Last week I have asked my Instagram followers' opinion about quite a controversial question – whether it’s best to wash your hair for a hair updo or rather leave it for a couple days.
There was a poll in my stories and 52% had voted for the latter and only 48% consider fresh as the best option.
Here is my point of view. Certainly, there is only one choice – hair should be clean. Why do so many people think the opposite? Probably, this myth comes from times when the only styling product was sugar water or homemade flax seed gel. Surprisingly, many hairdressing schools still teach this their students.
What is the main struggle with fresh hair? It is silky, frizzy, easily falling apart when you try to style it. Many girls would admit that it is easier to plait their hair on day two or three etc. However, this doesn’t apply to professional hair styling (well, it shouldn’t). With the massive range of products and tools available nowadays, we, stylists, don’t need to use scalp sebum to style hair. There is plenty of ways to tame wild hair and achieve desired results.
What happens when you don’t wash your hair? Head scalp produces sebum (oily secretion) which makes your hair heavier and flatter. Eventually, it is harder to create volume and texture, curls won’t last as long, as if hair was clean. This is definitely not what we want. Also, it is so nice to have your hair fresh for a special occasion, I would say, it is a basic self-assurance.
What do I offer my clients to do? I think it is unfair to expect someone to wash their hair at 7am, and this is often the time when a bridal party starts getting ready. Therefore, I ask to wash their hair on the night before and make sure it is crisp dry before they go to sleep. Many girls still prefer to wash it in the morning, but I personally would rather have a longer sleep 😊
In the conclusion, I would like to say ‘thank you’ to Emma, my student, who encouraged me to write about this topic.