Wednesday, October 1, 2008

How to Wash Your Hair Properly

By Jennifer Summers

You may or may not know this, but there is a 'right' way to wash your hair. If you have not been washing your hair properly, when you do, you should notice a big difference in the shine, bounce, health and cleanliness of your hair. But like many others, it is likely that you were never shown how to wash your hair properly and as a result you do not have the great looking hair that you really want.

Step 1. - Begin. Start by giving your hair a good brushing before you get into the shower. This will reduce hair breakage, help loosen dirt and keep to a minimum the number of hair caught in your shower drain. After you have finished brushing, you need to thoroughly and completely wet your hair using warm water (not hot). To get a good wash you need to wet your hair well as washing your hair with dry hair is hard.

Step 2. - Adding shampoo. Something that people often do is to use far too much shampoo when washing their hair. Usually they will just squeeze a good handful into their palm and then begin scrubbing away. This is definitely not the right way to wash your hair. First make sure that you are using very high quality hair care products (using the right product for your hair type) and just add a smallish amount to the palm of your hand.

Step 3. - The correct way to wash your hair. There are two common mistakes that people often make when they wash their hair: 1). Over-vigorous scrubbing/massaging 2). Rinsing too quickly. After applying the shampoo to your hair, the correct way to wash your hair is to massage your hair and scalp very gently. Scrubbing your hair and scalp does not make your hair any cleaner. After massaging your hair gently for a short while, you can leave shampoo in for up to 5 minutes to get a really good clean.

Step 4. - Rinse and Repeat. After you have given your hair a proper shampooing, you need to get al the grime, dirt and shampoo lather out of your locks. It's important that when you rinse your hair, your rinse it properly. There can still be plenty of shampoo left in your hair, even after you think you have rinsed it out. When you have given you hair a thorough rinsing, you can if need be give you hair a second wash. Your hair is clean when it squeaks.

You can make a big difference to the look and the feel of your hair when you begin washing it properly. It's easy to do, just go through the 4 steps outlined above and you will have clean and healthy looking in no time, every time. And if you use top quality hair products that salon a professional uses, you will really begin to notice the difference and be pleased with how healthy and clean looking your hair can become.

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