Conditioning Before Shampoo: You've been washing your hair wrong

By now, you're probably a pro at washing your hair. After all, you've been doing it without any help for probably 15+ years.

Wet hair, shampoo, rinse, condition, let it sit while you do other things, rinse, and maybe do it again or call it done. Pretty straightforward. Hard to mess up. But what if someone told you that you've been doing it wrong all this time?

The general thought was that you wash your hair with shampoo then you use a conditioner to put the moisture back in. This seemed fine for most people. But if you use conditioner before shampoo, it'll make a difference that you didn't even know was an issue before.

I was first introduced to this by TRESemmé with a sample of their Beauty-Full Reverse Wash system and the idea baffled my mind. The logic behind it makes sense though.

Here's what you do:  Wet hair, apply conditioner, let it sit as usual, apply shampoo and rinse. So the shampoo is actually washing out the conditioner.

Using conditioner last actually weighs down your hair, making it limp and flat. However, using the TRESemmé Pre-Wash conditioner before shampoo actually preps your hair by binding itself to the cuticles to protect your hair during washing and leaves it smooth. The TRESemmé Pre-Wash Conditioner is formulate with a combination of Fleximax Volumizers and Fiber Polishing Actives which actually prep your hair for bounce and volume before even shampooing.

One of the major downfalls about this conditioner is the fact that the bottle is much smaller than the shampoo (my ratio is roughly 1.5 conditioner to 1 shampoo) and it's very thin/runny, so it makes it hard to distribute.

The TRESemmé Shampoo is formulated with the same Fleximax Volumizers, is supposed to control static (didn't work for me!) and leaves your hair prepped for styling.

The shampoo lathers up more than any shampoo I can possibly remember in the past 5 years and is the same consistency as a regular shampoo.

I didn't think it would make a difference, but this concept of conditioning before washing works. My hair feels lighter (I didn't even know it was being weighed down before!) and I can actually get an extra day wash free!

As part of the samples I received, I also got the Volume & Softness Hair Maximizer. This cream is to be used with the rest of the Beauty-Full line on damp hair. I didn't really notice much of a difference between using this cream and not using it.

Shampoo, Conditioner, Hair Maximizer (small, gentle squirt of conditioner makes it look not as runny as it actually is)

While reverse washing might not be for everyone (those with really thick hair may want to condition, shampoo then do another light condition on the tips only), I can see this being very beneficial for those with thin hair that gets weighed down easily. There are also days where you need to do a deep clean to rid of product build-up, so on those days, shampoo first.

Whether you try the TRESemmé Beauty-Full Reverse Wash system or try it with you regular shampoo & conditioner, give it a try and see what your hair is truly capable of.

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