(08-28-2011, 06:18 AM)expriest Wrote: Re: what Jrob said. Yes, shampooing often will speed up the time that the piece turns brassy. However, I don't really see how guys can go that long w/o shampooing it. If you use any products they need to be washed out, in my opinion. If you just wet the hair the products just stay in the hair and make the hair less than clean and soft feeling. That's just my experience. So I shampoo often and use that unred drabber product.

I agree. When you use styling products you have to get the old stuff out at least once every week or the hair just doesn't look and act right. That's why it is super important to use a shampoo that is not only gentle on the hair, but that also has conditioning properties so it stays hydrated throughout the washing process.

Shampoos can be the "silent killer" of hair systems. You probably won't notice a difference over the course of a few days or a few weeks, but the reason why a lot of people have dryness, fading, and shedding issues after a couple of months is because they are slowly stripping the color and moisture out of the hair.

Before I really understood how all of this worked I was using "natural" shampoos that I got from CVS. In retrospect I can now see that this was what was destroying the hair. They didn't have sulfates or parabens, but they weren't "lubricating" the hair properly and I am guessing that the pH was too high because every time I finished washing the hair felt like wet cardboard.

On a side note- when you use styling product regularly as I do, It is important to use a clarifying shampoo or something with a little more strength (dishwashing liquid works well) to remove buildup on occasion. I was reminded of this recently when one of my units started to look ratty and feel nasty. I assumed it was because the hair was almost dead, but since it hadn't really shed I decided to see if it was product buildup that was making the hair look and feel unnatural. Sure enough....I got the buildup out of the hair and it made a huge difference.