While it may be tempting to squeeze out a big glob of shampoo and fill your hand with it when you wash your hair, it’s much better to go with the “less is more” approach. Chances are you are using too much shampoo in an attempt to make your hair squeaky clean.
French hair stylists insist on less is more when it comes to shampoo. Overdoing it with more product than you need is pretty damaging for your hair. You may get it clean, but you’ll also dry out your scalp, develop dandruff, and damage your hair follicles in the long run.
However, not using enough shampoo is also damaging for your scalp and hair strands. The product is designed to cleanse your hair and skin, and if you don’t use enough of it, you will get buildups that may lead to dull, lifeless hair and various scalp problems.
So, how much shampoo is too much, and what’s the right amount for your hair? It depends on three important factors:
1. How much hair you have
From long mermaid locks to adorable pixie cuts, beautiful hair comes in all shapes and sizes. The right amount of shampoo depends on several important things, including:
- Hair length
- Number of strands
- Strand thickness
A person who has short hair with tons of thick strands and a person who has long hair with fewer fine strands often need to use the same amount of shampoo. The more surface area you need to clean, the more shampoo you will need to use. Whether your hair is short, long, curly or straight, the more of it you have, the more product you’ll need.
In most cases, a small blob about the size of cherry is enough for thick, medium-length hair. For thin hair, use half the amount. Using too much shampoo will damage your hair and make it look worse than it did.
A dime size amount of shampoo may be enough for thick short, or medium-sized hair, but it will be too much for someone with thin hair of the same length.
2. Is your hair damaged or color-treated?
If you’ve had some work done to your hair, you should use less shampoo than someone with virgin hair that hasn’t gone through any damaging treatments. Excessive use of shampoo will make your color fade in addition to causing extra damage to already damaged strands. Using heat-based styling tools can cause serious damage, so heat-treated hair needs a tiny amount of shampoo. Small amounts will be enough to cleanse the hair without causing additional damage to your strands.
3. How often you wash your hair
You may wonder what happens if you wash your hair everyday. Many people must wash their hair daily, especially those with oily hair. However, it’s important to remember that using shampoo every day may damage your hair if you use large amounts.
People who wash their hair daily should use approximately the same amount of shampoo as people with color-treated or damaged hair.
Washing hair everyday without shampoo, but using a mild conditioner instead has become a big trend in the hair-lovers community. The method is called no-poo, and it has given amazing results, especially for people with curly hair.
How to Shampoo Hair
The amount of shampoo you use is just as important as the way you wash your hair. For how long should you work the shampoo into your scalp? How about the strands? Should you let shampoo sit in your hair?
Let’s go over the basic steps of properly shampooing your hair:
- Start by rinsing your hair with warm water and make sure it’s completely wet
- Apply shampoo to your hair and work it into your scalp for no more than one minute
- If your hair is long, you may need to work the shampoo into your strands from root to tip to make sure everything is covered
- Rinse out well until all the product is out of your hair
- If you have oily hair and a greasy scalp, you may need to go over the process twice
Choose the Right Shampoo
Specific hair types need specific products. If you have dry hair, you should use gentle products with formulas that aren’t aggressive. People with greasy hair often need the opposite – deep cleaning formulas that remove the extra oils and residue. If you have problems with dandruff, you should try using shampoos that contain Pyrithione Zinc (ZPT) as an active ingredient. It’s known to prevent and cure problems like hair and scalp dryness, irritation, itchy scalp, etc.
Always choose a shampoo depending on your hair type if you want optimal results.
Your hair is clean the moment the shampoo starts forming a lather. You may need to shampoo and rinse twice to get that rich foam, but that doesn’t mean you should fill your hands with bulbs of shampoo. In reality, you probably need at least half of the amount you think you need. Start with smaller amounts of shampoo. It’s always better to go over the process twice than to work too much product into your hair.
