Shampooing and conditioning in reverse - have you tried it?

This sounds interesting, will definitely be giving it a try. Might even cut down styling time. Will be interesting to see how everyone gets on.

How facinating! I'll be trying this next shampoo. Kinda makes sense, doesn't it?

Conditioner is used last because it is made to protect the hair from the elements sun, wind etc. Shampoo is made to open the cuticle of the hairsharft to give it a really good clean and then when conditioner is used afterwards is closes the cuticle agen so the hair is protected. So possably not a good idea to do this long term but it sure is interesting that it works to make hair feel great.

Shampoo is generally alkaline, like alot of soaps right?, which opens the cuticle shaft, after reading what you said toni its made me think thats why I found the vinegar nicer then conditioner as the acidity closes the cuticle again. Does that make sense? lol! Not so sure I like the idea of the cuticles being left open after the shampoo and just leaving it like that :-/
Idk if I want to stick with this reverse experiment any more haha

totally going to be doing the hair reversal more. Having a great hair day all day. I've tried to change my profile picture so you can hopefully see how shiny it is.
(Im also wearing Oasis BB cream)

So I did a quick google on this trend and have found a number of articles dating back to 2012.  Everyone seems to have their own opinion and no one seems to have any hard proof evidence that it is either bad or good for your hair.

If you like the effect reverse washing has, stick with it, if you don't, go back to doing it the normal way.

If you're worried about "leaving the cuticle open", try rinsing in cold water before you jump out the shower, running a light oil through or spritzing a leave in conditioner to "close the cuticles". 

Ah Imoshen you have just saved my fingers lots of tip-tapping!

Exactly - if you like the effect of reverse washing there's no evidence to say it's bad for your hair and you shouldn't continue, more that what works for one doesn't work for all!

If you're concerned about lifting your cuticles a cold rinse, or a spritz of oil mist, shine serum or any such similar product that most of us use when styling will lay them down flat again :)

 

Absolutly if it works for you great. I was just saying that i personally wouldnt try because of the things i know from the theory part of my hairdressing training. Altho if i was to ever try using a condtioning spray afterwards would be the way to go but even that wouldnt coat every strand evenly and the blast of cold water im pretty sure is not correct. Bird that sounds right about the vinegar dont go off the whole idea if it works for you awesome i was just putting in my 2 cents :)  

To be honest I do enjoy a bit of trial and error hehe! The science of beauty I say!
I do a 'cool' rinse when I feel like it, when its cold temps out I'm too chicken haha, but I find it does make my hair shinier.
Idk... my hair still feels good this arfternoon, I have to remember to gage the effects of the henna too though (So shiny!!). See how I feel at shower time, keeps it interesting I guess lol.

Well I have reversed tonight... I have super fine blonde highlighted hair. My hair has a tendency to be oily at the root and I steer clear of heavy products or conditioning treatments - as much as I would love to indulge, my hair is an oil slick within hours! Anyway, the conditioner went on silky smooth and I felt my hair sucking up the moisture. Then after rinsing my hair felt amazing and full but not stripped of oils as l find after shampooing.  Then I shampooed paying attention to the roots and nape of my neck. After rinsing well my hair felt clean but full, like I had a healthy boost of volume? It has since dried, l gave the ends a spritz of conditioning spray - yay as I usually don't use for fear of the oil slick! So I can report my hair looks soft and feels manageable.  In future I may spritz with some shine spray as it may look a little duller? But thats another product 
I haven't been able to use! Oo and enjoy game of thrones tonight! :)
 

I tried it this morning. Usually my hair feels gross after shampoo, like straw. Was surprised that it didn't. Will try again next week, and see how we go.    Off to watch Game of Thrones now. Woo!

