Strands in distress? Your skipping conditioner might be the cause. Your hair might be craving conditioner. The haircare mistake you didn’t know you were making is shampooing without a good conditioner.
Does not matter the type of hair you have, curly, straight, oily, or frizzy- ignoring the conditioner is never an option. You might be tempted to think, ‘How does it matter? Shampooing should be enough.’ Or, ‘I hardly ever go out; what is the point of conditioning?’ But this shortcut could actually be causing long-term damage to your hair health.
Let’s see what skipping conditioning your hair does to your strands.
What does the shampoo do?
It cleans your scalp and hair of the dirt, sweat, oil, and product build up. However, even the gentlest of the shampoos remove some of the natural oils from the hair and leave it drier, frizzier, and porous than before.
Conditioner: The hero your hair needs
Conditioning the hair restores its balance and moisture and brings back the softness and manageability. The conditioners are designed to focus on the hair ends and strands. The five-minute routine of conditioning does wonders for the hair’s health by
- Sealing the cuticles that the shampoo left open. Helps prevent damage and split ends.
- Hydrating the hair and reducing dryness, frizz, brittleness, and breakage.
- Making combing and styling easier by detangling the hair and reducing flyaway and dry ends.
- Protecting the hair from sun, cold, heat, styling, and pollution damage.
- Enhancing the shine, lustre, and softness, making the hair feel vibrant.
- Reducing the styling time, saving time, effort, and money
Skipping the conditioner is like washing your face but not using serum and moisturizer afterwards. Leaves the hair unprotected and vulnerable to damage.
What happens when you skip the conditioner?
The hair cuticles protect the inner core of the hair. Hair conditioning is a simple and quick way to seal the cuticles and restore moisture balance to your hair. Still think you don’t have the time to use the conditioner? Here is what happens when you don’t:
- Your hair becomes dry, rough, and difficult to manage and overtime have a lacklustre appearance.
- The hair becomes prone to more breakage and even irreversible hair fall.
- Without conditioner protection, split ends can damage the core of your hair and make it look unkempt.
- Your hair becomes difficult to manage or style even if you are using the best styling tools.
- You will notice that hair colour will fade faster. Conditioners help the colour last longer by sealing the cuticles and locking in the colour.
Busting the “oily hair myth”
Many people fear that using the conditioner will weight down their strands or cause the hair to appear dull and oily quickly.
The answer is not to stop using conditioner but to find one that suits your hair type. Apply the conditioner only on your strands, avoiding the scalp. Use the shampoo to cleanse the roots, and conditioner for the ends.
Which conditioner to use?
Choose a good, dermatologically tested shampoo and conditioner that suits your hair texture and nature. You can pick from different kinds, such as deep conditioning treatments, leave-in conditioners, quick conditioners, etc.
Final thoughts
Conditioning the hair is a non-negotiable step for good hair care. The conditioner is the yang to the shampoo’s yin. Use them together to balance the pH and keep the hair soft and shiny at all times. The next time you are in a rush, take some time out to condition your hair so that the future hair-self will thank you.
