Shampoo

For thirty-five years, I’ve followed the same simple hair care routine in the shower: shampoo and rinse, then condition and rinse.

Turns out I’m doing it wrong. I’ll bet you are too.

Chrissy Teigen gave me the news Wednesday night during a commercial. She told me and millions of others that all our lives we’ve been forced into a terrible tradeoff:  we could have hair that looked good or was run-your-fingers-through-it soft.  But never both.

Until now.

The trick?

Use conditioner first.

The idea behind the switch is that conditioner weighs down your hair. You’re essentially dirtying it right back up with conditioner reside after you’ve just cleaned it.  Solution?  You put the conditioner on first, then wash both it and the dirt out with a follow up shampooing.

This actually makes a lot of sense to me. Although I’m not sure what it says about the hygiene of those who use leave-in conditioner.

The catch is that you can’t just switch the order of your existing shampoo and conditioner (or should I say conditioner and shampoo?) You need TRESemmé’s Reverse Hair Washing System.  You don’t need a license to operate the system, though a coupon would help.

But if it’s good enough for Chrissy Teigen, it’s good enough for me, so I high-tailed it out to my local CVS and came home with my very own system. The bottles are numbered in case you panic at the last minute and try using them in the traditional—and wrong—order.

TRESemmé promises its system will be a “game changer,” keeping the user’s hair “soft and silky—but still have that beautiful bounce” without the downside of “crunchy” texture.

Crunchy texture? I don’t ever remember confusing my hair with a potato chip, but either way, yesterday morning I gave it a whirl.

I pumped the conditioner into my palm. It felt mildly illicit, like eating dessert before dinner, or pulling on a shirt before pants.

Still, I soldiered on, letting the conditioner soak in while I washed and shaved. I rinsed and lathered up with the shampoo.

The verdict?

I’ve seen the light. It might be a gimmick on TRESemmé’s part, but there was something inherently satisfying about ending the hair washing process with the rich lather of shampoo.  It made me feel cleaner.  And it left my hair silky, smooth, and absolutely un-crunchy.

But I won’t go as far as “game changing.”

For that, a product is going to have to make my hair look like Chrissy Teigen’s.