This weather today was super hot here in Rockland County NY. I went for a walk this morning and sweating is an understatement. I never realized how much I actually sweat in my head until today. Not sure if my haircut made it more obvious but I did notice. That also got me to thinking about a conversation I had last week with a client who said she works out a lot and sweats in her head too. She was in for a color consultation. She wants to get blonde highlights on her hair, which is pretty dark naturally.
If you know me as your stylist or as a natural hair expert then you know I will not color hair if I believe the integrity will be compromised. So in this specific case, I noticed a difference in my client’s hair. Her hair seemed a bit more dehydrated and I noticed some breakage. I asked her how often she shampooed her hair and she told me once weekly. Which tends to be the norm in the natural/curly hair community. She also shared with me that she exercises often as well.
I suggested a new regimen for her. I told her that I wanted her shampooing every 3-4 days. I also suggested that she refresh aka co-wash in between those 3-4 days. I know in the natural/curl community a lot of time shampoo gets a bad rep. From the suds are too harsh etc. I can tell you that having an excessively oily scalp, or an extremely dry scalp can be even harsher on your hair.
We tend to focus a lot on our hair in our society and less on the scalp. It is normally only when problems arise with the scalp that people begin to focus on it. Symptoms of scalp problems can range from flakes, redness, soreness, scales, bumps, odors, and of course bald spots. I could list more. Truth be told I want people to begin to focus on having proper scalp care and hygiene. Which ultimately will help promote healthy hair. When I co-authored 7 Reasons Why Your Hair Doesn’t Grow, this is one of my points. I wrote about the importance of using a scalp specific shampoo.
It is so important to know what condition your scalp is in so that you can use a cleansing agent to help support whatever your scalp needs are. For example, if a person has a sensitive scalp with redness and irritation I recommend Oway Soothing Shampoo. Or for the person who has a really oily scalp or may find that they have an odor, I would suggest Oway Sebum Balance Shampoo.
Now if you have flakes it doesn’t necessarily mean that your scalp is dry. Oway Purifying Shampoo for Oily Scalps is great for the person who has oily flakes and Oway Purifying Shampoo For Dry Scalps is for the person with dry flakes. I am able to suggest based upon what is found when I look at their scalps microscopically. Yes, I literally use a microscope with my first-time clients. Or Clients that come in for a hair and scalp analysis at Beauty For Ashes Salon.
Why would a company take their time to have all these scalp specific shampoos? Truth is because scalps are different and have different needs. Shampoo can go beyond just moisturizing or strengthening. Technically that has to do with the hair and not the scalp skin.
The moral of the story is I wanted my client to shampoo her hair more frequently to wash out the sweat from her hair more than once a week. While that may seem like it’s too much for a curly girl. It’s a great practice to have to maintain the scalp at a healthy ph balance.
I personally shampoo my hair every 3 days and my hair is perfectly fine. I recently cut my hair so of course its a lot easier now.
I even had the ladies in my Natural/Curl Community Private Facebook Group do a challenge where they cleansed twice a week. It originally started as Wash Day Wednesday and Refresh(Co-wash) Sunday. 90% of the ladies felt their hair did better when they shampooed so they opted out of the refresh Sunday and decided to do Shampoo and Condition both days.
I did this challenge with them because I wanted to prove to them what I already knew. Natural hair needs to be cleansed just as much as any other hair. Hair is hair. All of the ladies decided that they would continue with cleansing 2x weekly. They were pleased to see a great improvement in growth and hydration.
Of course, it’s important that you use products that will work best for your hair’s essential elements. Not for someone else. Make sure you connect with me by Subscribing to my wellness blog's email. I’ll be covering several different topics. Hair happens to be just one of them from time to time.
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