For anyone who never learned much about haircare growing up like me, here are some basics :)

Shampoo is for the scalp, keeping it there is generally better. As your hair gets longer this becomes more important, but shampoo is for the root end of your hair, and not really needed for the ends beyond what will wash through it when you rinse, as its your scalp that produces the oils, and your hair needs some of those oils to stay healthy and strong. The shampoo is there to reduce the build up of oils and contaminants at the scalp to bring things back into balance

Conditioner is for the ends. This is a corollary and also is more relevant the longer your hair gets. Its job is to coat the hair and nourish its “health”, since hair is dead matter and cannot heal. This is most relevant at the ends, since thats the furthest from the oil supply and oldest, so it will have had more time to accumulate damage (and its easier for hair to get damaged at the tip, thats what split ends are)

By extension, when you pick a shampoo and conditioner, pick a shampoo for your scalp concerns and a conditioner for your hair concerns. I have a dry scalp and heavy, straight hair. So for certain styles I may want a moisturizing shampoo, and a volumizing conditioner.

Reviews are a very good indication of quality for basic shopping when you don’t know hair stuff, and I find I have better results when I stick to major brands that have lots of money for R&D and testing on a ton of people- hair is wildly different from person to person. Others will have different perspectives, but the major brands will do you just fine without spending lots.

2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner will do a weaker job of both, which may be fine depending on your hair and what you want from it. But if you’re having hair trouble, individual products will work better.

If you’re washing your hair every day you may find its healthier if you skip days. If you know its damaged that may be the first thing to change for many men, it puts a lot of stress on your hair and can overly strip it of moisture and oil. Over cleansing isnt good for it, and that balance for the right ammount of cleansing varies by person

Hair is most delicate when wet, so if you’re having trouble with hair damage, thats the most important time to be gentle with it aside from times you may already be aware you’re damaging it, like when blow drying, bleaching, etc. (if you blow dry and are having trouble with hair damage use a heat protectant)

If you’re growing your hair out, prevention is worth more than all the cure in the world. There isn’t really any special serum that will fix hair you"re doing damage to or radically increase the rate at which it grows, but managing heat damage, avoiding damaging treatments like bleach and dye, putting it in a gentle ponytail holder that doesnt pinch in one little spot kinking hairs (I liked those coily “phone cable” style, but a scrunchy also works better than a regular one), being gentle when towel drying (I used to wrap in a microfiber hair towel to let it wick most of the water out, and then let it air dry. I had so much hair it would take like 6-8 hours minimum lol) and generally reducing damage will help you preserve whatever length you get.

Good luck with your hair care journey should you choose to go on one! ❤️

I don’t like letting it get long anymore, but when I did washing it with shampoo, brushing it while wet, and letting it air dry would give me the most incredible curls. Sucks hair is so hot, heavy, and drives me crazy when it gets in my face.

jokes on you, i dont have hair

I love eating dandruff from hair :3 I feel like a monkey doing so :3