BUILDING YOUR REGIMEN: SHAMPOO

The most difficult part of your haircare journey will be creating a simple regimen that works for your hair goals and lifestyle. The reason this is so difficult is because every one's hair is different. It's impossible to take someone's hair regimen and follow it without little tweaks to make it work with your hair. Throughout this week, I'm going to go over different aspects of a haircare regimen in order to help you come up with your very own regimen. Feel free to e-mail me at texturedtresses@gmail.com if you have any questions.


An important step in your regimen is shampooing. Choosing a shampoo is very important. The type of shampoo will vary depending on your hair type, lifestyle and product usage. There are several different types of shampoos. It's very important to look at the ingredients of a shampoo to ensure it does what you want. If you have dry hair or chemically treated hair, your regular shampoo should be moisturizing.

You will want to choose a shampoo that has mild surfactants so that your hair is not stripped of all the good oils. Try to stay away from shampoos that contain the ingredients: sodium lauryl sulfate or ammonium lauryl sulfate. As a general rule, the lauryl sulfates are much stronger than the other sulfates. You may use a shampoo that contains sodium laureth sulfate or ammonium laureth sulfate. These are generally milder. It would be best to stay away from shampoos with sulfates all together.

Many people prefer to use shampoos with sulfates because they use a lot of heavy products between wash days that contain non-water soluble ingredients. However, there is an alternative: cocobetaine. This is a mild cleanser derived from coconuts. It does remove build up from hair products and is not as drying as sulfates. Shampoos with this ingredient are very good for people who love silicones.

Your method of shampooing is just as important as the shampoo that you choose. There are two methods I like to use depending on how far along I am in my 12 week stretch.

I can use this method up until about 8 weeks:
Stand under the shower and wet your hair. Always shampoo in the shower and not in the sink. This will help you with detangling when it is time. While you are in the shower, do not pile all of your hair on top of your head to wash it. When you wash your hair focus on your scalp. The way I'd like to describe it is to wash your hair as if you were giving yourself a scalp massage. Put about a quarter size amount of shampoo on your hands and massage your scalp thoroughly. Do not scrub your hair. You are not washing clothes and this does not help to get your hair any cleaner. It is only necessary to shampoo once. Only shampoo twice if you have a lot of buildup. When you are finished shampooing, stand under the water to rinse your hair. Don't worry if you don't get a lot of suds from certain shampoos or this method. The suds do not clean your hair, the surfactants in the shampoo clean your hair.

After 8 weeks, I have to start getting really creative:
Mix water and shampoo in an applicator bottle. You will be using about a ratio of 2 parts shampoo to 1 part water. Shake it up. While your hair is dry, apply the shampoo water mixture as though you are applying a scalp oil. Massage it into your scalp while your hair is dry. After you are finished stand under the shower and rinse. I find the hair becomes less tangles when it is not agitated while wet. Also, it would be help to use a detangler before you shampoo and detangle your hair a little bit. I also find this help a ton.

Some moisturizing shampoos that I've tried and liked:
shescentit eucalyptus mint shampoo
shescentit jojoba hemp shampoo
mop c-system moisturizing shampoo

Some moisturizing shampoos that I've heard raves about:
The organix line of shampoos
Cream of Nature (the original formula)
The vitamin line of shampoos
Kenra Platinum shampoo

I will update this list periodically.