Minimalist Hair Care Tips

 I wish someone had told me in high school that I didn't have to get up at 6 AM every morning to fuss with my hair in order to get a sleek smooth look. Turns out that the natural oil most American women shampoo out of their hair every day has a function. In its proper place, it keeps hair healthy and shiny. The fact that nearly every shampoo and conditioner in the drugstore is for "dry hair" seems to point to that being an issue for many women. Instead of using the oils naturally produced by our scalp, we wash all that off and then add something similar (but inferior) by "conditioning" our hair.

So "minimalist" hair care comes in. I certainly didn't start doing it because it's more "natural," I started getting interested in it when I started coloring my hair. Coloring your hair makes it more vulnerable to dryness. Also, depending on your color, every time you wash it's likely going to dull it a little. Other reasons that motivate people to chose more minimalist hair care are simplicity, getting a smoother texture, and preserving expensive chemical treatments (perms/straightening/relaxing).

So what is minimalist hair care? It basically posits that the oil in your hair is only an enemy in certain contexts. There is some evidence that constantly washing it out makes your scalpal sebaceous glands overactive, so when you first ditch the shampoo you might find yourself with ugly oily hair until your body figures out that you aren't going to constantly dry it out with shampoo and it doesn't need to overproduce. That was my problem at first, which was particularly bad since I have somewhat long hair.

Luckily there are two things you can do until your scalp adjusts: disperse and spot-reduce. I have a very supportive hair dresser who told me that many celebrities like Julianne Moore don't use shampoo. I don't know if that is actually true, but he told me that using a natural fiber hair brush helps distribute oil properly through the hair, bringing it from the scalp, where it can look dirty, to the ends of the hair, which are more prone to dryness-related damage.

Spot-reducing means getting rid of oil where it looks bad instead of washing your whole head. My hairdresser recommends vinegar rinses, but I prefer dry shampoo. I also do the Aveda red staining conditioner every week (luckily it doesn't have much actual conditioner so it doesn't make my hair oily), which extends the time I can go between colorings (I do Herbatint every 3 months with some staining/henna in between to minimize my exposure to some of the more questionable things that even Herbatint contains). After awhile you shouldn't have to do much spot-reducing. When done properly, no one should know that you are doing minimalist hair care.