Scalp first: the part of hair care everyone skips

People treat hair like fabric and the scalp like an inconvenience. It is skin, and it responds to the same logic as the skin on your face.

Oil before you wash, not after

Work a light oil into the scalp and the mid-lengths thirty minutes before shampooing. It softens buildup and stops the shampoo stripping the lengths on its way past.

Shampoo the scalp, condition the ends

Lather at the roots with fingertips, never nails, and let the runoff clean the lengths. Conditioner goes from the ears down. The roots do not need it.

Leave-in on damp hair

A keratin mist works on hair that is still wet enough to distribute it. On dry hair it sits on the surface and does very little.

Give it a full cycle

Hair grows roughly a centimetre a month. Judge a routine after eight weeks, not after one wash.