Wash Your Hair the Right Way! A Complete Guide on How to Shampoo and Condition for Healthy Hair

Don’t wait until your next hair appointment for a professional hair wash, learn to do it yourself at home to improve your scalp and hair condition!

It may seem like common sense to those who are in the know about their hair, but shampooing and conditioning just isn't something that everyone is taught properly and we may go months or even years without actually doing it correctly. Do you find that your hair seems to be very greasy? Or extremely dry? Does your scalp get really itchy? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you may be one of many who hasn't been shampooing and conditioning the right way. Today, we're going to unpack all the things you need to consider when shampooing and conditioning so that you can start having healthy, unproblematic hair from this point forward!

Why do we even need shampoo and conditioner?

Have any of us really put much thought into this question? Shampoo (and conditioner) feels like a natural thing to have in our bathroom ever since we were small children. It's important to clean your hair just like cleaning anything else that you own. But let's go a little deeper to clear up any misunderstandings we may have about what shampoo actually does. This begins first by focusing on what our scalp is doing on the day-to-day. Throughout our day, our scalps are accumulating sebum (a naturally occurring oil produces by the skin as a means to stay hydrated [1]) as well as sweat, dirt, dead skin cells, and product build-up. This build-up can lead to the pores on our skin being clogged up, which starts to affect the health of our scalp by causing bacteria to get trapped, and pimples and blackheads to form.

Shampooing is how we clean out this accumulation and give our pores a chance to breathe properly. This will help us in maintaining a balanced eco-system on our scalp and will promote healthy hair as a result. The scalp is the foundation of hair much like how soil is the foundation of plants, and anyone with a bit of a green thumb knows that you want to water the soil and make sure that environment is optimal for the plant to continue growing well.

So we know why we should shampoo, but what about conditioner and what exactly does it do? With shampooing, we're stripping away the accumulation of dirt and products but we're also taking away the sebum from the scalp. This tends to leave the hair and scalp in a dry condition. Don't let that scare you as it is simply part of the process to ensure our hair is clean. The way we can counteract this drying effect though, is by using a conditioner right after we shampoo. Conditioners contain ingredients (either natural or synthetic depending on what kind you have) that will help replenish hydration while your scalp takes the time to produce more sebum [2]. The benefits of using a conditioner are that you will be getting your hair into a state where it will be softer, shinier, and more manageable as opposed to not using it. It is normal for your hair to feel almost too soft and shiny afterward since you have artificially added moisturizing agents that are different than what your hair is used to, but that is okay as after a day or two you should find that things return to how they usually feel.

How should you actually shampoo and condition?

Sometimes the instructions on the labels will tell us something along the lines of "apply a quarter-sized amount to hair, lather, and rinse." It is that simple. Except it kind of isn't, as I find those instructions aren't actually enough for you to be getting the most benefit of the whole process. For starters, the amount you use will vary on your hair length and density. I think a quarter-sized amount is supposed to be the suggestion of what to start with and you will want to add more as you see fit. When it comes to lathering, I think people tend to focus more so on their hair strands and making sure that those are covered with shampoo, but tend to neglect the scalp which is much more important for this step. So instead of lather, rinse, repeat as some instructions would suggest, here is my recommendation:

1- Apply a quarter-size amount TO THE SCALP FIRST

2- Lather by MASSAGING YOUR SCALP gently for about 5 minutes.

3- Run any excess shampoo lather from root to tips

4- If you have longer hair, this is when you may want to add a little more shampoo but focus this time on lathering through the strands, you've already taken care of the scalp at this point.

5- Rinse thoroughly and ensure that no shampoo is left behind as it is meant to remove all the dirt and build-up with it.

6- Optional, if you feel that there is still grease or product in your hair, this is when you will want to repeat steps 1-5. You want your scalp to be close to squeaky clean (where you can hear and feel that squeak).

For conditioning, your focus is going to be the hair strands. This is because you want your scalp to stay clean so that it can produce sebum without anything getting in the way. There are other ways to address dry scalps, and conditioner is definitely not one of them.

1- Take a quarter-size amount and apply from the middle of the hair strands to the tips. These parts of the hair strand will be the "oldest" on your head, meaning they have had more exposure to heat, physical wear, and environmental factors that may cause them to become damaged naturally over time. They are the parts of the hair that will need conditioning the most, and the part of the hair closest to the root will be the freshest and also the first to get new sebum as it is produced, so require less attention.

2- Leave the conditioner on for at least 5 minutes so that the hair strands have a chance to soak in those ingredients.

3- Rinse out. If you find that your hair is feeling dry after the conditioning step, I would not recommend conditioning again. There are other products that can be used after hair washing that can help with dry hair that I'll cover in another post.

