Don't wash your hair during THAT time of the month?

sharifeh

sharifeh

Well-Known Member
Thank you!! I was waiting for this! :lol:

It's because of cramps. I avoid a bath or shower or certainly washing my hair the first 24 hours of my period. This is essential for me and many women I know. Twice I disregarded this rule, and took a shower the w/ in the first 24 hours of my period starting, and my cramps more than doubled, it was hell. The first time, I was just like f-this I want to shower. Big mistake. The second time, my period had started like 15 minutes after my shower, and I knew it was coming too. My cramps were a lot worse.
It's frustrating to wait a whole day to shower, but it's worth it. My first day is already Hell, taking a shower makes is so much worse. It definitely is due to the temperature, dark hair. :yep:

This is just me and many women in my life too. I'm sure it doesn't apply to everyone.

And I just want to clarify that I'm only talking about the first day!!!!
:lachen: before ya'll think I'm some kind of nasty chick!



DarkHair said:
The reason why you aren't supposed to wash your hair, take a BATH, or walk around barefoot (on cold floors) is due to cramps. I asked my mom why, and it makes sense to me. Its something about the cold temp that makes cramps worse. To this day (and I do mean THIS day) I wear thick socks, and take showers. I do wash my hair, but I make sure to do it all quickly and sit under the dryer often.
Click to expand...
 
chasturner84

chasturner84

Well-Known Member
sharifeh said:
Thank you!! I was waiting for this! :lol:

It's because of cramps. I avoid a bath or shower or certainly washing my hair the first 24 hours of my period. This is essential for me and many women I know. Twice I disregarded this rule, and took a shower the w/ in the first 24 hours of my period starting, and my cramps more than doubled, it was hell. The first time, I was just like f-this I want to shower. Big mistake. The second time, my period had started like 15 minutes after my shower, and I knew it was coming too. My cramps were a lot worse.
It's frustrating to wait a whole day to shower, but it's worth it. My first day is already Hell, taking a shower makes is so much worse. It definitely is due to the temperature, dark hair. :yep:

This is just me and many women in my life too. I'm sure it doesn't apply to everyone.

And I just want to clarify that I'm only talking about the first day!!!!
:lachen: before ya'll think I'm some kind of nasty chick!
Click to expand...
Girl, no one would think you were a "nasty chick"!
 
Last edited:
IrrationalThoughts

IrrationalThoughts

Well-Known Member
DarkHair said:
The reason why you aren't supposed to wash your hair, take a BATH, or walk around barefoot (on cold floors) is due to cramps. I asked my mom why, and it makes sense to me. Its something about the cold temp that makes cramps worse. To this day (and I do mean THIS day) I wear thick socks, and take showers. I do wash my hair, but I make sure to do it all quickly and sit under the dryer often.
Click to expand...


The floor thing is so true. I read it in YM when I was about 11, and it stuck with me since. I should take heed more often.
 
J

Jalen's Mom

Active Member
My grandmother use to tell me not to wash my hair when I was on my period. I asked her why, and she said that a girl had died by the river washing her hair. I could think of a host of other reasons this could have occured, but nothing that would have convinced my grandmother any different. :perplexed

I have never avoided washing my hair during my period, and I've never had any issues.
 
Lesha

Lesha

New Member
Never heard of that one... Seems like we should be even cleaner around that time of the month, washing, shaving, scrubbing, lol...
 
SerenavanderWoodsen

SerenavanderWoodsen

SkinnyMe
You know what, I remember in high school my best friend who is Peruvian said her mom said not to SHOWER during that time of the month!!!! Some superstition I think.. I'm still all ??????????? about that...
 
chasturner84

chasturner84

Well-Known Member
Jalen's Mom said:
My grandmother use to tell me not to wash my hair when I was on my period. I asked her why, and she said that a girl had died by the river washing her hair. I could think of a host of other reasons this could have occured, but nothing that would have convinced my grandmother any different. :perplexed

This is soooo not funny (a girl dying by the river and all) but I can't stop laughing at the fact that your grandmother associated the girl dying to washing her hair!! :lachen::lachen::lachen:
Click to expand...

song_of_serenity said:
I've heard it...I googled and supposedly you'll get CANCER if you wash your hair during your period. Geeze. I dunno why these old wives tales got started LOL
http://www.biology-online.org/biology-forum/about5365.html?hilit=Menses
Click to expand...
Well I'd better go get checked out! I've been washing my hair during that TOM for a looooong time! :lachen:
 
doriannc

doriannc

Well-Known Member
DivineNapps1728 said:
I've heard this before; it's some old wives tale. I've never heard any reasoning behind it, it was just something people used to say.

