Get You Out Of My Hair: Guide to Washing Less

Hey there,

So the MAIN reason I am creating this is for y'all.

Cuz y'all need some help with extending your hair washing.

We have a few points to cover first before we get into the steps. I have 6 hair days that I will be covering on exactly what it was I did to keep the oil down and the style up. These are all days I worked out, went to work and had bed head too.

First one being, that I am a licensed hairstylist/colorist. Have been for almost a decade and although I am a professional, this is still just my opinion and based on my experience. Not a cure all. Consider that everyone is different and that what works for me, may not work for you but it could :) worth a shot.

Second, what the heck is sebaceous glands, oils, co washing and shampoo training. Let's get into that!

Sebaceous glands are are microscopic exocrine glandsin the skin that secrete an oily or waxy matter, called sebum, to lubricate and waterproof the skin and hair of mammals. That is the scientific definition. Basically what it means is that...you got all these lil pores on your scalp that produce oil. Hallelujah. If you didn't produce your own oil, your scalp would be like an alligator and that ain't cute. So we got these glands that help our scalp stay moisturized. Some of us have hyper (over) productive glands from family history or based on our hormones, puberty etc and some of us have hypo (under) productive glands due to genes or environment/climate.

Oils. The oils on your scalp are NOURISHMENT! Sebum/Oil protects our scalp from the environment, skin aging and also protects that hairrrr honeyyy. Yes. Your oil is not the enemy.

Hair training... dun dun dunnnnn. This might be where I piss some of you off or lose ya. BUT in my professional opinion and based off of what the body/hair is supposed to do... YOU DO NOT NEED TO WASH YOUR HAIR EVERY DAY, unless you are a pubescent teen.

As an adult, overwashing will lead to overly productive sebaceous glands. Meaning your hair will be greasy and oily. YOU TRAINED IT TO DO THAT! Your scalp is like 'ahhhhh I keep getting stripped of sebum daily, we must produce more. HOOOHAH.' so then it does.

Also, when your hair is squeaky clean, you are more likely to attract lice and shit. SO load it up gf/bf and just go with it.

This is why we have cleansing conditioners and dry shampoo or hair perfumes. To prevent you clean freaks from stripping your hair. Haha ok I am totally poking fun, lighten up if you have RBF (resting bitch face) right now.

You may ask next, how do I train my scalp to not overly produce oil. It will take time but you can start with still getting your hair wet everyday, Mon, Wed, Fri with shampoo and Tues, Thurs, Sat with a cleansing conditioner.

(Before I get into products, I want to state that I am in no way endorsed or paid or whatever by any of these brands. These are just my faves at the moment and I wanted to share! <3 )

I recommend the Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Cleansing Oil-Crème Duo. Please buy from somewhere like the website directly/seek out a local salon to help a stylist out or Sephora. Sephora retails for $38 ( my salon has it on sale for $29 hit up a Rudy's near you and tell them Kelcie from West Seattle sent ya) but for the love of GOD do not buy from Amazon. Love Amazon, really do. She's cute BUT her hair products are typically old and diluted. That is why they are cheaper, sis. Promise.

Little hair washing tip. Shampoo goes on the scalp. That is it (unless you have loads of product in your hair like hardened gel), shampoo is designed to cleanse the scalp and as you rinse it runs through the ends of your hair. Mid shaft to ends are typically where your hair is a little dryer, so shampooing is going to dry out more. Make sense? This is why conditioner goes on mid shaft to ends and not the scalp. We talked about your scalp producing oils, so that is why you do not need the moisture there. Your ends are thirstyyyyy so please apply to ends. This cleansing conditioner will go on the scalp since it is low foam and will be replacing your shampoo!

NOW ONTO THE STEPS!

DAY 1-3 HAIR!

This is the day where you will need to dedicate the most time.

I mean a full on hair wash and blow out. If you don't know how to do a blow out, teach yourself. Tons of amazing Youtube videos and like ANYTHING it requires practice. What I love about a good blow out is the shine and seal it gives.

Shampoo 'Blonde Angel Wash' and Conditioner is 'Hydrate Me Rinse' by Kevin Murphy. Find a Kevin Murphy salon near you.

After hair is towel dried, I apply my 'Fab Me' by DesignMeHair hair treatment on mid shaft to ends and follow with 'Volu Mist' by Davines on the root in my crown and bangs.

Continue to blow out with a round brush and medium heat blowdryer. Be careful not to get to close to hair, it will become more damaged that way.

Once blow out is finished, depending on fly aways...I will not finish with ANYTHING. Over using product is where you can minimize your clean hair days. So if you don't need hairspray...put it down! hah

Day 2 and 3

I know it might sound crazy, but all I did on day 2 and 3 was use a little bit of my 'Do Over' spray by Kevin Murphy near the roots (since I got sweaty in my workouts) and called it good. Will use 'Hold Me' by Design Me if needed to control frizz.

The blow out really helps seal in the style. You may need to flat iron the underneath or use the round brush with heat in the blow dryer to re-smooth but your style time will be 5 mins or less. A touch up, nothing more.

DAY 4 HAIR

All I did was curl with a wand, my wand is 1/2 inch so I will get tight curls to keep all day and rework the structure since I smoothed it the days prior.

Again, all I used was the 'Do Over' Spray and 'Hold me' when necessary while styling.

The sweat from workouts that I do will typically dry in the hair and doesn't cause much of a fuss.

DAY 5 AND 6

I generally put my hair up on the last 1-2 days. I give my hair a break from heat styling and also myself a break from putting time into my morning routine. High pony is so cute, thanks to the 90s and Ariana Grande :)

My day 6 is usually a day off and when I get a really good sweat sesh/sauna day in.

Some sort of dry shampoo is used on high pony and when I wear a hat, I don't use anything. I save my product and keep the hat on alllll day!

I hope this helped. The main bulk of it I wanted to get across is the theory behind hair washing and the importance of prolonging your styles. This isn't any genius blog, as you can see it is pretty basic. Mainly, create a plan with your hair. Plan out around events when you wash it. If you know your hair looks best on day 2 or 3 and you have an event Friday evening, wash on Wednesday or Thursday.

Also, these products are what work for me and I do switch it up every once in a while. Did you know that your hair can get used to products? Especially shampoo. Evolution honayyyyy. JK I don't know the exact scientific term but it really happens and that is why it is so important to switch it up.

Hope this helped!

Kelxx