How often to bathe/wash hair??? (Help me settle this disagreement with my husband...)

[ekh]

How often should children's hair be washed/how often should they bathe? 

Every day? Once a week? Twice a week? Twice a month? 

My kids are in the pool once a week and I wash their hair once a week. One kid loves to splash in the tub, the other hates it, and they both hate having their hair washed. 

My husband thinks that pool time is sufficient bathing, and that I'm going WAY overboard with the hair washing. I think once a week is the minimum...

[swd12422]

I would say once a week is fine. However, reality is, I wash DS's hair far less often than that. He just doesn't get smelly or dirty (well, not his hair...). When he was smaller, I washed his hair more often b/c he would rub dirt in it every time he was outside and his scalp was always gritty. But I really think that it depends on the kid, the hair, and the tolerance for it (both kids' and parents').

[pianojazzgirl]

My kids are in the pool once a week too, and I wash their hair right afterwards.  For me them being in the pool is the main reason *why* I wash their hair!  Chlorine is so hard on hair!  (and skin...)  During breaks from swimming lessons we do often go longer than a week between hair washes.  Dd gets her hair washed more often than ds because the conditioner really makes it easier to get the tangles out (ds has short hair).

Besides that we have weeks with no bath (besides post-pool shower), and weeks with 3-4 baths.  It depends on a variety of factors - dirtiness being one, and also that they sometimes "need" a bath to help mellow out and calm down before bed time.

[Imakcerka]

My girls love to shower... okay they don't love it but feel like they need it.  Could be the sweaty TX mentality.  I think whatever your kids are comfortable with.  You don't want them to be the stinky kid either.  Washing hair in my opinion when they're in school is a good way to get a look at their scalp.  This is from a mother who has had two lovely bouts with lice! 

[One_Girl]

I vote for bathing with at least soap day and doing the hair every other day. The nurses in school recommend twice a week as the bare minimum. I don't recommend the minimum because two of my friends do that and they don't realize that other people can tell. One still denies that her son stinks more than is normal for a child despite being banned from the inside of a friends home because it was beyond what they could stomach.

Smell is something you get used to when you live with it and I really worry about my DD being labeled the stinky kid. As your kids get older that will start to become more of an issue so even just playing in the tub daily might be something to consider to help set the stage for more frequent serious bathing when they are school age.

[elisheva]

All my kids are under 5. My boys are in the pool once a week and rinse off afterward. My dd is 2 and likes to play so bathes pretty much every other day. Aside from that, they get 1-2 other baths per week depending on circumstances (in summer they are in every day because they get dirty playing in the yard). I at least have them wet their hair usually but in reality it only gets washed with soap about every 10 days.

[Peony]

My toddler gets his hair washed once a week. I can and have let it go longer then that especially if we have gone to to the pool but he has a lot of hair and it doesn't start getting gross after a while. Once they are school aged then they usually bath every other day. 

[onlyzombiecat]

I think bathing and washing hair every other day is pretty good for my dd  but I would go for once a week at a minimum.

[LionessMom]

my kids get twice a week sometimes once a week. more if they are getting dirty. my kids dont smell or have greasy hair. the 7 year old takes them more frequently than the younger ones and the teen takes one every morning. it all depends on the person. i wash my hair and self every other day if i am leaving the house but i have been known to go 3 days. i base it on how fast your hair gets greasy, how much you sweat, and how dry it makes your skin. we bathe almost every day in the summer (or at least play in water). my 7 yr old gets really dry skin so she takes them lots less in the winter and i use cocoa butter or coconut oil on her afterwards.

[lifeguard]

We do baths most days but it's more for fun than cleanliness. We only use soap if there is actual dirt/stink but at this point that is not often. I only wash hair when it is needed which with ds' short hair is rare. Fwiw - I have verrrrry dry hair & only wash my hair with shampoo when i swim to get the chlorine out.

[ashleyhaugh]

my ds is usually in the tub every day or every other day. sometimes i actually soap him down, but sometimes hes just playing. he usually has bubbles though, so hes playing in soap either way, lol... i dont even know how often i wash his hair... when it smells sweaty, lol, or when its dirty. more often in the summer, less in the winter.

even when he was a baby he was in the tub every day, hes always loved playing in the tub

[Heavenly]

The idea of a child bathing less than once a week is kind of gross to me to be honest.  Is there some benefit to not bathing I'm unaware of?  My kids used to bathe 2-3 times a week but now the older two are hitting puberty (almost 11 and 9) and they stink and get oily hair if they don't shower every other day.  By the older age it isn't a big deal because they do it all themselves.  My almost 6 year old still needs help with her hair but like I said, a minimum of twice a week. I guess I am just one of those parents that thinks sometimes your kids just need to suck it up and do it because its necessary. 

