Piling it on?

[girlwithsixarms]

So I'm aware that the common wisdom says not to pile your hair on top of you head while shampooing (for a variety of reasons), but I've been finding that the only way to get my SMT worked into the underside of my hair without also getting it all over the bathroom is to plop my already SMT'd length on top of my head (it also stays under my showercap better when I do this). My questions are: How bad is that? Is there some secret LHC/SMT ninja application that I don't know about? Should I just do it the messy way and accept that my tile will also be getting a luxurious dose of moisture?

[lithostoic]

I'm confused. Are you applying it that way or are you applying it and then putting it up?

[Arctic]

What you are doing is a sectioning technique, it's very commonly used especially by those with thicker hair. Although I can recommend trying to section in a neater way, without piling your hair. You could for example divide your hair into two, bun the upper section with claw clip(s), apply SMT to the lower half, bun the lower half, release the upper half, apply SMT to the upper half, bun it again, pop on a shower cap and let it sit. This way your hair will be sectioned for easy application but without piling on top of your head.

Other option might be hanging your head upside down while applying SMT. This might or might not also need sectioning your hair into manageable pieces.

[lapushka]

I section too, Arctic, but without "piling" - at all. I typically wash bent forward, so I "section" for shampooing (not with clips, but just by feel). I then put my conditioners ear down, and when it's a mask, you can easily grab the hair as if making a ponytail, then kind of making a peacock twist with it; that way no need to pile. Key is to let the hair "be" in one fluid direction meaning you don't make a "knot" of it.

[Arctic]

Yes I meant that most people here do not pile, but section in a controlled way BUT that there is a seed of good in OP's method.

[Anje]

As long as you aren't introducing lots of tangles, there's nothing wrong. :)

[Jo Ann]

I pile mine on top of my head, too--I loosely swirl and wrap my hair, like I'm making a bun. It keeps my hair out of the way after I wash it and while the conditioners are working while I clean the rest of me (top half during the first conditioner, lower half during the second conditioner). I do similar after I apply my SMT, using either a hairstick or a claw clip to keep my hair on top of my head, which helps keep my hair contained in the plastic bag I use.

Tangles for me are not a problem.

[sanguinebread]

It's my understanding that the advice about not piling your hair on top of your head comes from the Curly Girl method and other methods meant to minimize damage from shampoo.* There, the context is using minimal shampoo on the canopy of your hair without immmersing the length of your hair in it (by piling it on top of the head) or scrubbing. Whether the advice is relevant to really long hair is kind of debatable, given the method is written with shorter hair than typical on these boards in mind - the idea is that the amount of shampoo that drips down from the canopy is enough to gently wash the length. I don't think it applies at all to anything you're putting on the length of your hair separately.

So, I'd say don't worry about it.

(I'm willing to accept correction if there's another source of this advice with another goal in mind, but this is the one I knw of.)

*Shampoo strips oils from hair and opens/tears up the cuticles, which show more quickly on curly hair because curly hair is thinner, shaped differently and therefore more fragile. Some advice for curly hair at any lengths is generalizable to really long hair because the goal is avoiding damage, and damage that doesn't show in short/young straight hair may be more obvious as it gets longer/older, and may reduce growth.

[Nique1202]

The main concern with piling hair on top of the head to work shampoo in is tangles, because if you're just smooshing it all around together the way they do in commercials you're going to develop way more tangles than if you just worked it through the scalp and then squeezed the shampoo down the length. If you're just twisting sections up out of the way to make sure your conditioner or SMT gets worked through the length evenly, that's a different matter entirely, and there's nothing wrong with that kind of piling.

Besides, the best rule of thumb is "if this makes your life easier and doesn't add extra frustration/steps later on in the process, then go for it" when it comes to hair. If it works for you, causes you no added harm, and makes you happy with the state of your hair, don't let anyone else tell you not to do something.