‘Water, that’s the best way!’ Stephen Fry reveals that he hasn’t washed his hair with shampoo for EIGHT years
He recently revealed that he was made to feel ‘undesirable’ in the early 80s and hated the London gay scene at the time.
But Stephen Fry put his troubles aside as he revealed that he has not washed his hair with shampoo for nearly a decade.
Speaking on the Homo Sapiens podcast, the actor, 62, said: ‘It’s been about seven or eight years now, I don’t use shampoo.
Candid: Stephen Fry, 62, has revealed that he has not washed his hair with shampoo for nearly a decade
‘I just stand under a shower. Water. That’s the best way.
‘When you think about it all you people who use shampoo and conditioner, all you do is strip all the oils out and make it ridiculously flyaway with shampoo.’
He added that he treated his skin in a similar way and avoided laborious grooming routines with skin creams after shaving.
Instead the QI host said the occasional lather as soap was as far as he would go.
It comes after Stephen Fry revealed he was made to feel ‘undesirable’ in the early 80s and hated the London gay scene at the time.
The writer said he struggled with loneliness after moving to the capital during the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.
Speaking to Chris Sweeney and Alan Cumming on the Queer Icons episode of the podcast Homo Sapiens, as quoted in Metro, the comedian said: ‘I always hated what was called “the scene” when I arrived in London – I arrived in London at a bad time for any gay person, in 1981 during the HIV virus.
‘I remember hearing about GRID – gay related immune deficiency and all kinds of other strange words… we’d go to Heaven and various other gay clubs and a sweet gay bar in Chelsea, The Queen’s Head.
‘Undesirable’: Actor and writer Stephen Fry (pictured in February) has opened up about his difficult experiences trying to take part in the London gay scene in the 1980s
‘And I didn’t mind the little old pub but the look up and down sweeping eyes as you walk into a club and, in my case, the look up and down and the quick turn away. I’m such an undesirable person. I’m as far from cute as it’s possible to be.
‘Not that I particularly wanted to be… also I just don’t like dance places, I like talking.’
The Blackadder star’s loneliness and feelings of mental discomfort continued into the 1990s when he had a nervous breakdown and walked out of the West End play Cell Mates.
He contemplated suicide before resurfacing in Belgium. Stephen has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has often spoken bravely about how it affects him.
Difficult period: The funnyman, pictured in 1983, moved to London in 1981 when the AIDS pandemic was starting to take hold around the world