shampoos, i would use a different brush for the weekend but it never became an odoriferous issue! I know because i was single and i would go out and i never was told that i needed to wash my hair. Hahahaha – could have been because i usually went to punk rock venues in NYC and was probably dripping with sweat anyway! 🙂
after a while, once it got past pony tail length, Sunday became brush it back and put on a baseball cap day. i never felt comfortable with a pony tail. oh well. thanks for memory lane!
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Wow. Good to know – maybe I need to let it go a little longer between washes. It is harder with blonde/brown hair!
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Great memories of moms and grandmoms having their weekly beauty shop appointments. They looked forward to seeing friends with appointments at the same time, but mostly looked forward to talking with their best friend — their hairdresser. Mom’s hairdresser knew more about our family than I can even imagine. Since she had long hair in a complicated “updo”, the process took longer than most. And yes, those hairdos lasted a week for sure, or longer if needed. There were many more brands of hairspray in those days too — everyone depended on it.
PS. Do you make your own dry shampoo? Sounds like it works!
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I do. It is easy. I just use corn starch. I put it in a jar and leave it in the bathroom, and then sprinkle it at the roots on days when I have oily roots, and then brush it through. Yes, my grandma was a strange one, she would talk to her hair dresser, but was sort of curt to the other women there. She felt they gossiped and she did not want them to know her private life. I guess you could say she was a bit of an introvert.
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