Here’s an excerpt from an email from Newly Natural Tanya:
I’ve been working out a lot lately (sometimes everyday). So, I’ve been either co-washing or rinsing after each work out session. I’ve heard that this is too much but I’ve also heard that if you don’t wash the sweat from your scalp the sweat turns to salt and will clog your pores. Do you co-wash or rinse your hair after each workout?
Tanya, good for you for working out so often. Personally, I do not rinse or cowash after every workout. I kind of just base it on how my hair feels at the time. If you feel like you need to cowash or rinse, then by all means do it. However, sweat has never affected my pores. I do end up washing my hair alot more than I normally would because of my frequent swimming. But I have gone as long as 2 weeks without washing or rinsing, though when working out heavily, I would probably at least rinse once a week.
From what I’ve read in the past, the pore clogging occurs on other parts of the body such as most of the torso and other areas. This can cause a type of acne called “Sweat Acne”.
Here are several good articles on the subject:
A stylist’s work is never done -The stylist Ouidad explains that we don’t need to wash after every workout
Natural Hair and the Gym -NappyCurlyCrown has some great suggestions here, one of which was to spritz the hair with a mixture that contains rosemary, peppermint oil, or tea tree oil, all of which I use here and there.
But again, it’s also just personal preference.
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I also work out daily and I have been cowashing after each workout (only because I style my hair for work afterwards and it’s easier that way). I haven’t noticed anything negative from this process. If anything, my hair is growing faster than ever
Also, when I was blow-drying and flat-ironing my hair weekly, I still worked out daily and I never had scalp problems even with the sweat and buildup of the week.
Well, I have my big hair wash day routine (shampoo or cowash, DC, style) on the weekends so I don’t know if this applies to me per se. But I’ve started to work out five days a week (and rest on the weekends) and I rinse my hair in the middle of the week if it feels like it needs to be rinsed. I hope that makes sense.
So yeah, I don’t think you have to do that, but if it works for you, your routine, and your hair then keep on keepin on. It’s just experimentation. Try only rinsing/cowashing in the middle of the week and see how your hair does with that. Might work out as well.
SO glad you posted this…I almost never rinse or wash after a workout and my hair seems fine. Maybe it’s because I don’t sweat in my head a lot…or at least not to the point where my scalp or hair (which is usually still in its fat twists or plaits from the night before) suffers.
However, when I swim or do Bikram yoga, the hair definitely has to get washed!