I love watching entertainment news, much to my partner’s disgust.  He can’t understand why celebrity news interests anyone — much like I can’t understand why the rugby scores should be worth an hour’s worth of internet surfing every Sunday morning. But whatever: he can read his rugby blogs as long as he allows me to get my entertainment fix.

I caught a gem on the E channel last week.  Debra Messing and Salma Hayek were on the red carpet with hairdresser Robert Vetica, who’s just written his own book – From Good to Great Hair: Celebrity Hairstyling Techniques Made Simple – featuring Salma on the cover. Debra Messing confided to the camera: “You know what the secret to great hair in Hollywood is?  Don’t wash it.”  Vetica had apparently taught Messing this simple principle.  Now, Messing goes three days in between washes.

I wish I’d learned this principle when I was younger.  I was a daily hair-washer until two years ago, when my hair started falling out in clumps due to a stressful situation at work.  I went to the best salon in town, and they told me to stop washing it.  “I can’t!” I wailed.  “My hair gets all sweaty when I go to the gym.”  “Well…”  The hairdresser shrugged, as if to say that I had to accept the consequences.

I knew then that I had to do something.  So, every other day, I stuck my hair up in a ponytail and tried to ignore it.  It was greasy, and I felt disgusting.  Having clean hair was part of being clean.

I also took my hairdresser’s advice and bought a boar bristle brush to brush my hair every night.  Apparently, the only reason we need modern conditioners is because we don’t distribute the oil evenly through our hair by brushing our hair 100 times before bed.  Brushing with natural bristles distributes the oil from the scalp onto the ends of the hair, which are naturally drier.

It took a few months of feeling disgusting, but my hair eventually adjusted.  It stopped overloading on the oil production, and I was even able to wear my hair down on days that I didn’t wash it.  So I tried to extend out that time even further.  I went two days without washing.

Sure enough, my hair’s own natural oils began to renew its lustre.  I realized that all those pricey conditioning masks and hot oil treatments were simply ways of making money; all your hair really needs is a good few days of steeping in its own oil.  If you can handle the feeling of greasy hair for a few days, your hair will be extraordinary soft and conditioned by the time you wash it again.

If you’re a daily hair washer who hates the thought of greasy hair, take a tip from Debra Messing.  If you truly want great hair, if you wantHollywood hair, then you may need to lay off the shampoo.  Personally, I’d rather condition my hair the free way rather than pay for pricey salon treatments.  Wouldn’t you?