There are many benefits to conditioning your hair before shampooing. This is especially true if you’re like me and have fine, low porosity hair. I need immense help with getting moisture into my strands. What I failed to realize several years back is that adding moisture and protecting your hair actually begins BEFORE you step foot into the shower!
To be honest, I probably started conditioning (aka “pre pooing”) because I saw a girl on YouTube do it. I can’t tell you when I started doing it, but I can certainly tell you WHY I continue this practice.
In the beginning, the concept was truly foreign to me. Conditioner was supposed to be used after shampooing. It says so on the bottle! So, being the naive rule follower that I was, I would jump in the shower with my hair a tangled mess and start attempting to comb out my dry, tangled mess of hair. I don’t need to tell you that my hair did not retain much length during this time. Not only did this take forever, but I feel that I could have saved countless strands in the process.
I tried spraying water and coconut oil on my hair. The water just made my hair wet, and the coconut oil only made my hair hard. (In my opinion coconut oil really isn’t for naturals with low porosity.) I’ve tried my fair share of oils and they just didn’t help with getting my hair detangled and ready to receive moisture. Meanwhile during all this experimentation, my hair was breaking off.
I’d heard rumors of other naturals using Aussie Moist Conditioner to “pre poo” their hair before actually cleansing. I was becoming more and more committed to taking care of my hair and growing it out, so one day I went to Target and got myself a bottle. Here’s what I noticed:
- Less tangles during washing
- I’m able to retain more length since my hair isn’t breaking off after a rough detangling session
- Wash time has decreased significantly since I detangle before I wash
- My hair is more receptive to water and moisture after using conditioner
I’ve since tried other conditioners as a pre-poo, and the results have been the same. Sometimes I’ll add a bit of olive or almond oil to the mix for a little extra slip. My kinky, curly type 4 hair is naturally prone to tangles, so it needs all the help it can get when trying to prevent breakage.
Now, I can proudly say that I’ve perfected my technique to where only the naturally shed hair comes out during my pre poo detangling session. At the end of a wash day my hair is cleansed and fully moisturized with minimal breakage. Here’s how I do it:
- Section my hair into five parts.
- Use 1-2 pumps of conditioner per section (more if my hair is especially tangled that day)
- Finger comb the conditioner into the section. The conditioner gives my hair slip, so the knots come flying out!
Once I feel like the section is sufficiently detangled, I twist it up loosely and move on to the next. I put on a plastic cap afterwards to keep my hair from drying out before I hop in the shower.
Conditioning before cleansing is just one of the many practices that I’ve adopted that has my hair reaching new lengths! My hair is healthier than it’s ever been, and I’m able to keep breakage to a minimum!
