The art of washing “hair”

Based on a pure observation: I noticed that there is less bald people, especially among young people, in Japan than in the western countries. Although this is the result of many elements: hormones, heredity, food etc. But what if the shampoo routine played a role in this too?

How often should you really wash your hair?

Japanese people wash their hair every day. I know that in the western countries or even in other Asian countries, we think it is bad for the hair and that we are more in the tradition of washing every 2 to 3 days. I can not say if one is better than the other, especially as weather conditions and water quality are different.

Anyway in Japan especially in summer the weather is really humid and Japanese people care a lot about sebum secretion of their scalp, as it is considered as a source of bad odor. The good care of the scalp is part of social etiquette, much like maintaining his/her armpits clean and odourless is for westerners.

So the Japanese have developed lots of routines and products to fight their fear of being noticed for their smelly head on a crowded train for example.

A poorly made shampoo and its disastrous consequences

I do not know what is good or bad in terms of frequency of washing the hair, but as a professional in hairdressing and having seen and worked with thousands of clients, I can assure you that the way you wash your hair plays on the health and beauty of your hair.

 To shampoo is actually not an act of washing your hair, as many people believe; the ultimate goal of shampoo is to wash the scalp. The secretion of sebum clogs the pores of the scalp and leaving them so, affects the hair growth.

The hair take the nutrients needed to grow from the pores. If the pores are clogged, the hair will not be able to feed themselves, so it will weaken and ultimately will fall. Especially if you have long hair, you may have noticed that the tips get damaged easily; The length already makes the aport of nutrients from the root difficult, if you have in addition clogged pores, this will inevitably worsen the situation.

So what is the right way of washing “hair”/scalp:

1. Brush your hair from root to tips beforehand to get rid of impurities and dead skin of the scalp and hair: this allows the shampoo to better achieve the scalp and wash.
2. Rinse thoroughly: this will properly wet the hair, especially if you have hair with low porosity, hair needs time to be saturated with water, and then it helps to have a good lather. If you use styling products such as gel or wax, pre-rinsing can get rid of some too.
3. Lather well after applying shampoo!!  The lather is essential: wet hair is very sensitive because the cuticles are open. Excessive friction will damage it. To avoid this, it is recommended to wrap the hair with a good lather when washing.
4. Massage the scalp: as I said, shampoo = wash the scalp. To remove excess sebum trapped in the pores and to promote a good blood circulation, massage the scalp gently using circular motions with your fingers. The massage helps revitalizing the scalp, brings a relaxing effect and helps removing impurities from the pores.
5. Rinse rinse rinse out! if the shampoo, which is a chemical product at the end, remains on the scalp or on the hair, it will prevent good hair growth and can lead to scalp disorders such as irritation or dandruff.