When should you shampoo & condition and how often?

There are some who like to shampoo every day as they may feel that their hair is too greasy and needs to be cleaned as often as possible. For a lot of people that work in the hair industry, we consider this a big no-no as it only leads to more problems. But what exactly is the science here? According to Wong (2014), it is a myth that oil production increases in response to shampoo stripping away sebum, instead, the consistent agitation of the skin/scalp through frequent cleaning may cause more damage and inflammation that releases underlying oil to appear on the surface of the skin [3]. Meaning that your greasy hair may actually be caused by the fact that you're constantly trying to get rid of the grease in your hair! It is a bit counterintuitive, but that is why it is recommended to shampoo at least every other day, instead of 7 days a week so that you can allow your head a bit of a break from any friction. Another factor to consider that was mentioned by Wong is that you may be used to seeing your hair freshly cleaned and completely stripped of its natural sebum, so when it replenishes its normal level of oils, it may appear much greasier than what you're used to seeing. The fact is that some of us may not be aware of what a healthy level of oil looks and feels like on our heads and so it will take some experimentation to find a balance that works. Feel free to ask your hairstyling professional to give you a second pair of eyes to confirm if your hair is abnormally greasy, or if it is really bothering you, consider speaking with a medical professional.

So if not every day, then what is the best timeframe to work with for shampooing? This will really depend on you and your scalp. It will take a bit of playing around with as not everyone will follow the same schedule. I'd recommend shampooing at least every 2-7 days, and I personally go a week between my shampoos as I find my scalp is more sensitive afterward and my hair is also far too clean to style regularly. Every 7th day works for me, and my hair tends to maintain a healthy balance here as opposed to when I was younger and had much greasier hair. You may find that you will need to wash more frequently due to an active lifestyle or the styling products you choose to use, as you will be accumulating more on your scalp than others.

As for conditioning, every time you shampoo, you always want to follow with conditioner. Nice and simple! However, if you have fine, brittle, and dry hair, you may want to look into "co-washing" which is when you wash your hair only with conditioner and no shampoo [4]. The benefit is that you are not stripping away your natural sebum, and you're purely adding moisturizing factors to your hair. The drawback is that "co-washing" cannot thoroughly clean your scalp the same way as shampooing and you may cause your scalp to develop issues as a result. This would also require some experimentation where you may want to alternate between regular shampooing and conditioning and "co-washing" so that you can get the benefits of both. If you do not have dry hair though, then I would suggest avoiding this and keeping it easy by just conditioning whenever you shampoo.

What is the best shampoo and conditioner to get?

This is going to be a hard question to answer as there are many brands and categories of shampoos and conditioners meant for different hair types and scalp issues, and I don't think I can really recommend one type for everyone. Instead, I want to focus more so on what to look for when you are thinking of trying out a new shampoo and conditioner so that you can make a more educated decision.

When looking for an "everyday" shampoo and conditioner (one that can be used regularly and not specifically designed for more than just cleaning the scalp and hydrating hair), you may want to be mindful of the ingredients as these are the products you'll use most often. Certain brands and stylists will tend to veer their customers away from sulfates, with a lot of marketing and packaging geared towards "sulfate-free" as a key feature of their products. Sulfates are shown to be an effective cleanser that can thoroughly get rid of oil and dirt from the scalp, but the issue is that they can be quite aggressive which may lead to irritation and dryness [5].

It is recommended to avoid sulfates if you have:

Pre-existing skin conditions such as eczema, rosacea, or sensitive skin
Dry or fine hair
Colour-treated hair

For those with pre-existing skin conditions, you may find that shampoos with sulfates can make things worse and really irritate your scalp and skin. With those with fine or dry hair, the sulfates excessively strip away the needed moisture in your hair and can lead to more damage. Colour-treated hair is already damaged and dry from the colour process and will get even more dried out from sulfates. Additionally, they will end up losing a lot of their pigment with how aggressively the shampoo cleans the hair, so you will want to avoid them if you want to maintain the colour you have!

If you have been using shampoos with sulfates and have not experienced any issues, then you honestly don't have to switch things up. The most common sulfates found in shampoos would be Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES), and research on these ingredients had shown that as long as you immediately rinse out the shampoo, the chances of irritation and harm would be limited [6]. However, even though they can be safe to use, I would still recommend sulfate-free shampoo for most people just so they completely avoid any potential for irritation in the first place.

Though there are many sulfate-free shampoos on the market, I have done full in-depth, and honest reviews on a few that you can read here:

And that's all there is to it for washing your hair properly! It does take a bit of experimenting to figure out the optimal routine for you, but now you have a great starting place so that you can take care of your scalp and ensure that your hair is nice and healthy for years to come!