Expert Reveals Shower Setting that could be Damaging your Hair

Erin Reece from TryBello Shares Her Top Autumn Haircare Tips

Once autumn arrives, a hot shower suddenly becomes much harder to resist. On a cold morning, most people are probably turning the temperature up a little more than they did in summer without really noticing. It feels good, but if your hair starts feeling drier, rougher or harder to manage around the same time, the shower may be part of it.

According to Erin Reece, MD, spokesperson for natural hair care brand TryBello, you don't need to start taking cold showers, but there are a few parts of your shower routine that are worth paying attention to once the weather turns colder. “Warm water is completely fine. What I would avoid is having it so hot that your scalp feels tight afterwards or your skin is bright red when you get out. People get used to the heat while they are standing there, so what started off warm can end up much hotter by the time they wash their hair,” she says.

Be Careful with the Temperature

That really clean, almost squeaky feeling can seem like a good result after shampooing, but it is not always what you want. Very hot water can leave the scalp and hair feeling stripped afterwards, particularly if the lengths were already dry. Curly, coloured and longer hair tends to show this quite quickly because the ends are normally the first part to start feeling rough, and once that happens the hair can start tangling more easily too.

“If you get out of the shower and immediately feel like you need loads of oil or conditioner just to make the hair feel normal again, I would look at the water temperature first. People often blame the shampoo, then change the conditioner as well, when the shower is still extremely hot every single time,” Reece explains.

You do not need to start measuring the temperature either. Comfortably warm is enough, and if the scalp feels like it is getting blasted with heat, that is probably a sign to turn it down a bit.

Do Not Stay Under Hot Water for Too Long

The other thing that changes around this time of year is how long people stay in the shower. Five minutes in summer can quite easily become fifteen once getting out means standing in a cold bathroom. Fair enough. But your hair does not need to sit under very hot running water for all of that time.

Wash the scalp, rinse the shampoo out properly and use conditioner where you need it. Once that part is done, move the hair away from the direct stream if you are staying in there for another ten minutes. “You can still enjoy a warm shower in winter. I am definitely not suggesting anybody stands there freezing just for their hair. But hotter and longer does not mean cleaner, and if the scalp already feels dry or itchy once the heating comes back on, that is one of the first things I would change,” Reece says. It is easy to overlook because the shower itself feels nice, which is probably why people keep doing it.

Keep Shampoo Around the Scalp

Most of the oil, sweat and product build-up is around the scalp, so that is where shampoo actually needs to do most of the work. Massage it in with your fingertips rather than scratching at the scalp with your nails. When you rinse, the shampoo will travel through the rest of the hair anyway. There is normally no reason to really work it into dry ends every single time unless there is something there that needs removing.

How often you wash is more individual. Somebody with an oily scalp may need shampoo more frequently, while naturally dry or curly hair can start feeling worse if it is being washed constantly. “Winter can turn into a bit of a cycle. The scalp starts feeling itchy, so you wash it because you think it is dirty. Then it feels dry again the next day, so you wash it again. If you are already shampooing very often and the scalp still feels tight, I would not automatically assume another wash is going to fix it,” Reece notes.

Conditioner is slightly different. If the driest bit is through the lengths and ends, that is where most of it probably needs to go.

Do Not Leave Products On for Too Long

It's easy to assume that leaving shampoo or conditioner on for longer gives it more time to work, but that is not necessarily the case. Shampoo only needs enough time to be worked properly through the scalp before it is rinsed away. Conditioner and masks can be different, but the timing really depends on the product. Some only need a couple of minutes, while others are made to sit on the hair for much longer.

“Have a look at what the bottle actually says. If a conditioner tells you to leave it on for three minutes, keeping it there for fifteen is not automatically going to give you a better result. The same goes for using more of it. You want enough to cover the hair that needs it, not so much that you are still trying to rinse it out five minutes later,” Reece explains.

If the roots regularly feel coated or heavy once the hair dries, you may be using too much or not rinsing for long enough. That can also make the hair feel dirty sooner, so you end up back in the shower again before you really needed to be.

Be Gentler Once You Get Out

A gentler shower routine does not help much if the first thing you do afterwards is rub wet hair backwards and forwards with a towel. According to the expert, you should squeeze out the excess water and blot it instead. The same goes for brushing. If there is a knot, start lower down and work through it rather than pulling harder from the roots and hoping it eventually gives up.

Then there is the hairdryer, which becomes much harder to avoid once nobody wants to leave the house with wet hair in autumn. On a cold morning it is very easy to put it straight onto the hottest setting because you need the hair dry and you need it dry now. Get some of the excess water out first and use a moderate heat where you can.

“Autumn hair care can get complicated quite quickly. People add a mask, then an oil, then another treatment because the hair suddenly feels different from summer. Those things can all have their place, but I would still look at the boring stuff first. How hot is the shower? How long are you in there? Are you rinsing everything out properly, and then are you rubbing the hair half to death with a towel afterwards? Those are the things happening every time you wash your hair, so they matter more than people think,” Reece adds.

For more information: https://trybello.com/