I am so trying this tomorrow!  I wonder if my hair will be less frizzy?  Or if my scalp will be less oily by the end of the day?  Will I have supermodel hair?  Is that last question going too far? .....   :)  

 

This sounds really really weird to me. But if it's working for others, I'll give it a go :P

Did it!My hair definitely feels soft and I reckon looked more shiny too. However, I did not enjoy the dry feeling of my hair after rinsing the shampoo at the end. My hair felt like straw :-(    Will try it again next wash. X

Did it!My hair definitely feels soft and I reckon looked more shiny too. However, I did not enjoy the dry feeling of my hair after rinsing the shampoo at the end. My hair felt like straw :-(    Will try it again next wash. X

Oooh sounds good, will be giving it a go this week I think :)

I was super excited to give this a go.  My hair is very fine and has a wonderful tendency to go FLUFFY after washing.   It felt really backwards to condition first I almost forgot the moment I got back in the shower.  My hair soaked up the conditioner.  I was a little concerned shampooing second it didnt feel right, but when I got out of the shower I could easily run a comb through it and it dried fabulously !, alot less fluffly frizzy and somehow it seems to have a bit more volume...will definately be continuing trying this to see if the results stay...

Did it this morning..... I'm not really sure what to say. It felt really weird doing my conditioner first and then the shampoo. I wasn't sure if I should still leave the conditioner on for the recommended time or rinse it instantly. So I left it. When it was time to rinse, my hair felt silky, like it alwasy does after conditior (note, it's the only time my hair ever feels silky hahahaha). Time for the shampoo. I was scared to wash it too long and too "deep" and then take off ALL the conditioner, so frankly, not really sure how clean my hair is. After rinsing the shampoo the silky feeling was gone, which is sad and it felt a bit more like straw / grass, like it does when dry. Combing the hair out was impossible without some product (well, impossible because I don't fancy going bold just yet). Now my hair is dry and it is less curly than it normally would be following my normal routine, but it does feel softer though and the real test would be tomorrow morning when I dont wash - how would my hair feel then..... Will chat again then.

Sounds like you had the same experience I did Angell.

Recap though at the end of the day what I though would be a great hair day, kinda feel flat on its face.  By time I got home and glanced in the mirror I was shocked to see that my hair had major frizz, the curls had all fallen to be really untidy and fluffly looking.  Yeah don't think I'll try that again, not very good method for my hair type.  Gone back to the norm this morning, just conditioner will be washing poo first on Thursday. 

Oh well you never know until you try, be interesting to see its effects on other hair types :)

Well I've never heard of this before, but if people are noticing a change and that it does make your hair look and feel better then I will definitely be giving it a try.

I did it lastnight! Wasnt going to, but I HAD to wash my hair because yesterday it was soooo MUGGY here I was sweating soooo bad. Anyway I found it quite okay while showering. My hair did feel quite weird when I was finished. It didnt have the usual silkyness I've come to expect when finishing with conditioner. Anyway this morning I woke up with soft, shiny hair! Admitedly , it was frizzy beyond belief, but that couldve been due to my restless sleep of tossing n turning most of the night? Im going to try it again though, I am really liking the shinyness and softness :)

I am definitely going to try this tonight. Iv never heard of doing it this way before. Cant wait to see what my hair feels like after.

Oooohhh I have never come across this before! It does sort of make sense though now that I think about it... Conditioner always leaves my hair feeling weighed down. Will give this a try today, see how it goes and will come back to post my results :)

So when I got in the shower this morning I fully intended to try the backwards shampoo thing... but I started washing my hair on autopilot mode and didn't realise I'd forgotten until after I got out of the shower!

Hahah Elena! I was so focussed since reading this article yesterday, that through the whole day I kept on reminding myself that this morning I gotta do the conditioner first. Last night I had this dream that I did do the conditioner, but then totally forgot to shampoo it after and only realised after I got dressed! Needless to say, this morning I made so sure that I was doing everything in the reverse order hahaha

Day 2 hair and I don't have my usual oily roots! Looking good so far, this could be good for fine hair? I will try again and see if I get similar results using my colour toning shampoo. 

Was a tad cautious this morning trying reverse washing routine on my curly hair. I usually need the conditioner to help define my curls and then still use a leave in as well so wasn't too sure about the change in routine. My hair was really notty after the final rinse and curly girls don't cope well brushing wet hair (no Tangle Teezer for me!) so tried to work some leave in conditioner into my hair with fingers and then wide tooth comb. At the moment am waiting for it to air dry, as I don't use heat on it, and it doesn't look too bad but I'll see as the day wears on. Not sure if the reverse wash routine will be enough for curly hair :-(

I have never heard of this before but will def be giving it a go tonight! :-)

Well ladies I tried this today & I must say I really like the result.

