Are You Shampooing Your Natural Hair the Right Way?

Oils produced by the scalp are not always able to travel down a curly, spiral hair follicle. This is the exact reason why curly hair tends to be drier than straight hair often leaving us unclear about how and how often to shampoo.

Shampoo is derived from the Hindi word champo , meaning “head massage.” Shampoo is a product used to remove oil, dirt, skin particles and any environmental build up in your hair. It’s important to note that moisturizing is not one of it’s functions but there are some steps you can take to ensure that your hair is properly clean and conditioned.

Oiling your hair before you wash it seals the natural oils your scalp produces, eliminating dryness. I recommend using jojoba oil because it is colorless, odorless, non greasy and homogeneous with the natural sebum of the skin. Additionally, it forms a protective, moisturizing layer over the skin, hair and scalp that is completely breathable and porous.

Pre-oiling is also a great method to combat the affect of summer heat and swimming in chlorine or salt water which have a tendency to strip your hair even before you wash.

If your hair is extremely dirty pre-oiling may actually furthermore clog your pores. Try adding conditioner to your shampoo instead. Read about balancing your pH levels with conditioner here.

I like to dilute my shampoo with water and add a bit of conditioner to the mix. I fill 1/3 of a squeeze bottle with shampoo, 1/3 with water and 1/3 with one of my more cheap conditioners. The results have been less dry, less tangled, moisturized hair. It also saves me a ton of money on shampoo. And remember, water is a curls best friend!

The most important step in eliminating dryness die to shampooing is making sure your shampoo does not contain sulfate! Many shampoo’s have a tendency to dry hair due to the sulfates they contain. Read about the dangers of sulfates here.

The way in which you shampoo is important. Simply rubbing shampoo onto wet hair and scratching the scalp is not enough. Separate and shampoo your hair in sections. This ensures that you are cleansing and tending to every strand while also helping with the de-tangling process.

It is also important that you do NOT scratch your scalp with your fingernails but instead massage it with your fingertips. Scratching is too harsh a technique and can actually further irritate your scalp, weaken your hair follicles and cause scalp tenderness. Massaging the scalp is a much healthier approach and stimulates hair growth by promoting the circulation of blood in scalp.

Infuse these methods into your shampoo regimen and see what happens. I anticipate that you will be happy with the results. Good luck!