"during wash, try not to move hair" --- whaat!!

[shikara]

I was reading some information about hair care on reverseskinaging.com/hairbiology4.html. They quote some of Dr.George Michael's philosophy of caring for hair, followed by tips for growing long, healthy hair. I don't really get the following (I'm paraphrasing here, not quoting)

During the wash, try not to move your hair. Pour a little shampoo on your palm, rub hands together and run palms over head. Shampoo is used to remove dirt from the top layers of hair....

I think they are suggesting that once you have run your palms over your head, you then begin the rinsing (because, after all, they make no mention of massaging or cleaning the scalp, and how could you 'not move hair' unless all you are doing is the palm and rinsing thing). Perhaps this would be in conjunction with the traditional '50 strokes with a BBB'?

Would you think that the cleansing method described above would be enough (especially regarding scalp)?

[Mesmerise]

Hmm I always thought washing hair was more about cleaning the hair at the scalp! The length of my hair could go MUCH longer without a wash, but the scalp would get greasy, so I can't see how you'd get a good scalp clean by following this method :confused:.

[Miss Catrina]

Yikes. I hope that's not really solid advice, because that would never get my head clean.... and I definitely enjoy having my hands in claw shapes rubbing my scalp when I shampoo.

[teela1978]

I do something like this. I dilute my shampoo heavily, then pour strategically and sorta gently fingercomb it into my scalp. I certainly don't massage. The detergent seems to do a good job on its own. Messing with the roots too much leads to lots of tangles for me!

[CherrySilver]

GM was not a native English speaker -- what he meant was not to overly manipulate the hair, *especially* if it was long. I used to get the 'hair washing' lecture form him all the time when he had his salon on Madison Ave in NYC.

[Athena's Owl]

try this: "During the wash, try not to move the length of your hair. Pour a little shampoo on your palm, rub hands together and run palms over head. Shampoo is used to remove dirt from the hair closest to your scalp...."

And suddenly it makes perfect sense. Let the length of your hair hang free and concentrate shampooing efforts where it's needed.

[Sundial]

Check with Madora on this? :o She follows GM's philosophy so I think she may be able to clarify on this. Hopefully she pops in here to contribute

[Juneii]

I try my best to not move or disturb the length of my hair while I shampoo. What I do is get the shampoo on my palms and fingers and make circular motions all over my scalp until my scalp is soapy. Then I put my head under the water and let the suds run down the length of my hair and out. Maybe that's what he meant?

[xoerincolleen]

I think he's advising that you don't bunch your hair up on your head and shampoo, and only rub into the scalp. You know how on shampoo commercials, often the hair is piled on top of the head and everything is just rubbed together? He's saying that you shouldn't do that.

[Miss Catrina]

I think he's advising that you don't bunch your hair up on your head and shampoo, and only rub into the scalp. You know how on shampoo commercials, often the hair is piled on top of the head and everything is just rubbed together? He's saying that you shouldn't do that.

AUGH... I used to do that when my hair was shorter, and now the thought just makes me cringe. I can't imagine.

[littlenvy]

That's what I do with both shampoo wash or conditioner wash.
Since the shampoo is diluted, it gets down to the scalp anyway. Then I strokes my hands down my hair few times until I'm sure it has gotten pretty much everywhere. I try not to move the hair too much. This prevents tangles and hair shed since most hair is lost during the wash (at least on me).
I pre-oil my hair so I do my massage and scalp cleaning with the oil before washing.

For CO wash, I apply the conditioner before the shower and gently massage through the hair. During shower all I do is rinse my hair well.

[SpeakingEZ]

I do something like this. I dilute my shampoo heavily, then pour strategically and sorta gently fingercomb it into my scalp. I certainly don't massage. The detergent seems to do a good job on its own.[...]

This is what I do, too. I followed advice from a LHC'er (can't remember who!) and got a little squirt bottle, like the kind you'd use for hair dye. I put a little squeeze of shampoo in, fill it halfway up with water, shake, and apply it directly to my roots, gently lifting up sections of hair as I go. Once that's done, I rub a little bit with my fingers (I don't massage or scrub or do anything with my nails) and then rinse out. All clean.

[Mesmerise]

This is what I do, too. I followed advice from a LHC'er (can't remember who!) and got a little squirt bottle, like the kind you'd use for hair dye. I put a little squeeze of shampoo in, fill it halfway up with water, shake, and apply it directly to my roots, gently lifting up sections of hair as I go. Once that's done, I rub a little bit with my fingers (I don't massage or scrub or do anything with my nails) and then rinse out. All clean.

