If you are a hygienic human, you probably wash your hair a few times a week. Everyone knows how to wash their hair. You hop in, suds, lather, rinse, condition, rinse, done…right? WRONG!! There really is a science to washing your hair and just by taking a few simple, fast extra steps you can be so much closer to good hair days every day, less washes per week, and less damage on your hair!

These tips are especially great if you have long hair, or are growing out your hair, but if you have short hair most of these tricks can still apply!

BEFORE YOU EVEN GET IN

Brush out your hair if it’s long and tagley! If you start your shower with tangled hair, you’ll end your shower in even worse shape. Your hair is strongest when it’s completely dry and weakest when it’s soaking wet, so by removing the tangles before your shower, you are reducing potential breakage afterward.

SHOWER TIME

This might seem self explanatory… but get your hair SUPER wet. Not like, damp…like soaking wet. Make sure to move your hair around a bit to get every strand soaked. The dryer/more damaged your hair is, the quicker it will absorb moisture. The healthier your hair is, it may take a bit longer to soak in all of that water.

Now that your hair is thoroughly soaked, start with a little shampoo and add to it. If your bottle has a pump on it, I always recommend starting with one pump! Yes! Just one! Place the first dollop of shampoo all around your hairline and work toward the crown of your head. Make sure to place shampoo along your back hairline too! If you feel like one pump isn’t sudsing up enough, that’s ok! Add another pump to the areas where you haven’t directly placed shampoo before and start work in it in.

If you still aren’t getting a good suds, before you add a gallon of shampoo to your head, try adding water instead! Water is kind of like an activator for suds. It helps the shampoo work better and can make it spread more easily.

This part is essential: get in there and scrub!! Make sure to not miss any spots! Go crazy! Focus on all the tiny areas you never even paid attention to before, like right in front of your ears, the very front hairline and the nape of your neck. If you have a dry, itchy, flaky scalp, this is the time to really hone in on those areas a loosen up all of that dry debris. I really bring attention to the back of the head near the hard bone that protrudes, that is the spot most clients tend to neglect. My arms literally get tired sometimes when I’m washing my own hair. I treat it like an event, it’s a big deal!

Now it’s time to rinse, but as you rinse, agitate your hair a little. Think of it like a washing machine, helping to loosen and rinse all of that soap out of your clothes. I like to move my hands in circular motions to help get all the loosened up dry flakes out, and help the shampoo rinse completely clean.

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THE SECOND SHAMPOO

Now here’s the secret for the best hair of your life…shampoo your hair again! I know, crazy, right?! This is why we didn’t add 70 pumps of shampoo the first time, because we’re going to do it all again! A second shampoo is absolutely necessary if you only wash your hair 2-3 times per week. Your hair is simply not getting clean with one shampoo. If you’ve only been shampooing one time when you wash, it’s possible that any scalp issues you may be having could be related to oil, dirt, and product buildup not getting removed while you wash. There’s simply just too much.

Think about how you wouldn’t put a dirty plate with caked-on spaghetti sauce directly into to dishwasher, you would probably rinse it off first, right? Or maybe you would just soak it. But either way, that plate wouldn’t come out clean without a little pre-cleaning action. Your hair is no different!

If you wash your hair daily or every other day, a double shampoo might not be needed and that’s ok. But if you want to try double shampooing, it wouldn’t hurt. Give it a whirl! The second shampoo will lather like a dream and you can make sure to get every little spot that the first wash might have missed. After all, if it didn’t lather the first time, you probably had some caked-on gunk in there…

CONDITIONER TIME

Now it’s everyone’s favorite: conditioner! Apply conditioner starting from your ears and working down. Avoid the top of your head until the very end. I like to part my hair down the back and work in two sections and I slowly add conditioner and lightly comb thru my hair with my fingers. Again, don’t take a giant glob and slather it all over. It’s not getting evenly distributed and it wastes product. Start small and add.

If you have long hair, keep a wide tooth comb or wet brush in your shower. I use this one every time I wash and it has seriously changed my hair! (especially wavy + curly girls!) Once your conditioner is in, use your comb to detangle your hair. This also helps distribute the product more efficiently for maximum benefits!

After you’re all detangled, clip your hair on top of your head and let your conditioner soak in! The longer you let it sit, the better! I use this time to shave my legs, scrub my face, clean my shower, or just get lost in thought. All that moisturizing goodness gets to soak into your strands while you relax. Your hair will thank you!

After you’ve marinated thoroughly and done everything else you needed to do in the shower, you can unclip your hair and rinse for the final time. If I’m feeling ambitious or I just came from hot yoga I’ll do a cold rinse to close my cuticle and seal in all of that goodness, but let’s be real it’s February and no one wants to do that…so it’s not necessary. As you rinse, make sure to agitate slightly again to make sure you rinse everything out!

AN ASIDE ON PRODUCT SELECTION

You can follow these steps with ANY shampoo and conditioner and see results. Your scalp will feel better, your ends will feel more moisturized, your hair will stay clean for longer, and hopefully you won’t have to wash as much.

However, if drugstore shampoo and conditioner is what fits into your budget (No judgement! We’ve all been there!) I would just encourage you to do your research on the ingredients in your product to make sure there are no heavy waxes, plastics, or non-water-soluble silicones such as dimethicone and amodimethicone that can leave a long-term residue on your hair! These are typically the culprits of heavy build-up and limp, lifeless hair that won’t hold a style.

I’ve also mentioned to some that I love to use a detoxifying/clarifying shampoo for my first wash to really get my scalp and hair clean. I love this one for heavy product buildup or irritated scalps (we carry this in the salon, it’s amazing a feels minty on your scalp), this one for hard water, and this one if you’re on a budget.

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What do you think, have you been doing it wrong this whole time or do you feel like your shampoo routine could use a little revamp? Do you feel like your hair is actually clean after you wash it? Let me know!