Happy Valentines Day!
In the name of love, lets talk about one way you can love your hair... by washing it like a professional. Here are the 6 steps to correctly wash your hair to keep it healthy, shiny, soft and clean!
1. Start with a warm rinse. Thoroughly rinsing your hair in warm water will help loosen oil and other debris from your hair shaft and scalp before shampooing. If you rinse well before applying shampoo, you won't need to use as much to cleanse your hair.
2. If you have long hair, protect the ends You can protect the ends of your hair in a few ways. One way is to only lather at the scalp! If your hair is long and you are lathering through to the ends, you are stripping your hair of precious moisture.
The only reason to shampoo the lengths and ends of your hair is to remove product build-up. Buildup can occur if you use styling products with hold or if you use a lot of products that contain silicone as a high listed ingredient on the ingredient panel.
Another way to protect your hair is to apply conditioner or an oil treatment through the mid-lengths and ends before you shampoo. When you rinse the shampoo through your hair from your scalp, you will remove the excess moisture and leave your hair silkier when it dries.
3 Be gentle! Friction can permanently damage the cuticle of your hair (the outside layer). You don't need to scrub shampoo into your hair for it to do its job. Chemically speaking, shampoo attaches to the oil on your scalp and in your hair and then that oil is rinsed down the drain.
If you like the feeling of a good scalp massage, do so with a pre-shampoo treatment (a hot oil treatment, for example) instead of with your shampoo.
4. Don’t repeat your shampoo unless your hair needs it. Unless you have a massive amount of oil or product on your hair, repeating your shampoo is unnecessary.
5. Add conditioner from the mid-lengths to the tips. Conditioner should not need to be applied near the scalp. If your hair is dry at the scalp after shampooing once, you are using the wrong shampoo for your type. Try a more moisturizing shampoo if you have a dry scalp or your hair is damaged throughout the entire hair shaft.
Leave conditioner on for at least two minutes. If you have thick hair, using a wide tooth comb to evenly distribute the conditioner can also help you to use less. Tip: Don't use a brush in the shower! Your hair is more fragile while it is wet, so you will damage your hair less by either finger-combing or using a wide tooth comb.
6. Finish with a cold water rinse. Cold water helps the hair retain the moisture from your conditioner by closing the hair cuticle to seal the hair shaft. FYI: People with bleached, fragile hair should never let hot water touch there hair! Use only warm water to wash and cold water to rinse.