I think you can wash your hair & bathe anyway you want despite what time of month it is!
Click to expand...

I think it has to do with an old bible passage about how a woman is unclean, during her monthly cycle. That she should refrain from social duties and such until she is "clean" again, hence, free of her cycle.

edit: my mom, told me to take spit baths when I was on my cycle, I did that well until senior year of high school. It wasn't until I read the whole Bible, and say the passage, it started to make total sense.
 
Vintageglam

Vintageglam

New Member
Like most old wives tales I think this one is "originally" founded on pratcality as opposed to any science or superstition. That is what happens later on to foster compliance with the Old wives tale.

I suspect (and this is only my opinion) that women did not wash their hair and were seperated etc because of rationing of water and ignorance. Lets face it if you only have so much water at the TOM, you have to choose the hair down there or the hair up there other wise everyone else is gonna be pissed that you used their water. Fast forward to the invention of heated water and this myth/ old wives tale is perpetuated further for similar reasons in different circumstances (cost and availability of hot water).

Further the idea that women are unclean during the TOM and cannot touch certain things is not new. Some religions even require women to stay away from places of worship and take special baths at the end of the TOM.

Just my thoughts anyway.

ETA: the only thing I don't do at the TOM is Wax and shave ANYTHING bc my pain receptors at this time of the month are on fire. I also have to drink a hella lot more water and wear extra support scaffolding bra.
 
Last edited:
F

femmemuscle

Active Member
Europeans and the Spaniards of old never washed. Which was one reason why they had so many diseases. Plus their sewage systems were disastrous as well. I'm sure they had cramps regardless.

Queen Isabella had been known to brag about her hygiene habits: "I've only bathed twice in my lifetime, once on our wedding night, and once before the birth of our son." I'm sure she still had her share of cramps in between those two historic moments. yuk!

There were times were i had to "hump" (military term for hiking, search and rescue) with the marines in camp pendleton when i was in the navy. We couldn't bathe/shower for days at a time. We reeked, yes. But my cramps came - right on time, and with a vengence. If i didn't have that ibuprofen with me at the time, some marines would have lost their lives out there in that wilderness... some coyotes too, for that matter...

So the cramp/water theory just might be true. But then again, it's true according to the experience of the individual.

The water rationing theory makes a lot of sense, as well.
 
mzsophisticated26

mzsophisticated26

New Member
Yes my granny use to say that all the time I always ignored it. My mom told me that after she had my sister my granny almost whooped the nurses butt because they let her take a shower after she had a baby...lol she also said to wear socks and only take birdbaths. I know plenty of men that won't eat spaghetti while a women is on her period
 
M

melodies815

New Member
Stellagirl76, I really like how you clarified that old practicalities can sometimes hang around and morph in nonsensical as rules even when the external circumstances change. I really liked your explanation and think it makes a lot of sense, especially in light of some things my grandmother used to say while she was still living.

My great-grandmother told my grandmother to cut both ends off of a ham when you cook it. My grandmother then taught my mom the same thing. After years of being married, my mom started to wonder if cutting off both ends was right. She was left with about half a ham each time she cooked one.

So...she called her aunt (my grandmother's sister) and asked why she had to cut off both ends of the ham. My great-aunt replied, "Oh, baby...you don't have to cut off both ends. My mother only did that because our wood-burning oven was too small to fit a whole ham in it...and we threw the meat away because we didn't have a refrigerator when we were little girls and we didn't want to risk eating bad meat..."

My mom had been wasting about half a ham each time she cooked one - for about 10 years!!! I remember when she stopped because she told us the story and just laughed for the longest time. I'll never forget her laughter that day...you know how images get imprinted into your mind and memory??? That's a vivid one I have of my mom.

It's amazing the things we pass down without even knowing why...

cj
 
M

melodies815

New Member
mzsophisticated26 said:
Yes my granny use to say that all the time I always ignored it. My mom told me that after she had my sister my granny almost whooped the nurses butt because they let her take a shower after she had a baby...lol she also said to wear socks and only take birdbaths. I know plenty of men that won't eat spaghetti while a women is on her period
Click to expand...


Spaghetti? That sounds so strange, but I can kind of see why...and my stomach is turning, imagining why men would be grossed out by the thought getting a plate of spaghetti from a woman on her period. :lachen::lachen: Cute one, lady!!! :lachen::lachen:


cj
 
Vintageglam

Vintageglam

New Member
melodies815 said:
Spaghetti? That sounds so strange, but I can kind of see why...and my stomach is turning, imagining why men would be grossed out by the thought getting a plate of spaghetti from a woman on her period. :lachen::lachen: Cute one, lady!!! :lachen::lachen:


cj
Click to expand...


