Hair is such an imp
ortant part of appearance and beauty. Everyone loves the feeling of clean washed hair, but no one really likes to take the extra time out of his or her day to take the proper steps. If we ever want strong healthy hair, following the right routine will allow us to achieve this goal. In this blog posts, I will explain the proper steps to getting a clean well prepped head.
There are two two big sections of hair: the roots and the ends. The roots and scalp are where all the new hair grows. The ends of the hair shaft are the oldest part of the hair. They are the most dry and brittle section, so they need extra attention during the moisturizing and conditioning part when taking care of the hair.
Before washing we want to give a little TLC to the roots. As stated before, the scalp is the center for hair growth, so we need to increase the bloodflow to this area. For this we can take natural oils such as peppermint, lavender, jojoba, or coconut, and use it to massage the scalp. These oils will provide the slip needed when maneuvering through all the tangles from the past few days. You can either leave the oils in for a pre-poo treatment or jump straight to the washing step.
If you have thin hair, washing your hair all at once might be easy, but this isn’t the same for people with thick coarse hair. If you find your hair unmanageable while washing, I recommend washing in sections. This will keep all the hair in the proper place and make the process a lot easier.
Before we can get to cleaning, we need to pick out a proper shampoo. It is easily one of the biggest decisions to make simply because there are just so many available to use. We all want a shampoo to leave the hair feeling clean, but not stripped. Our cleanser needs make us question if professional products are really worth the price. I would say they aren’t. There are a number of inexpensive cleansers that give us our desired results. When picking one out, just make sure it doesn’t contain any dyes, sulfates, or parabens. These substances often strip the hair of the natural oils and irritate the scalp. Safe traditional shampoos can be found in the Shea Moisture, Pureology, and Kinky Curly hair lines. A less stripping alternative to shampoo is a cleansing conditioner or cowash. These untraditional cleansers don’t lather and leave the hair and scalp clean and super soft. A natural option is apple cider vinegar diluted with water. This cleanser restores the scalp’s natural pH and rem
oves and product build up. All the shampoo options are good, just be aware of how your hair responds to each one.
When it’s time to wash the hair, make sure to focus on the roots. This is where most of the sebum build up occurs, so we need to clear the scalp of that and the other oils we placed on the scalp while massaging it. While rinsing the shampoo out, the cleanser will reach the rest of the hair shaft, cleaning it of product build up, but not striping the already dry part of the hair.
After washing, the hair should be ready for conditioning. Conditioner provides the slip needed to detangle the hair. I find that choosing a conditioner doesn’t require much thought. Just have to check for drying substances such as alcohols and dyes.
When we are ready, apply the conditioner on wet hair focusing on the ends and less on the roots. We just cleaned the roots; we don’t want to start piling on the products. As we detangle with the conditioner, we want to use our fingers and hands only. Hair tools such as combs and brushes often pull out much of the hair because aren’t used gently when getting rid of tangles. However the fingers allow us to feel the knots and work them out the hair the proper way. After detangling, rinse the hair out with lukewarm to warm water.
Treating the hair after washing and conditioning is essential to the health and strength of the hair. It adds moisture back into the hair shaft and strengthens the weak areas. Some of my favorite deep conditioners come from the Shea Moisture and Cream of Nature lines. Natural alternatives include oils like the ones used during massaging, bananas, avocados, and eggs. We 
want to apply these products again focusing on the ends and working our way up the shaft. Leave the treatment
on for an hour to overnight while the hair is covered with a shower cap or plastic bag. This traps in all the heat from the head which opens the hair shaft allowing these lovely moisturizing ingredients to penetrate through.
After the treatment rinse the hair out with cold water only. This closes the hair shaft and locks in all the moisture. When it’s time to dry the hair, never use a cotton towel. They are super absorbent and will suck all the nutrients that we just gained from our treatment. Instead use a microfiber towel or old t-shirt.
I hope you learned a lot more about washing your hair. Thank you for reading!
After this blog post, I honestly feel so cool because I’ve been using SheaMoisture for about a year. I actually originally started using it because it was cruelty free, but after seeing the effects it had on my hair and on my skin, I couldn’t stop using it. I use it for everything: shampoo, body wash, and lotion. Anyway enough about me, I actually didn’t know that hair required so much maintenance. I will definitely start to take my hair a little more seriously. Again, I loved the pictures.
This blog post, like the others before it, was extremely interesting and useful. I’m pretty much just shampoo and condition my hair without putting any thought into it, so I’ll have to apply what I learned. I like how you again recommended natural products, which don’t put as many harmful chemicals into our body. The pictures are relevant and really add to what you are writing. I did see a few grammar mistakes and left-out words, but nothing that detracted and incredible amount.