QuoteReplyTopic: A few questions Posted: September 18 2005 at 8:38pm
Hi, how is everyone doing? I'm new here, have been reading a few of the threads and you guys seem very knowledgeable about hair :)
But sometimes I see answers that contradict each other, so I'm not sure what's right and wrong.
I'm 100% japanese, 19 years old,and I guess my hair is pretty normal, no extreme problems. Hair lenght...About eyebrows. Used to let it grow until it reached eyes, or even past, but then my hair would get puffy on the sides. Sometimes it gets a bit frizzy, and I was wondering how can I avoid that. I shampoo everyday, used to use Dove intense moisture, but now I'm using Fructis for dry/damaged hair. So my quesions are...
1-Are they good shampoos? Sometimes I hear bad things about them. Is that why my hair gets dry?
2-I'm shampooing like, every single day. I just read that you should do it once/week, someone else said 2x, some say everyday. How often should I shampoo?
3-Conditioners...Also wondering, how often?
4-Blow drying... Should I do it? I never bothered doing it before, what exactly are the differences of letting your hair dry after towelling and blow drying? If blow drying is preferred, for how long should I blow dry for? Cold or Hot air? Any special way that I should do this?
5-Hair gel - I use a mega hold hair gel, but I heard from a friend that I should shampoo at the end of the day, every time I use gel. I also notice that after a few hours, the spikyish look go away, because the hair is dry I think. Is it the gel or my hair?
I sure have a lot of questions :) If you read through all of them, thanks for your time.
1) What makes a good shampoo? It's got to be strong enough to cleanse the scalp without taking moisture and natural oils away from the hair length. Statistically, the most effective is any product that contains sodium laureth sulfate as the second ingredient, with no other sodiums or ammoniums to follow. This includes the Garnier Fructis shampoos and the L'Oreal Kids shampoos. Dove is a little harsher.
(2) Frequency of wash: do what's best for YOU. An ideal routine should leave just enough days to make your hair not greasy in between washes. And your scalp shouldn't itch too much. Most people do well with 2-3x a week. It also depends on the harshness of the shampoo. The gentler the shampoo, the less you'll need to wash (scalp won't overcompensate with oil production).
(3) Conditioners: Condition after every shampooing. If you need extra conditioning for any reason (for dry hair, frizzy or poofy hair, etc.), refer to this guide. Experimentation is the best way to find out what works.
(4) Blow-drying: is unnecessary for most people. Blow drying will get people past the "uneven drying stage", where some hairs will curl and frizz if their segments don't dry at the same rate. On the other hand, blow drying can evaporate more moisture than you want gone. People with shorter hair can do well with blow drying, while if you want to grow your hair out, blowing won't be necessary nor beneficial. Best keep it on a "lukewarm" or cool setting.
(5) Hair gel: it depends on the gel. If the stuff flakes off and disappears into the atmosphere, then obviously it won't hold anymore.. but that also means it doesn't leave a lot of residue. The ones that hold SUPER well are the ones that leave more buildup. You can also switch to a clarifying shampoo to keep the buildup under control, if it bothers you. Or try an occasional vinegar rinse, and more instructions are here.
Color shampoos and conditioners are gentler than regular ones. Basically they just prevent color from fading due to hairwashes. Colored-hair shampoos might even be better for your scalp and hair overall.
Repeated dye jobs can potentially make your hair dry and damaged, yes.
If you want to blow dry hot, I think the best thing would be to dry your hair with a towel as much as possible and then blow dry. That way you don't expose your hair too much because, after all, you mentioned that your hair gets dry.
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