Thank God someone clarified that bvc my mind was thinking all sorts of things !!! :lachen::lachen::lachen:
 
Vintageglam

Vintageglam

New Member
I have seen this Old wives tale creating so much in Africa, esp in my Dad's culture. He is from what you would call the sticks of Nigeria. He married up class wise and when I used to visit my Dad's village as a child they did certain things for no conceivable reason except that this was the way things were always done. This meant that even if some bright young spark had a better idea the "elders" would bully that "common sense" out of them to protect the status qup of their ideas.

It was not until I was older that I began to make the link that my Dad (and sometimes my Mum) did certain things for no real reason except that was they way they knew how.
 
PhonyBaloney500

PhonyBaloney500

Well-Known Member
Maybe what happened back in the day...

Someone was washing her hair and thus took an extra long time in the bath. Drip, drip, drip happened.

Thus, the myth was passed on--don't wash your hair on your period.

PS that never happens to me anyway...
 
BostonMaria

BostonMaria

Well-Known Member
I've heard this one

I was told by a neighbor that I shouldn't paint my nails, wash my hair or remove a molar (I was on my way to the dentist) while on my period. I was a teen when she said it and thought she was crazy. I did all 3 that day to see if I would explode or something LOL
 
chasturner84

chasturner84

Well-Known Member
BostonMaria said:
I've heard this one

I was told by a neighbor that I shouldn't paint my nails, wash my hair or remove a molar (I was on my way to the dentist) while on my period. I was a teen when she said it and thought she was crazy. I did all 3 that day to see if I would explode or something LOL
Click to expand...

Say what? I would love the know where this one started.
empressri said:
Old wives tale lol my mother thought it would give you a cold!
Click to expand...

My mother thinks everything gives you either a cold or pneumonia :lachen:
 
J

jada1111

New Member
chasturner84 said:
Today was wash day and while I was sealing, my mom came in the room with this horrified look on her face. I asked her what was wrong and she said "you washed your hair?" I replied "of course. I wash my hair every week!" She said that you are never to wash your hair when you are on your period. I asked why but she just replied "you just don't do that."

Ladies, is there a valid reason why one should not wash their hair while on their period? I have never heard of this before. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

What is old school's black folks aversion to washing hair? :nono:

They give just about ANY reason NOT to do it.
 
Mz.MoMo5235

Mz.MoMo5235

Well-Known Member
lol my mom called those whore baths too lmao. i grew up thinking that's what everyone called them til i said it infront of a teacher and some class mates in middle school lmao.

also the spaghetti thing is real big for the men in my family. i joke with them about it too but they never believe me cause it would make no sense for me to do it to them. though i did date a guy who believed in that too and we were together for 2 yrs before he would eat spaghetti i made. now that i think about it more i think it was only because by then he KNEW my cycle better than i did and knew it was "safe" lol, i joked with him too... he never found it funny though
 
diva24

diva24

New Member
Christy, where did you get that story from? I've heard that one before.

My grandmother was told not to take a sit down bath because she was more "open" during that time. That also went for her scalp. But then again they didn't have showers in her day. So they took "spot baths," as mentioned before as a "spit bath."

For personal beliefs I prepare for my cycle by doing the extra cleaning around the house and personal grooming (shaving, etc) and do my own ritual when its done. Many religions and cultures require or encourage some type of ritual regarding menses. An Indian woman I know hennas after her menses but never before because it "causes an open scalp and cooling," and apparantly can cause sickness, headaches and cramps.

I have also been told not to do heavy lifting because it causes cramps and that cold water causes cramps as well. I do believe it is all individualized. Cold water and heavy lifting are no nos for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
  • Poll
How Often Do You Wash/Co-wash During the Winter?
Replies
14
Views
5K
atlien
atlien
seraphinelle
The amount of times you wash your hair..
2
Replies
30
Views
4K
danimani
D
pinkgreenmommie
"If you wash your hair one more time....
2
Replies
44
Views
6K
GoingNatural
GoingNatural
Monaleezza
Crown & Glory Wash Routine
Replies
10
Views
3K
MsKibibi
MsKibibi
M
Wash and Go's Don't Work on Nappy Hair
2
Replies
36
Views
8K
gorgeoushair
gorgeoushair
Top