Nice idea! I find it hard to get to all my roots without getting to the rest of my hair too. I'll have to try this.

[selderon]

I also use the diluted shampoo in a bottle application method. SO much easier to get the cleanser to the roots without moving the hair around a lot.

[TakeAPotatoChip]

I guess he means to not 'whip yo hair back and forth' while showering, since hair is more delicate when wet.:shrug:

[lapushka]

try this: "During the wash, try not to move the length of your hair. Pour a little shampoo on your palm, rub hands together and run palms over head. Shampoo is used to remove dirt from the hair closest to your scalp...."

And suddenly it makes perfect sense. Let the length of your hair hang free and concentrate shampooing efforts where it's needed.


I think he's advising that you don't bunch your hair up on your head and shampoo, and only rub into the scalp. You know how on shampoo commercials, often the hair is piled on top of the head and everything is just rubbed together? He's saying that you shouldn't do that.


I agree with both these posters. I think it means not bunching up your hair, leaving it down, and working the shampoo through the roots, massaging, scrubbing your roots & scalp gently while just letting gravity take hold of your hair, not moving it against that force... Hmm. I'm explaining this poorly...

[MaiCarInMtl]

I'll have to try and keep this in mind for my next wash. I'm sure it save a lot on the cost of shampoo as well.

[spidermom]

I try not to disturb my hair too much while washing because of tangles. I basically use fingertips rubbed in one direction on the scalp (following the direction of the hair). Then I pick up my fingertips, go back to the beginning, and rub in a slightly different place until I feel that I've covered all my scalp.

I do scalp massage when I brush out my hair before washing it. I like to bend and let my hair fall toward the floor and brush over all my scalp and down the length (but carefully). Sometimes I leave my hair like this to wash it, other times I stand upright under the shower and wash it.

[spidermom]

This is what I do, too. I followed advice from a LHC'er (can't remember who!) and got a little squirt bottle, like the kind you'd use for hair dye. I put a little squeeze of shampoo in, fill it halfway up with water, shake, and apply it directly to my roots, gently lifting up sections of hair as I go. Once that's done, I rub a little bit with my fingers (I don't massage or scrub or do anything with my nails) and then rinse out. All clean.

This is how I apply the shampoo, too. It gives good coverage over all the scalp, so I don't have to depend on mechanical scrubbing to spread the shampoo.

[jeanniet]

I also adhere to the "more is easier and better" school of hair washing--that is, not more cleanser, but more cleanser + water. It distributes better, especially if you have thick hair, and you can get away with using less shampoo (or whatever you use). When I used regular shampoo, I diluted it, and same with CO. Now that I use soapwort shampoo, I make it so that there's about a cup of shampoo total, and that's plenty to get through my thick hair. Minimizes the amount you have to move your hair around, too.

[Wanderer09]

I think he's advising that you don't bunch your hair up on your head and shampoo, and only rub into the scalp. You know how on shampoo commercials, often the hair is piled on top of the head and everything is just rubbed together? He's saying that you shouldn't do that.

Yeah, that's what I thought of when I read it. With long hair that causes evil, awful tangles.

[ericthegreat]

try this: "During the wash, try not to move the length of your hair. Pour a little shampoo on your palm, rub hands together and run palms over head. Shampoo is used to remove dirt from the hair closest to your scalp...."

And suddenly it makes perfect sense. Let the length of your hair hang free and concentrate shampooing efforts where it's needed.


I think he's advising that you don't bunch your hair up on your head and shampoo, and only rub into the scalp. You know how on shampoo commercials, often the hair is piled on top of the head and everything is just rubbed together? He's saying that you shouldn't do that.


I agree with both these posters. I think it means not bunching up your hair, leaving it down, and working the shampoo through the roots, massaging, scrubbing your roots & scalp gently while just letting gravity take hold of your hair, not moving it against that force... Hmm. I'm explaining this poorly...

I agree with all the posters here. I also think that he meant not to pile the length of your hair all the way to the top of your head and scrub and massage it vigorously like you see in all those shampoo commercials. Doing so will only give you more grief with tangles after your wash.

I usually do a CO wash, and only use shampoo about once every three weeks to clarify. Whichever method I use to wash my hair, I pretty much follow the same technique for washing mentioned in this thread. I lightly massage my scalp with fingers, but I leave the length of my hair alone. I then raise the showerhead over my head and let the water run over my back down my hair. By avoiding touching my hair too much during the wash, I also avoid creating extra tangles.

