Are You Shampooing Your Hair Properly?

Hi Guys,

Today I wanted to write a post with some helpful tips on shampooing the hair. You may be thinking "yeah I know how to shampoo my hair, I do it all the time! But you would be surprised at how many clients I come across who don't wash their hair right.

If you don't wash your hair properly you eventually end up with a build up of dirt and grease that can make the hair limp and greasy and you may think you have hair that gets greasy quickly when infact if you washed it right your hair would be lovely, full and shiney and you could go a few days between washes. (This obviously doesn't apply to everyone because some people have over active sebaceous glands that produces too much oil on the scalp making the hair look greasy.)

I'm training to be a hairdresser (I only have until June until i'm qualified, yipee!) and the first thing we study is the structure of the hair and how shampooing and conditioning affects the hair. So I thought I would share some of what I have learned so you have a better understanding of what happens when you shampoo your hair :).

So basically the hair shaft resembles little fish scales. This is called the cuticle, and when you wash the hair the shampoo lifts those fish scales up ever so slightly and all the dirt and grease on your hair clings to the shampoo, then washes off the hair when the shampoo is rinsed off.

There are different shampoo's for different hair types and it's helpful if you can identify your hair type and use the right shampoo for you. For instance if your hair is quite coarse from using too many heated styling tools or bleaching the hair then you want to get a moisturising shampoo. If you have flat hair you want to be using a volumizing shampoo. I personally love the  VO5 RANGE if you are on a budget. If not, then Wella is what we use in the salon and it's fantastic.

So now you know a little bit about how shampooing works, I'll give you a step by step guide on how to shampoo the hair properly.

1. Wet hair fully

2. Squeeze a walnut size blob of shampoo onto your hand

3. Run your hands through the length of the hair from root to tip spreading the shampoo evenly

4. Using a firm pressure* (obviously not hurting yourself though) rub the scalp in small, fast circles using the pads of your fingers, work all over the head and include the length and ends of the hair. Your hair probably won't lather that well at this point but that's ok it's not supposed to! 

*Note - If you tend to have hair that gets greasy quickly then rub the scalp gently. If you are too hard this stimulates the sebaceous glands that produce oil on the scalp and can leave you with greasy straight away.

5. Rinse shampoo off.

6. Using another blob of shampoo around the same size or smaller repeat the process. - The hair should lather up really really well and this is when the hair is really properly cleaned!

7. Rinse shampoo off and use conditioner if needed. This adds moisture to the hair and closes the fish scales so they all lay flat. This leaves your hair lovely and shiney! :)

Like this .. 

:D

I'm going to be talking about blow drying the hair soon as well, so if you want to find out some useful tips then follow me! :)

Did you learn something from these tips or did you do it right all along? If you have any hair questions feel free to ask me in the comments below.

Until next time..

Carly x