new thread
Hi, just a question.
I shampoo every day. Can too much damage my hair? If don't shampoo my hair turns very greasy.
Thanks!
I have the same problem. I only use cold water for washing. To avoid too much shampooing I use a glass with a lot of water and less shampoo init, shake it and let in run over my head. With the fingers I distribute the fluid carefully over all the hair. After having it rinse out I distribute conditioner, not on the head, only on the hairs hanging down, and rinse it out. It seems to work. To avoid damages a comb with big distance between the teeth is helpful (avoid plastic combs, the tip of the teeth should be rounded).
Hair, like your hands, should be washed whenever it becomes dirty--and this differs (as with hands) from person to person, activity to activity. Your hair turns greasy because oils from the scalp are secreted at the hair root and pass along the hair shaft towards the end--nature's way of keeping the hair from drying out. The amount and rate of coverage depends upon the individual. But once hair becomes greasy, it begins to collect dirt and dust from the air, one's clothes
(of those with long hair), etc. and certainly needs to be shampooed.
It is not so much how OFTEN you shampoo but with WHAT you shampoo. Just one shampooing a week with an inferior product can do more damage than ten shampoos in just one day with a quality shampoo. You must already have had enough experience with a number of hair cleansing products to know what I mean.
Find a shampoo or shampoo/conditioner combination which leaves your hair soft(not dry/brittle) , shiny (not dull without highlights) and manageable (tangle-free)--and go for it! You cannot get enough of a good thing.
And I want to second the motion (proposed by wolfgang) regarding wide-toothed combs: far superior to the others!
The problem is not dirt, per se. It is "gunkiness", which causes oil to lose its ability to perform its purpose: prevent tangles. Gunkiness can be caused by dirt adhering to the oil or a conditioner that was put there in lieu of oil. It can also be caused by the deterioration of the oil or conditioner itself, so you will need to wash even though your hair has not been exposed to dirt. Natural oil deteriorates enough to notice in about a day, and other products can vary either side of that. Sun and wind can speed up deterioration, also.
Or just washed with water. Water, particularly hot water, will remove most dirt and all natural oil. It may not remove some conditioners. Hot water alone can wash your hair a bit more harshly than you might want.
You can vary the harshness by varying the temperature and quantity of the water, or whatever else you are using on your hair. Go for the minimum amount of harshness that will get the job done of cleaning your hair.
Whoa! Ten washings a day with anything, no matter how mild, is going to be a hair killer. Would you want to wash your face ten times a day? Think of what that would do to your complexion! The oils that your face needs are pretty much the same stuff that your scalp makes to meet your hair's needs. If you wash the heck out of your face, your hands, or other skin, of course damage is quickly repaired since the repairing cells are just a millimeter away. Damage to your hair, though, once it has grown away from the folicle, is permanent, and cumulative day after day.
A survey on here a couple of years back revealed that most longhairs wash between "every other day" and "twice a week". A few do it once a week or once a day, but they are in the minority. As the saying goes, "your mileage may vary". I have fragile hair that gets gunky quickly, so I have to go for "very mild, and often", but others' hair may be different.
Experience indeed is what leads to our knowing which products to use, how often to use them, and how harshly to apply them each time.
Well, you can - also, those three things are not necessarily going to come your way concurrently. Some products will look gorgeous and tangle like crazy. Some will vary over time - they'll look great in the morning but drive you nuts with tangles by nightfall.
On that I wholeheartedly concur! I find an afro pick the best wide-toothed comb, because its long teeth reach deep enough to comb all my thick wavy hair. It is also narrow enough that all its teeth fit in my pocket, which means they will not get scuffed by stuff I sit on. That can later damage hair.