Shampoo on Dry Hair {Hair Care}

This is probably one of the really good tips of hair care. Basic chemistry states that oil and water do not mix together. So, this principle applies when wahing off hair as well. If you wet the oiled hair or even non-oiled hair (it has natural oils), the shampoo doesn't react well with it and the hair more or less remains dirty. 

Since commercial shampoos are filled with surfactants, they are strong enough to clean the hair but the SLS-free shampoos generally end up not cleaning the hair properly. So, how to use the shampoo on dry hair? Take a dollop or two of your shampoo in a small container and add just a fist ful of water to it. Dilute it nicely and shampoo your hair just as you would.

Always try to shampoo twice if your hair does get exposed to lot of sun and pollution. First wash only cleans the scalp partly and the second it to make the scalp squeaky clean. And, by squeaky clean, I don't really mean that it should squeak but a clean scalp and hair is very important for healthy hair. If you tend to stay inside more, one wash is generally enough and you can do it twice in once a week.

So, don't forget this tip next time you hop into the shower. It generally happens with me that I remember this when I pour water over my head so don't make that mistake ;)

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How much shampoo should be used? {Reader's Query}

[Source: Bing Images]

To start with this, I use water to dilute my shampoo and have been advising it on my blog since the start of it. Well, diluting the shampoo doesn't make the shampoo less effective. In fact, it lathers easily and spread evenly on the scalp and over the hair instead of sitting at just one place. And, this practice is also said to reduce the harshness of the shampoo. Well, I don't know much about that so I wouldn't say anything but I would say that when you dilute your shampoo, the product obviously lasts longer. As much as my experience goes, you can turn a quarter of a shampoo into a full bottle by adding water to the product and it still lathers the same. That means, your shampoo lasts four times as much longer! And, I also like to make my shampoo more better by adding good herbs to it.

Anyways, I know many of the people don't like to dilute the shampoos. So, how much is enough for one use? Well, I have medium length hair which is fine and not so thick. So, whenever I am testing out new shampoos, I like to start with a dollop. I take just one dollop into my palm and spread it evenly by rubbing it in between both the palms and then, I apply it to the scalp. I like to shampoo my hair twice and nearly every time, my hair is oiled. So, first time, it is quite possible that there is no lather if the hair is greasy. But, don't worry about lather. Lather doesn't indicate the cleansing action of the shampoo. Then, second time, I take another dollop and spread it throughout the scalp and massage my scalp for 30 seconds - 1 minute. It lathers well the second time so I use the lather to wash my hair length instead of applying shampoo again to the length of my hair. This cleanses my hair well. 

So, how much shampoo should an average-haired person use for one time? I think four dollops are more than enough for people with thick medium-length hair. More than that would cause drying of the hair. For people with fine hair, you can make do with three dollops even if the hair is thick. The key is to use as less shampoo as possible to minimize the drying of the hair and anyways the concentration while washing the hair should be on the scalp mainly instead of the length of the hair. Also remember, the conditioners also contain cleansing agents so they add that final touch while conditioning your hair. Always remember that shampoo acts well only on wet hair so always wet your hair thoroughly before starting on with the shampoo otherwise you will end up using more and your hair might end up looking dry and straw-like.