[jess in hawaii]

Originally Posted by Heavenly 

The idea of a child bathing less than once a week is kind of gross to me to be honest.  Is there some benefit to not bathing I'm unaware of?  My kids used to bathe 2-3 times a week but now the older two are hitting puberty (almost 11 and 9) and they stink and get oily hair if they don't shower every other day.  By the older age it isn't a big deal because they do it all themselves.  My almost 6 year old still needs help with her hair but like I said, a minimum of twice a week. I guess I am just one of those parents that thinks sometimes your kids just need to suck it up and do it because its necessary. 

Yes, exactly. I only diverge from this in that my younger ones wash hair usually once every 5-7 days but give it a good rinse during their other showers. Their hair is dry like mine, and I can't wash mine more frequently than every 4 days (under extreme conditions like swimming or otherwise getting it unusually dirty somehow). 5-7 is optimal for us, though some people may need to more often.

[LynnS6]

My kids are lucky to get once a week. Sometimes it's every 10 days. Dd is in swim lessons, so she washes her hair every week after swimming. Ds has always hated to bathe, and so I've had to put my foot down about washing his hair weekly.

He's going to enter puberty in the next year or two, and then I'll have to enforce more frequent bathing. But for now, he doesn't have the pubescent smells, his socks/shoes don't stink, and he can get away with about once a week. In the summer it's a bit more frequent because he gets sweatier, but then he doesn't mind the shower so much.
 

Originally Posted by One_Girl 

I vote for bathing with at least soap day and doing the hair every other day. The nurses in school recommend twice a week as the bare minimum. I don't recommend the minimum because two of my friends do that and they don't realize that other people can tell. One still denies that her son stinks more than is normal for a child despite being banned from the inside of a friends home because it was beyond what they could stomach.

This is extreme to me -- there's got to be more going on here than simply not bathing more than 2x a week. Some kids do get smellier than others, but I've never met a kid who smells so bad they'd be banned. I've got an incredibly sensitive nose, as does my mother. I'd know if ds stunk. I do enforce good hygiene on the toilet. My kids change their socks and underwear daily and wear clean clothes daily. They don't stink. They've never been banned from anyone's house for their smell.
 

Originally Posted by Heavenly 

The ide Is there some benefit to not bathing I'm unaware of? 

Bathing too often can dry out your skin. My kids both have pretty sensitive skin (dd more than ds). When dd was 2-3, I couldn't wash her hair more than once a week because she would break out in a rash, no matter what shampoo we'd use. (She's also the kid who breaks out for all but one sunscreen that I've found!) Ds had sensory issues and he couldn't just "suck it up". So, we settled on once a week. They're fine.

[meemee]

shampoo hair - once in two weeks. or something like that. 

actually soap in hair is unnecessary. just nice hot water is a great 'soap' by itself. tried giving up shampoo and just do water and unfortunately though i could see benefits to it, just did not like it. 

bath whenever she was stinky - whether that be once a week or once in two weeks. and again she doesnt have to use soap. a good rinse with bare hands adn fresh flowing water is good enough for me.

though i have found its the clothes that have most of the odor = not skin.

after a chlorine pool no matter how many times a day or week dd would have to take a good long soaking bath. 

[mamazee]

My 9-year-old has to bathe or shower every day or she gets stinky.

The toddler only gets bathed about twice a week or her skin gets too dry. Once a week would be OK but she generally gets filthy often enough to need two.

[Imakcerka]

I wonder about if I'm allowing mine to bathe too often?  Though the days they go a weekend without bathing there are complaints about irritation in the girl parts. I'm that way too though.  I can go a day or too but then I don't feels so fresh... I've tried just having them take a Whore bath, but they prefer a shower.  Though their skin does get pretty dry too. 

[hildare]

our general rule is when there's poop/food/crust in it.  otherwise not so much. 

however, i would get the pool chemicals out if it were me.

[bodhitree]

DD splashes around in plain bath water every night as part of her bedtime routine, but we don't soap her up very often. I don't think there is really a "minimum" that is appropriate for every child. Just wash them when they get dirty.

[blessedwithboys]

My personal opinion is that a daily bath WITH SOAP/SHAMPOO is a must.  Non-negotiable.  The only exception is if we are having a lazy day and don't leave the house.  Or very rarely in the winter if we truly don't break a sweat, I may let it go.

I know a gentleman from church who freely admits that he never uses soap, just rinses off head to toe daily.  His car and his person smell horrible.  We gag on the smell.

I have a family member who claims that her vulva stinks after being cleased with soap, so she gave it up years ago.  Guess what?!  She still reeks of crotch rot! 

If, and only if, we lived in a place with four distinct seasons and the winters were cold and we truly did not get sweaty, I could understand letting my kids go a day in between baths/showers.  But we live in a state where the air is sticky with humidity for about 10 months out of the year.  Thus, we bathe daily.  My kids wash hair daily.  And soap is mandatory each and every time.  I occasionally skip a day of washing my hair, but it chemically over-processed and naturally dry and frizzy anyway.

I guess this is the only non-crunchy thing about me.  :)