Conditioning Hair is Important: My Hair Story + Tips to Shiny Hair

Let me brief you on this post. This will have 3 parts. The first part will be the story on how my hair lost its shine. The second part will be the importance of hair conditioner and will be followed by the remedies I did to regain my hair's shine.

WARNING: This post includes self praise. Forgive me for doing so. LOL

MY HAIR LOST ITS SHINE

When I was in high school I had long, straight, waist-length hair. It was cut in V-shape and only had few layers. My hair is one of my assets. I even got a recognition during my junior prom because of my hair. To cut it short, my hair was beautiful, long and shiny... up until my senior year.

During my senior year, I got more and more lazy with taking care of my hair. My parents used to buy me shampoo and conditioner whenever they go do the groceries. As I got lazy, I asked my parents to just buy me the shampoo with conditioner products in store. Yes, it was because I was lazy to condition my hair after shampoo-ing. They eventually got me Palmolive Naturals (Shampoo with Conditioner) Anti- Dandruff Therapy. The said product was actually good. It smells nice and got rid of my dandruff. Since it already had conditioner, my hair was actually kind of soft.

I have read somewhere that it's better if you don't shampoo your hair everyday. It's better if you just use conditioner (alone) from time to time. I'm not the expert in this area but I guess you can tell when to use your shampoo and when you can go alone with just conditioner. My hair strands are super fine and I can't go through the day without shampoo-ing my hair. It tends to get greasy in less than 24 hours. Thus, I shampoo my hair everyday and I use the product mentioned above for everyday use.

I didn't notice dramatic changes on my hair until my mother pointed out that my hair was loosing its shine. I was surprised and examined my hair closely (which I haven't done in a long time). It has indeed lost its shine! All because I was too lazy to condition my hair separately!

IMPORTANCE OF HAIR CONDITIONER (AND HOW IT WORKS)

One should use conditioner after shampoo-ing hair. Why? Let me tell you some nerd-ish facts about hair, shampoo and conditioner.

I want you to imagine one strand of hair as a straight line. Done? So let's discuss what happens to the hair when we shampoo it. Most shampoos are basic in nature meaning they have a high pH. This is because it has to rid the hair of dirt and oil build up. Now, when our hair meets shampoo, some parts of the hair tends to stick out. I can't find an exact illustration of how this would look like but supposing our hair is a straight line, just imagine that from side to side, there are flicks (fly away lines), much like roots branching out from one main line. Now when this happens, light that are directed on it cannot convey shine because there are little flicks that destroy the light concentration. This results to dull, non-shiny hair. Adding to this, imagine if you comb through hair that has flicks from side to side. It may damage it by enlarging the flicks that may cause split ends in the long run. Since we're not talking about split ends here, let me go back to our topic and discuss the conditioning parts. If you're concerned about split ends, just comment below and I might talk about split ends in the future. After all, I was also a victim of excessive split ends.

Anyway, back to what I was saying... Even if you run water on your hair after shampoo, the flicks would not go away. Now here's where conditioning of hair comes in. Most hair conditioners are, on the other hand, more acidic in nature. Meaning, it has a lower pH than shampoos. When base meets acid, it neutralizes. Right? The same thing happens when our shampoo-ed hair meets hair conditioner. It neutralizes the basic effects of shampoo and reverts our hair strands back to a straight line (no flicks) so that when light is directed upon it, light can be concentrated, resulting to shiny hair. Thus, conditioning after shampoo-ing is a MUST.

Now why did I get dull hair when in fact, I used shampoo with conditioner? Analyzing the facts I have stated above, shampoos with conditioner cannot bring about the same effect. True, these products may have lower pH than normal hair shampoos but since it's a combination of two products, it would most probably have both properties at the same time. I guess that's why my hair was still soft. And I also guess that's why it wasn't able to revert back my hair into a straight line (if you've read my nerd-ish fact above, I know you know what I meant). In conclusion, the product I have specified above did NOT cause me to have dull hair. It was my negligence. And yes, I learned the hard way. You still have to use conditioner after using products such as those.

GAINING BACK MY HAIR'S SHINE 

Given that my hair was already damaged, I could do nothing but change my habit and be a little more patient in separately using shampoo and conditioner. After all, it did not take me too long to do so.

To aid the process of giving my hair back its shine, I used this product called Citre Shine. It was, once again, suggested by my best friend and it did wonders for my damaged hair. Of course, I used both the shampoo AND conditioner. Citre Shine costs a little bit more than your usual advertised shampoos and conditioner. I bought it in Landmark Makati.

Now for those who are on a budget, if you have damaged your hair the same way that I did, I suggest that you use Johnson's Baby Shampoo (in yellow). Yes, no more tears! Haha! Baby shampoos apparently have lower pH than most shampoos. I don't know about other baby shampoos but I was able to use Johnson and Johnson partnered with Cream Silk conditioner and the results were great. I used it for a duration of 1-2 months right after Citre Shine corrected my problem.

Other people have mentioned that Shine Moist Henna Wax makes hair soft and shiny. Actually, I have a tub of it in Natural (meaning there's no color in it) and I used it a while ago but I don't exactly remember if it actually made my hair shiny. I do remember that my hair was remarkably soft. As for the shine, I would have to use it again and probably make a review on it in the future.

I hope this entry was helpful for you and I really hope you get the shiny hair that you've been yearning for.


(I bought this/these product/s with my own money and I am not getting paid for anything I say about it. Note that these are just my opinions and I do not guarantee that what I say would hold true in everyone's case.)