You've been washing your hair 'wrong' – expert shares 'correct' way to shampoo locks

Everyone loves the feeling of freshly washed, clean-smelling hair but an expert has shared some mistakes you might be making. There’s different opinions on how often you should wash your hair and what techniques you should use.

This can largely depend on your hair type as this affects how quickly your hair gets greasy and needs washing. Mary is a professional hairdresser based in Kingston Upon Thames who shares product recommendations and expert advice on social media. She recently posted a video on TikTok giving tips on how to wash your hair after sharing that some of her clients have told her that the underneath of their hair feels heavy and unclean.

The expert said: “The reason they feel like that is because it isn’t clean. They haven’t been cleaning it properly.

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“These are generally clients that have quite thick hair so it can be hard to properly cleanse the underneath of your scalp so this is what you need to be doing every time you wash your hair.” Mary then gave some tips on how to wash your hair to clean it fully.

1. Save some shampoo for the underneath of your hair

The hairdresser explained that generally people will focus on putting shampoo on the top of their head only and find that they don’t have any left to reach their tresses at the back of their head in the lower section.

She advises putting shampoo on the top and crown and then getting some more, emulsifying it in between your hands, and then applying it to the underneath section, giving it a good scrub.

Mary added that those with thick hair could part the top section with a clip to have “free rein” to fully focus on the underneath.

2. Double shampoo and thoroughly rinse

The hair expert recommends repeating this shampoo process twice and remembering to thoroughly rinse after each one.

She said to rinse the top part of your hair first and then rinse through the lower section, parting your hair again if needed and tilting your head to the side if that makes it easier to reach the bottom section.

Mary noted: “But that will be why this bit doesn’t feel clean - because you haven’t used enough shampoo in that area to get all of the grease and product and build up off and then you haven’t also rinsed it enough so the shampoo that is on there is probably staying.”

If you don’t wash your hair very regularly or you use a lot of product or find that your hair gets very greasy, the expert mentioned that you might feel like the first use of shampoo “doesn’t foam up properly” and this is because it’s “working to lift all that build up.”

She shared that you’ll notice that the second time applying shampoo “tends to foam up better” which is when it’s properly cleansing the scalp as it can actually reach the skin now that all the build up has been removed. Mary emphasised that this is why it is important to double shampoo.