How to Wash Your Hair

This is a process so common you’ve been doing it since you can remember. Believe it or not, there is actually a proper way to wash your hair to ensure that you are getting the most bounce, shine, and health to your strands while also avoiding any potential damage. Here are the correct hair-washing techniques:

Rinse first

• Before adding your shampoo, it’s imperative that you get your entire scalp wet first. Hot water is best to start with since it will open up the cuticle of your hair shaft, allowing for the release of any trapped or accumulated dirt and oils.

If your hair is long – condition before shampoo

• Who would have thought? If your hair goes past your shoulders, it’s more fragile and you’ll want to protect those ends with conditioner BEFORE shampoo. This will ensure that they stay healthy and moisture becomes locked in, in order to avoid breakage.

Lather at the scalp only

• Only your scalp to the nape of your neck needs to be shampooed. The rule of thump is to lather from your roots to your ends using only a quarter-sized amount of shampoo (more only if your hair is super long and/or thick). The hair is youngest at the scalp and will be the oiliest part of your strands.

Keep it gentle

• Don’t use too much friction when lathering as this can damage the cuticles of your hair, leaving you with unsightly frizz and breakage. Instead, use medium pressure with the pads of your fingertips, use vertical strokes at the scalp to lightly massage and increase blood flow to the area. Avoid using circular motions, which tend to tangle the hair.

Condition mid-length only

• Once you’ve rinsed out your shampoo (and squeezed some water out), condition from the mid-shaft of your hair down to the ends. Adding conditioner to the roots of your hair may end up weighing it down, since your scalp will already be generating enough oils. Once you’ve conditioned take a gator clip and let it sit for 5-10 minutes if you have some time before rinsing.

Always finish with cold

• Cold water will seal the cuticles (as you remember hot water opened them) causing them to shine and reflect natural light once dried.