[Lollipop]

When it says not to move hair, maybe it means the length-you know the shampoo commercials with the suds on top of your head? Maybe it's that.

[hermosamendoza]

try this: "During the wash, try not to move the length of your hair. Pour a little shampoo on your palm, rub hands together and run palms over head. Shampoo is used to remove dirt from the hair closest to your scalp...."



And suddenly it makes perfect sense. Let the length of your hair hang free and concentrate shampooing efforts where it's needed.

lol okay THAT makes much more sense!!!

I saw a video recently by FarahDukai ([quote=Athena's Owl;1566675]try this: "During the wash, try not to move the length of your hair. Pour a little shampoo on your palm, rub hands together and run palms over head. Shampoo is used to remove dirt from the hair closest to your scalp....") video on youtube. It really perplexes the way she washes her hair. I even commented but she's super popular so probably won't ever see my comment.

she doesn't follow the advice as she piled shampooed oiled hair on her head lol

[spidermom]

Second post on same subject; redundant.

[AnnaJamila]

Maybe they meant to move the hair as little as possible and just worded it poorly? Lots of people shampoo by piling all of their hair on top of their head and then scrubbing which causes lots of tangles and friction so their point might have been to concentrate of massaging and cleaning the scalp rather than the hair.

[Amygirl8]

My hair would kill itself if I did that lol.
I need to clean the scalp, not the hair itself. The hair gets cleaned with a bit of shampoo since it never gets particularly greasy, but my scalp gets flakier if I don't wash it enough.

[feb26]

I do this too!! If i scrub scalp using claw motions it tangles & the tangles go all the way down. so i let the shampoo do its thing, i rub the ends & midlength

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I try my best to not move or disturb the length of my hair while I shampoo. What I do is get the shampoo on my palms and fingers and make circular motions all over my scalp until my scalp is soapy. Then I put my head under the water and let the suds run down the length of my hair and out. Maybe that's what he meant?

I do this too. I think what he meant was, do not pile the whole length of your hair on top of your head and scrub away like you see on the hair commercials. Just gently stroke shampoo onto scalp, when you rinse the shampoo will move down the length by itself and cleanse that area anyway.

[Madora]

Excerpts from George Michael's Secrets for Beautiful Hair (Doubleday 1982):

The best position is to bend over, with your head down, a posture which keeps your scalp loose and increases circulation. (When your head is raised above the elbows the scalp "locks". Try it for yourself and you'll see the difference).

SUDSING:

For the sudsing, the goal is to remove all surface particles of dirt and oil from the scalp. If you're using a good nondetergent shampoo you won't have much lather on the first sudsing. (In fact, if you do have much lather, you know you're using a detergent shampoo.) This first "sudsing" is simply to slosh off the dirt. During your second lathering you'll be massaging your scalp--not your hair.

For the correct massage, first work around the hairline, moving your hands toward the crown and massaging the scalp; work up undeer the mass of hair and shampoo the scalp up and down motions. Don't use the hair itself as a scrubbing mop. After you finish massaging the entire scalp area, pick up the rest of the hair and work toward the ends, remembering to treat it like silk and taking care to avoid tangles.

After the shampoo, make sure you've really rinsed your hair thoroughly with lukewarm water. Would you leave any soapy water on your fine silk negligee? If you don't remove all the lather, your hair will remain dull and sticky. This is another reason why the shower is an ideal place for shampooing because you can direct strong jets of warm water directly on your head. Feel your hair with your hands after rinsing. You shouldn't be able to feel one smidge of shampoo.

Then, if you can tolerate it, give yourself a final rinse with cold water, as cold as you can stand it. The cold water shrinks the molecules of the hair and knocks off any superfluous coatings, making your hair much more manageable.

Whether your finish your shampoo with a conditioner or not, always conclude with a very light application of undiluted creme rinse.

Pour a few dollops of rinse in the palms of your hands and pass your hands over the hair. Then rinse with more lukewarm water.

Basically, long hair should be washed no more than necessary. Too much shampooing dries out the hair, although it doesn't affect the hair root at all.

***

Dr. Michael also advocated detangling the hair and brushing it thoroughly before wetting it.

Also, his method of shampooing started with placing small amounts of shampoo in the palm of the hand, then massaging it in.

Over the years, I developed my own technique for shampooing gently (in an effort to reduce tangling). How you use your fingers and section your long hair can really make a difference!