Shampoo as least often as you can.

Shampooing strips your hair of its natural oils and fades your colour.

When you shampoo you should only shampoo your roots, as you rinse it is enough to clean your ends. Always shampoo twice. Shampoo lifts up products, dirt and oil (it is also good to give your scalp a good brush before shampooing, this is the only time my hair gets brushed as brushing makes your hair fluffy especially if you have movement in your hair. I run my fingers through to get rid of any knots).

The second shampoo cleans your hair (this shampoo should be half the size of your first shampoo) and by doing two shampoos your hair should be cleaner and need redoing less often.

If you find you have oily roots and have been shampooing your hair too regularly you will have over stimulated the oil glands which will over produce oil, making your hair oilier. To settle these glands down you do need to give your hair a break from shampooing as often.

I used to wash my hair twice a week, but when I was pregnant with my third baby I was so sick and tired, I did not have the energy to shampoo my hair and blow dry, so every night I would give my scalp a good brush to distribute the oil through my hair instead of it sitting on my scalp. For work, I would then create a 5 second messy bun on the top of my head (I think this is how I wore my hair for my whole pregnancy and then the first few months with my newborn). Now I can leave my hair up to 2 weeks without shampooing (I think once I even left it for 3 weeks unintentionally!). Now this might sound almost neglectful, but I still give my hair a good rinse in the shower and condition the ends twice a week. You will soon realise that your hair can feel clean and refreshed without shampooing.

Curly/wavy/frizzy and dry hair especially doesn’t need to be shampooed as often as you may think. If your hair doesn’t feel dirty/oily don’t wash it! Curls sit so much nicer when it's not freshly washed. If you’ve gone for a workout a good rinse and light condition is enough.

Rinse in cold water.

Cold water closes the cuticle down even further which will make your hair sit smoother. Style as normal, you will still need to add some more after products for example, leave in conditioner and a styling hold.

Fine hair is a bit different as it can go flat quickly, but just try wetting it and then re-blowdrying , maybe skip the conditioner part and then add a little more volumising product on your roots. It is a bit of trial and error to see what works best for your hair type.

Buy the best hair care range you can afford.

The cheap ones are just filled with detergents and harsh chemicals, by investing in a good quality organic care range you will not be absorbing all the nasties and your hair will be treated to it's specific needs, It definitely pays to invest in quality product especially if you don't have thick shiny straight hair. 

Buy shampoo to suit your roots, ie - for fine hair, buy a volumising shampoo and buy conditioner to suit your ends; for dry ends, buy a moisturising conditioner.

Hope this has helped. xo

Shan

Curly hair shouldn’t be complicated.

With so much knowledge on the web these days between Curly FB pages, YouTube, Google and other people’s opinions it’s sometimes very overwhelming especially if you’re starting out on the curly journey. Your curly hair routine can be as simple or comprehensive as your lifestyle will allow.

Hair just needs to be Cleansed & Hydrated

Between 3 – 7 products are needed to get great curls:

• Sulfate free shampoo

• Paraben free conditioner

• Base Gel

• Topper/s

• Refresher

• Hairspray

The difference between expensive products and cheaper supermarket brands is the quality of ingredients and the manufacturing process of making the product easier to absorb into the hair.

The Curly Girl Movement has brought in a lot of different terminology for hair. The first concept I will talk about is co-washing. There has been a lot of confusion and guilt around shampooing. I believe in shampoo, but when I say shampoo I mean “low poo”.

I have been sulfate free and using organic ingredients for 17 yrs. Co-washing to me is like washing your body with moisturiser, it is not what it is meant for. In saying that, I only shampoo my hair once every 3 weeks which I have done for 6yrs now. The weeks in between, I do wash my hair but I cleanse with friction and water, giving my scalp a good scrub under the shower for 2 to 3min with my finger tips.

Water and friction is enough to cleanse but shampoo just helps the process

The purpose of shampoo is to open the cuticle so your hair is cleaned and cleansed to be able to absorb and retain water. With added conditioner -

Moisture based Conditioner – Contains water loving ingredients which help to retain the moisture.

Protein Conditioner – helps rebuild the strength structure and bonding the cuticle to the hair strand.

Conditioning is the process of just closing down the cuticle, running conditioner over your hair and rinsing.

Hydration is the process of squeezing and squishing the conditioner and water into the centre of each hair strand and locking this into the hair.

Hydration is not just for curly hair, straight hair and slightly wavy hair can all benefit with hydration especially if it’s coarse or frizzy. Frizzy hair is just the hair lacking moisture.

Even though I say all this, I do respect co-washing if that’s what you choose to do and are having no issues. Just please know there’s not one way to look after curls, each curl specialist has their own technique or method. I have taken techniques from all of the specialists I have trained with and created my own method that resonates with our climate. You’ve got to find out what works for you as it all depends on your porosity, texture, density, lifestyle & environment. Your type of curl has nothing to do with how to look after your hair I’m sorry to say. You can have two people with exact same curl pattern that have different texture, density and live in different parts of the country so will need different products or use different techniques.

Once you have hydrated your hair you need to seal all the goodness in, using a water based gel to trap in the water and conditioner.