You can wash off your Ash Wednesday ashes whenever you need to; there is no official church rule about how long they must stay on.

Quick Scoop

  • The Catholic Church does not set a required time to keep the ashes on.
  • Many people keep them on for the rest of the day as a simple witness of faith, then wash them off at night before bed.
  • You can remove them earlier if you have work, social situations, skin sensitivity, or just feel uncomfortable. This is not considered a sin.
  • You should not still have them on by the next morning (Thursday); most pastoral advice is to remove them by then at the latest.

Common “when to wash off” choices

  • Right after Mass :
    People who have work, meetings, or messy jobs sometimes wash them off immediately; this is allowed and a matter of personal conscience.
  • After you get home / end of the day :
    A lot of Catholics let the ashes be a visible sign during the day, then wash them off with normal face washing that evening.
  • Definitely not the next day :
    Pastoral guidance generally says that keeping ashes on into Thursday undermines the sign and just looks strange; better to wash them before going out again.

Simple rule of thumb

  • Keep them on as long as it helps you remember repentance and witness gently to others.
  • Wash them off as soon as they become impractical, distracting, or you’re heading into the next day.

TL;DR: For “when to wash off Ash Wednesday” ashes, it’s your choice: anytime after Mass is okay, most people wait until that night, and you should not still wear them on Thursday.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.