How to Shampoo “Correctly”

As we all know, your personal hair texture defines what products, techniques, styling methods, etc. that you will use. Shampooing has the same effect. Not everyone will shampoo their hair the same way. This blog will be focusing on the basic way to “correctly” shampoo your hair.

Why did I put quotations around correctly? Because yes, this method I’m about to inform you about is a more knowledgeable technique for washing your hair; however, you may not use this method every time, or it may not work for your hair type. Regardless, let’s learn some facts about how to wash our hair that may help with dryness, flakey scalp, itchy scalp, oiliness, and more!

Recently I made a post comparing a drug-store shampoo to a professional shampoo. Check it out to better understand what ingredients are likely in your shampoo that could be causing dryness, oiliness, flakes, etc. However, before switching up your shampoo, let’s take a look at how you’re washing your hair. Do you apply shampoo all over from scalp to ends? Do you apply conditioner all over from scalp to ends? Do you thoroughly scrub your scalp? Do you shampoo once or twice? How often do you wash your hair? All great questions to ask yourself, and all could be reasons to cause the problems listed above.

There are all kinds of shampoos made for all kinds of reasons: anti-dandruff, oil shampoo, color treated, basic clarifying, purple shampoo, and more. But for the most part, shampoo is used for one common reason. To clean the hair. This is great. This is what we need. But, if we’re using it wrong, it can dry out our hair and create breakage or split ends.

When I used to wash my hair, I would lather my shampoo all over my scalp and then on my ends. Then, I would complain about how dry my hair was because, little did I know, I was not shampooing correctly. Now I apply shampoo throughout my scalp and scrub my scalp with my fingertips (sometimes fingernails depending on how dirty it was) and DO NOT put shampoo on my mids or ends. When I rinse my hair of the shampoo, it’s going to run through my mids and ends, so don’t freak out about cleaning off old product. HOWEVER, I do this when I haven’t had much product through my mids and ends. If I scrunch my hair and use lots of products over and over, then yes sometimes i will run some shampoo through my ends, but I do not lather/scrub, and I do NOT do this very often!

How many times should I shampoo? Always shampoo twice. This is also another great reason to not apply that shampoo through your ends because they’re getting cleansed twice. The first shampoo breaks up all of the product buildup, oils, etc. on the scalp. The second shampoo clarifies your scalp leaving it clean and dry with no oil or product buildup.

We all know this fancy little tool called the scalp scrubber. They’re price friendly, and help get the product/oil buildup off your scalp. They also help massage oils into the hair follicle if you choose to do a scalp oiling treatment (I also have a blog focused on scalp oiling). However, they are not necessary. Your hands work just fine, but yes your arms are going to get tired. If you suffer with hand/wrist/arm issues, one of these tools may be your best friend.

When scrubbing your scalp, it should not hurt or feel like you’re “scratching” your scalp. You’re technically massaging your scalp with a bit of pressure to free all of that buildup formed around your hair follicles. This is going to allow those follicles to breathe. Ever wonder why your stylist gives those awesome “head scratches“ followed by the amazing massage? Now you know!

There are many reasons for someone to see flakes in their hair, and one could possibly be from not scrubbing properly when washing your hair. Usually, your stylist can tell the difference between these flakes or something more serious. If they don’t point it out, feel free to ask them.

So, what have we learned?

- Always shampoo twice.

- Don’t apply shampoo to your mids ends. (at least not every wash)

- Be sure to get that buildup off your scalp.

Another tip:

Only apply conditioner to your mids and ends. Do not put conditioner on your scalp. Conditioner provides our ends with moisture (shampoo strips moisture). Our scalp has something called sebaceous glands. These provide what’s called sebum. Sebum is oil. Therefore, our scalp creates it’s own moisture, so we don’t need the conditioner adding more. This could result in more oiliness.

Again, let me remind you that everyone is different! If you have any doubts or confusion, feel free to reach out to me, or ask your stylist!