If you use conditioner first it doesn’t work. That’s basically it.
In simple terms- shampoo “opens” your hair and conditioner “closes” it. Picture your hair being made up of a bunch of scales like a dragon or such. When they are “closed” and all “laying down,” they are “smooth” feeling, when they are sticking up or “open,” they look and feel rough.
“Open” hair is easier to accumulate contaminants- dirt and grime and things. The “armor” os open exposing the insides. “Closed hair” is more resistant to these things but the trade off is that when you clean your hair, if it is “closed” it is harder or less thorough to get all the dirt out from under and between the “scales.”
So shampoo “opens” the hair and helps clean out the dirt and then conditioner “closes” the hair so it is shiny and smooth and protected better against grime. Conditioners generally contain ingredients to help moisturize and protect hair in addition to this sort of mechanical action as well.
Hair is “dead,” it doesn’t get blood or oxygen or nutrients from the body. Asides some oils that “drip over” the hair, it is essentially in continual decay. Using various compounds and practices you can help preserve it. Think of leather- it was once animal hide but is now dead. Left alone leather will simply dry and wear and discolor. If you do some things like manage the temperature and exposure of the leather and use products to keep it clean and condition it, it can be preserved and look shiny and nice and “fresh” almost forever. If you don’t, it starts to look aged and worn.
Often times you can bring old aged and worn leather back to looking new or almost as good so long as the damage isn’t too severe. If it is too severe you can improve it but nothing you will do will ever make it look and feel fresh and pristine again that isn’t temporary or superficial.
So putting conditioner in first just makes it so that your shampoo washes out the conditioner and undoes the work the conditioner has done, and then you don’t get the benefits of the conditioner.
Of course things are a little more complex than I make out here. There are lots of different types of shampoo and conditioners, speciality products and hair care, etc. But in general and simple terms this is the shake down.
Indeed. My personal thoughts are that some are useless or even harmful and others have valid usage for a purpose-
Like many beauty or health products and systems. Many are junk or even more harm than good or some passing benefit for long term detriment etc. but I’m sure some are effective at what they promise when used as directed.
But it’s a whole thing. Getting more fiber won’t benefit you if you’re already getting enough fiber so I’m sure that it is possible through genetics and lifestyle that a product that benefits some would t have any impact on others.
Anecdotally I can say that I’ve noticed a difference in textures and appearance of hair using certain conditioning products.
I also once dated a woman who, no exaggeration- her hair was elastic like rubber bands and extremely strong but also soft and manageable. I suspect some of that was genetics but she also had followed a strict hair care routine for most of her life started when she was a child by her mother and…
.. continued almost religiously by her into adulthood. So it is anecdotal and not scientific but I do personally believe that hair care products like conditioners can work or have some impact. It makes some intuitive sense as well- depending on the product- and I can’t say that it actually does anything to the hair itself.
I mean- numerous coatings exist that can make things like wood look and feel smooth but the wood is not altered, it’s merely coated by a substance that gives it those properties and if that substance isn’t renewed periodically, you’re left with wood that is in the same or worse condition as it started generally.
So… I can agree with you that I think much of the industry is a scam and we can only go off our best judgments and experiences.
In simple terms- shampoo “opens” your hair and conditioner “closes” it. Picture your hair being made up of a bunch of scales like a dragon or such. When they are “closed” and all “laying down,” they are “smooth” feeling, when they are sticking up or “open,” they look and feel rough.
“Open” hair is easier to accumulate contaminants- dirt and grime and things. The “armor” os open exposing the insides. “Closed hair” is more resistant to these things but the trade off is that when you clean your hair, if it is “closed” it is harder or less thorough to get all the dirt out from under and between the “scales.”
So shampoo “opens” the hair and helps clean out the dirt and then conditioner “closes” the hair so it is shiny and smooth and protected better against grime. Conditioners generally contain ingredients to help moisturize and protect hair in addition to this sort of mechanical action as well.
Often times you can bring old aged and worn leather back to looking new or almost as good so long as the damage isn’t too severe. If it is too severe you can improve it but nothing you will do will ever make it look and feel fresh and pristine again that isn’t temporary or superficial.
Of course things are a little more complex than I make out here. There are lots of different types of shampoo and conditioners, speciality products and hair care, etc. But in general and simple terms this is the shake down.
Like many beauty or health products and systems. Many are junk or even more harm than good or some passing benefit for long term detriment etc. but I’m sure some are effective at what they promise when used as directed.
But it’s a whole thing. Getting more fiber won’t benefit you if you’re already getting enough fiber so I’m sure that it is possible through genetics and lifestyle that a product that benefits some would t have any impact on others.
Anecdotally I can say that I’ve noticed a difference in textures and appearance of hair using certain conditioning products.
I also once dated a woman who, no exaggeration- her hair was elastic like rubber bands and extremely strong but also soft and manageable. I suspect some of that was genetics but she also had followed a strict hair care routine for most of her life started when she was a child by her mother and…
I mean- numerous coatings exist that can make things like wood look and feel smooth but the wood is not altered, it’s merely coated by a substance that gives it those properties and if that substance isn’t renewed periodically, you’re left with wood that is in the same or worse condition as it started generally.
So… I can agree with you that I think much of the industry is a scam and we can only go off our best judgments and experiences.