I cut my hair... why is it suddenly so oily?

[laohaire]

I had long hair. I use standard shampoo and conditioner with sodium lauryl sulfate and all. But I only washed my hair every 6 days before. In a society where most people wash their hair daily, that sounds awful, but honestly my hair was fine until the 6th day (and then, yeah, it needed a wash).

I was planning to finish my shampoo and conditioner and switch to no-poo. Which honestly would still be months in the future since I don't go through too much of it.

So then I got a hair cut. It's not *short* but I had 6 inches taken off and it's heavily layered. Shoulder-length for the longest layers. If that matters at all. Now I cannot go 3 days without my hair needing a wash.

What's going on here? Oh, and I got that haircut in early December so it's been a while and still hasn't "settled down." What is it about cutting my hair made it so oily? Is it that I'm, I dunno, producing the same amount of oil in my scalp but I have a lot less hair for that oil to saturate?

If it matters, I have "dry" type hair (which is probably obvious given that I could go 6 days without washing it in any way).

[PPK]

I would say that its because there isn't as much hair for the oil to travel down. Also, I'd definatley stay away from the SLS. I love Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Shampoo with EO Chamomile Conditioner (or Kinky Curly Knot Today Condish, pricey..but soooo worth it!).

I tried to go no-poo, but my hair isn't curly enough, or maybe its not thick enough, or maybe I wasn't patient enough. I find this combo to work amazingly well..esp. if you cond/wash/condition..and only use a small amount of shampoo at the roots.

A great site is naturallycurly and their forums are helpful (esp. if you have curly or even slightly wavy hair).

Can you tell I've become hair-obsessed?

[jdg]

Most likely it's more oily because there's considerably less of it for the oil to spread to. I have long, dry, curly hair and though I do wash it at least every other day, that's because I use styling products that I want to get out. Without the styling products, I could probably go 5-6 days without washing it. However, when I flat iron it straight, I can only go 2 days without washing it because the oils travel from my scalp throughout my hair so much faster when I'm brushing it out.

I go through more shampoo when my hair is shorter and more conditioner when it is longer.

[Ola_]

I find when I have short hair I tend to touch it more - either to push it out of my face, or just to poke at it when I look in the mirror. When I had longer hair it would most often be up in some way and I wouldn't bother with it. I think I'm spreading/adding oils from my fingers with all that touching.

[MLA]

I always have to wash my hair more when it's short. I think it's because there's less hair for the oil to distribute itself over.