The general recommendation is to use shampoo to cleanse the hair before conditioner. Follow these steps for best results: Completely saturate your hair with warm, not hot, water.
"Conditioning before you shampoo is great for adding nourishment to fine hair without weighing it down," says Nina Dimachki, artistic director for Kérastase. "It also promotes a longer-lasting blow-dry and primes the hair before cleansing, allowing shampoo to distribute easier and more evenly."
If you have fine hair, and you're constantly feeling as if it's weighed down or greasy, then conditioning first and shampooing second can help solve some of your problems. It can give your hair the hydration and nourishment it needs from the conditioner without making it heavy and lifeless.
Shampooing your hair after applying conditioner keeps it cleaner for longer and takes away the need to wash frequently. Applying conditioner on hair before washing with shampoo prevents product buildup. It helps tame frizz, improves manageability, and lets you style your locks easily without any hair styling product.
Conditioners smooth and detangle the hair, which, therefore, helps reduce breakage and split ends — and that's precisely why New York City-based hairstylist Chuck Bass recommends conditioning every time you shampoo in order to add moisture back, as well as to soften and detangle.
You apply it after shampooing your hair and rinse it out after a minute or two. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends using rinse-out conditioner after every wash, ideally a few times per week.
Since shampoo cleans your hair and helps remove any buildup of product, oils and impurities, conditioning is important for adding moisture back into the hair. Conditioner restores hydration to your strands — particularly your ends, which tend to get the most dry — as well as smooth your mane.
The truth is conditioning after you shampoo is essential to having healthy, shiny hair. Conditioner smooths the hair cuticle and adds body. Avoiding conditioner makes your hair more prone to breakage, which can lead to the appearance of thinning hair.
A well-formulated conditioner should work right away, so there is no need to leave it in in for longer than a few seconds. If you have particularly knotty hair, gently comb the conditioner through in the shower before rinsing using a wide tooth comb. Start at the ends of your hair and gradually work up.
DO YOU APPLY CONDITIONER ON WET OR DRY HAIR? If you're wondering 'can you put conditioner on dry hair? ' the truth is, it's much more effective on wet or damp hair. Conditioner on wet or damp hair's easier to spread, ensuring no strands are missed and your hair gets the most out of the conditioning treatment.
Don't apply conditioner to your scalp. Run your fingers or a wide-tooth comb through the ends of your hair to work in the conditioner. Let it stay on your hair for a moment, following instructions on the label. This is typically 1 minute.
So applying conditioner first can act in the same way, protecting the hair against chemicals in shampoos, making it harder for shampoos to penetrate. This can help persevere moisture, natural oils and even hair color. This makes the technique particularly beneficial for someone with frizzy hair.
Your roots don't actually need any conditioner, since your scalp produces sebum, a natural oil. What's more, your roots have much less damage than the ends of the hair shaft. "Your roots are the youngest, healthiest part of the hair shaft," says Nick Arrojo, master stylist and founder of Arrojo salons in New York City.
Signs and Symptoms of Over-Conditioned Hair
You'll notice your hair becoming unmanageable, soft, limp, or flat. Any sort of updo will be impossible, as your hair has no natural grip. Over-conditioning thin, fine hair weighs it down and makes it look oily and perhaps stringy.
“Applying conditioner to the roots near the scalp doesn't necessarily cause damage, but it can cause the hair to be flat and/or limp,” Kalin shares. So if you're hoping to achieve voluminous locks, avoid putting conditioner on your scalp at all costs.
Stop conditioning your roots. “If your hair is fine or thin, the nutrients from conditioner will weigh the root down. Throw in a naturally oily scalp, and your root area won't have any volume,” Kitty Nadel, color director at Ted Gibson, warned SheFinds.
How Much Should You Wash? For the average person, every other day, or every 2 to 3 days, without washing is generally fine. “There is no blanket recommendation. If hair is visibly oily, scalp is itching, or there's flaking due to dirt,” those are signs it's time to shampoo, Goh says.
If yours is a rinse-out conditioner, leaving conditioner overnight in your hair can be damaging. It can give your hair excess moisture, leading to hygral fatigue. For that reason, you should rinse it out shortly after application. We're talking no more than 3 to 5 minutes.
Conditioning your hair is crucial to maintaining its optimal health. And it is absolutely fine if you want to leave the conditioner in your hair for long or overnight.
Conditioner should never be applied to dripping-wet hair. The product does not get absorbed properly, and pretty much slides off the hair if you don't squeeze the excess water out first. So, towel-dry your hair and then apply it.
Apply a leave-in conditioner or light serum to ensure your hair retains the moisture after a wash. This will also help you detangle your hair more easily, especially if it's long. Run a wide-tooth comb through your wet hair to remove tangles. Start combing your hair from the ends working your way up to the top.