Do I Really Need to Condition My Hair Every Time I Wash It?

Short answer: YES!

I can't stress enough how important this is. Washing your hair strips it of all the natural oils your scalp produces to protect your hair. I really do know how frustrating this can be if you have an oily scalp. If you always feel like you're walking a thin line between dry hair and looking like you haven't showered, you can still (and still should) use conditioner. The ends of your hair will thank you, and your scalp will learn to balance over time. Many people discover the same concept when they're teenagers and wash their face too often with no moisture to balance it. What happens? You end up with more acne problems then when you started. Your skin overreacts, scrambling to produce oil to replace what you've washed away. Your hair and scalp react the same way. Many people also run into this problem when they try to shampoo less often to help keep their hair healthy, and most find that over time the scalp balances out and stops over producing oil.

That said, if you have this problem and feel like you never want to condition your hair, here are a few tips to start giving it a try.

Start with a very light conditioner. Shampure and Rosemary Mint are good Aveda choices. Honestly, they're ones I tend to avoid recommending to people who need moisture, because they're so light. However, if it feels better to you, and will get you in to the habit, I am all for it. Eventually, you may want to try something more moisturizing, but it's probably good to start small and use something that has no risk of weighing you down.

Run the conditioner through your ends first, avoiding your scalp and only going as high as the ear. Concentrating the moisture further down will avoid your scalp, leaving it without the excess moisture you're trying to avoid.

Rinse EXTREMELY well. The nape of the neck and the hairline around the forehead and ears are easy places to miss or spend less time rinsing in the shower. Make sure to really run the water through as much as possible.

As much as you can, avoid shampooing every day. As I said before, your scalp will overreact without its natural oils and will tend to produce more.

Finally, avoid touching your hair during the day. This may seem rather intuitive, as your fingers have oil and all sorts of other things on them that won't help with keeping your hair fresh and clean looking. But most people don't even realize how often they touch their hair. If you're more aware of it, you may find your shampoos last longer.