Look, we don’t grow up with a guidebook about what the hell we’re meant to do with our hair – and if you’re anything like us you’re probably relying on the same routine you’ve been doing since your teen years.
As a result, I’ve lost count of the number of hairbrushes that have met their demise being chucked against a wall over the years because my hair just WILL. NOT. DO. WHAT. I WANT.
So, what are we to do? Who do we turn to for advice on what we should ACTUALLY be doing to have a good hair day every single day?
Enter Matt Newman – or @MattLovesHair as his two million followers on TikTok know him as.
Matt’s a professional hairstylist who is using his 10+ years high-level industry knowledge to help people understand haircare without all the jargon and without any judgement – he’s the older sibling we never had.
We sat down with Matt to ask him our burning questions and it turns out that if you can’t get your hair to behave when you’re drying and styling it, there’s a good chance you’ve made an error when washing it.
Yup – we hate to break it to you, but chances are you’re making this very common hair washing mistake.
Is it the amount of shampoo? Not leaving the conditioner on for long enough? Sorry – it’s way simpler than that.
“The most common mistake people are making is not rinsing well enough,” Matt tells us.
“I worked for an app for many years in New York many years ago where you would go to people’s houses and give them a blowout – but clients had to wash their own hair first.
“I was taken aback at how badly people wash their own hair. I was totally totally shocked. And before working for that app, I would always have salon clients who would ask if I could pop by their house from time to time and do a blow out. And I always remember thinking afterwards, ‘wow it never looks as good when I do it at their house.’
“But when I started working for this app, I would do blowouts on 10 women a day in their homes and I started to notice that nobody washed their hair well, and your blowout doesn’t come out great if you don’t.”
So where does hair rinsing come into this? According to Matt, you first need to think about when you get your hair washed in a salon.
“Think about how long we’re rinsing your hair with the faucet right up close to your scalp with the stream of water – we get every last spot. If you leave any shampoo hair mask or conditioner behind your final style is going to look gross and you’re not going to be happy,” he explains.
As Matt explains to us, that leftover products means your hair won’t be as voluminous as you were hoping, your curls aren’t going to be as bouncy etc. The fact of the matter is, if you have leftover product, your finished style is not going to look so great.
The answer to our washing woes? Matt advises: “What I would recommend to do to avoid that is split your hair in half and rinse it bit by bit – whether you’re doing bottom and top or left and right, split it and rinse each section separately and then bring them together and rinse it again.”
If you really want perfectly washed hair, Matt also recommends focusing on your shampooing.
“The other thing to consider is your shampooing – when you’re at the salon and you feel us washing your hair in the bowl, we get EVERY BIT of the scalp. It’s why everybody says ‘oh the best parts of the shampoo’ because it feels like a head massage.
“The reason it feels that good is because we as hairstylists are getting every square millimetre of skin, every single bit is getting product on it – which also then leads back to why you have to rinse it really well.”
The more you know, eh? Excuse us while we hop back in the shower... we’ve got a head massage to get on with.