It sounds simple enough: Squeeze out a handful of shampoo, slather the pearly lotion onto your head and lather up all over. It turns out that soaping up from roots to ends with an abundance of lather or repeating the process is not really necessary.
The “correct” way to cleanse your tresses is to technically not shampoo your hair at all. Instead, simply apply a sparing amount of shampoo to your already damp scalp and massage delicately. This will remove any dirt, debris or build up at the root while stimulating the circulation of your scalp.
You can let the shampoo sit for a minute or so if you like and then simply rinse the bubbles out. It turns out that, unless you’ve been mud wrestling, the leftover lather from your scalp cleanses well enough when it trickles down your length. No need to massage soap through your ends or to repeat the process. In most cases that’s just a waste of shampoo.
The reason you don’t want to over cleanse your tresses is simple. Some shampoos can strip your hair of its natural oils, which are there to moisturize strands and protect from damage and breakage. You simply want to remove just the dirt, sweat or other debris but leave the right balance of natural oils.
Now the other side to this two-step shampoo / condition ritual is to apply the conditioner properly. Unless your scalp is very dry and is in need of moisturizing, only apply conditioner to everything BUT the roots. In fact, concentrate on the ends, as they are usually in need of the most conditioning.
