Double Washing Hair
By Jabo
@jaboUK (64354)
United Kingdom
December 2, 2020 8:45am CST
While washing my hair today I got a sudden backflash to how my mother used to do it for me when I was little. I used to hate it.
We didn't have a shower or even a bathroom, and no hot water on tap. She would heat the water in a tub then stand me on a box and put my head face down over the kitchen sink.
She'd give me a facecloth to hold over my eyes, proceed to wash my hair, then rinse it. Then she'd do it all over again. What?? To my 4 year-0ld self once was bad enough without having to go through it again.
I can't remember if we had real shampoo but she probably just used soap. She'd add a dash of vinegar to the final rinse to make it shine.
After a rough towelling the hair would be left to dry naturally - no hairdryers in those days.
Then it would all have to be done again the next week! Yes, only once a week in those days.
Photo of my garden, couldn't find anything to fit the post.
48 people like this
46 responses
@much2say (55616)
• Los Angeles, California
2 Dec 20
I just had a flashback! Even though we did have a bathroom and all, my mom washed our hair in the bathroom sink. We did have hot water, so it wasn't so bad. But what I really enjoyed was the rinse . . . she kept a brown bowl filled with cold water . . . and I loved that chill when the cold water was poured over my head. We didn't use hairdryers either - and I think we only washed our hair once a week too.
5 people like this
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@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
2 Dec 20
@jaboUK seals the pores 'n makes yer hair jest shine :) i still've no hair dryer, lol.
2 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104628)
• United States
2 Dec 20
Mine was washed over the kitchen sink nine times out of ten, and yes it was double washed. I"m not sure why because it did seem rather silly.
4 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104628)
• United States
2 Dec 20
@jaboUK Guess it was just easier for the people doing it. I'd stand on a stool or in a chair and bend my head. It was uncomfortable.
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
2 Dec 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum That's the word - uncomfortable.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (30402)
• United Kingdom
2 Dec 20
I usually wash my hair once a week. And I never use a hairdryer - I hate the time spent just sitting there, and I hate the noise. And it isn't very good for your hair anyway!
Funnily enough, I have just bought a 'shampoo bar' to try (like a bar of soap - the idea being that we don't have to keep disposing of plastic bottles all the time) and the instructions recommend rinsing with vinegar.
I haven't tried it yet, will have to let you know how it goes!
4 people like this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
2 Dec 20
@MALUSE My hair is fairly healthy too but it's pretty much pure white now. Can't be bothered with dyeing it.
Regarding the vinegar - I do say in the post that mother 'added a dash of vinegar to the final rinse'. That's not the same as rinsing with vinegar.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (247186)
• United States
2 Dec 20
When I spent overnights at my grandmother’s house, she did the same thing using the kitchen sink and facecloth, but shampooed once with Halo shampoo and warm water. Twice if I had been swimming in the ocean behind her house. When I was old enough, she let me use one of the bathrooms, but supervised! 
4 people like this
@GreatMartin (23672)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
2 Dec 20
I love seeing posts of your garden(s)!!!
I get a crewcut twice a year so I don't even have to waste a minute 'shampooing'!!!
2 people like this
@Tampa_girl7 (50258)
• United States
2 Dec 20
I still shampoo, rinse and repeat before conditioning.
3 people like this
@hostessman (11871)
• Tucson, Arizona
2 Dec 20
so many things were done quite different in those old days. lot of things make me laugh now but back then they were not fun or funny. how are you doing
3 people like this
@hostessman (11871)
• Tucson, Arizona
2 Dec 20
@jaboUK thank you, i am doing pretty good
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (82798)
• United States
2 Dec 20
I remember getting my hair washed once a week too ( on sat night) dont remember if it was double washed but rinsing with vinegar was part of the ritual. After my hair dried my mom would put it in tight pin curls which I hated.
3 people like this
@thelme55 (77081)
• Germany
2 Dec 20
When I was small, my mother used to bathe me near our water pump in our front yard with clothes on. Then shampooed me with a soap bar she used in washing the clothes. She rinsed my hair then put fresh coconut milk on my hair as a conditioner. It was a ritual every day as we bath every day including our hair. It was my good old days in the Philippines.
2 people like this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
2 Dec 20
I well remember having my hair washed as you describe, with a folded flannel over my eyes (the soap often got into them, despite the flannel). I don't think I ever had my hair washed twice, though, but then I was a boy with shorter hair, so perhaps that was the reason. I know that shampoo was unheard of and that dish soap (Pears, when we had it) was always used.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
2 Dec 20
@jaboUK I don't think we had carbolic soap, though there was carbolic acid powder in the medicine cabinet. It was used on cuts and grazes and, as I recall, didn't sting quite as much as hydrogen peroxide.
We had large, green bars of Fairy soap for washing clothes &c. That was definitely not for washing oneself or one's hair though I didn't see what harm it would do: it smelt nice and seemed OK.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (89883)
• Arvada, Colorado
2 Dec 20
Lovely photo Jabo!
I remember Mama RIP washing our hair in buckets of the lovely rain water back then.
Then when I lived in England I remember a nice shampoo I used to use called Sunsilk.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (89883)
• Arvada, Colorado
2 Dec 20
@jaboUK Yes I did many years ago. For a good few years I miss it so.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
2 Dec 20
@RebeccasFarm It's a great place to live.
1 person likes this