I would go as far as to say I prefer it.
My hair feels lovely & soft. It is just as managable & my ends arent dry.
I normally have super dry ends & oily roots. Will be interested to see now wheny hair will feel like it needs its next wash because normally it will need a wash again tomorrow!

My report (homework)

So I had to repeat over and over in my head as I got in the shower (conditoner first, conditioner first..... I almost needed a post it note on the shower just to avoid going into robot mode!!) I wet my hair - brushed through my conditioner (thanks de tangle brush) and let it sit for a bit (did other shower like things). Rinsed (cold water) and thennnnnnn I shampoo'd (avoiding swirling etc thanks to tips on here) it felt weird and didn't foam up at all really. Rinsed in cold water (keeps my colour doing its thing) and got out of the shower (put my hair in my hair wrap - these are amazing seriously get them!!)

It did feel straw like a bit but my de tangler brush had no trouble getting through it (I was worried about brushing issues but there were none)

And then what followed is nothing short of spectacular.... Hair day win!!!!!! I mean my hair dried while game of thrones played and today..... its like silk.... I keep thinking I am in a hair commerical.... Swishhhhh

Oh hey.... look at my hair!!

Happy to report that sometimes doing things backwards is just perfect... like eating dessert for breakfast and breakfast for dessert.

xx

This is very interesting, occasionally when I have been very tired I have put conditioner in first but then I just did another conditioner bit at the end.
Knowing me though, I would tell myself a million times to do conditioner first but I would still end up doing it as usual with shampoo first. I will try my hardest to remember tomorrow though since it's hair washing day for me.

It sounds like a few reviewers are getting great results!  Will have to give this ago tomorrow and see whether it works for me.

Well I gave it a go this morning and it's not my favourite. I have fine (but a fair bit of it) wavy hair, by the time it dried I had a little brown frizz halo going on up top, so I popped in a bit of de-frizz serum to control that and then by 11am my hair was looking lank. I'll be going back to shampoo before conditioner tomorrow. Love reading that it's working well for others though - discovering new and better ways of doing things is awesome!

isemonger - I absolutely HATE going to bed with wet or even damp hair.  By doing the conditioner followed by shampoo it dries naturally way quicker. 

I have fine, frizzy, straight hair and so far I'm really enjoying this method :).

Imoshen it really does dry so much faster!! I am loving it :)

I agree it dried faster than it normally would...and middle of the day my hair still feels great i think it may really be a great method for finer hair doesnt feel so weighed down

After reversing my shampooing yesterday, my hair is still looking fab which is totally abnormal for me! It would be greasy and need tied up. Enjoying having 2 great hair days in a row :D

Ok this has piqued my curiosity I'm just going to have to throw caution to the winds & try this out. Shampoo & condition in reverse.. I will be very interested to see how this turns out. I will allow my crazy hair to rule my day & let it air dry as well just to see if it is easier or harder to manage...
Ok Day 1 of reverse..
My hair felt better & wasn't as green as it had been (I am having trouble with our bore water & my blond's going green).I think the toning shampoo got to work better as it hadn't been rinsed twice as it would have when washing in normal mode- so that was a win
My hair felt dryish but combed out fine, I had a crazy 70's do going on though by the time it had air dried. Lots of body not much control,so I used the straighteners around my face .To stop me looking completly feral cave girl
  Day 2
This morning my hair feels good sadly the frizz is there tormenting me- no worries I thought as I tie my hair for work anyway.  (I usually try to only wash my hair every 3 days or so). My hair looks ok (shiny & softish) but frizz in the length is a huge issue. I have ended up putting in some serum to try to sort it & straightened it all but it's still kind of crazy... Looking forward to tomorrow hair- perhaps my natural oils will get to work & tame the fluff.
Day 3
I'm really over the frizz, so after work I applied some Joico Revitaluxe to the lengths as a pre wash masque, after leaving the treatment in for half an hour I did the reverse system & again noticed the green tinge is less than before - Yay! I also added some Delorenzo satur8 foam to my damp hair. My hair feels super soft & light, wavy not frizzy, It looks like I have been out of my cave in the wind. I have an air dried Beach bum textured style today. 
Day4
My hair is soft & light, not so much frizz today. I tied it up for work then, when I got home.sprayed it with heat protectant & straightened it. It does look nice the colour is nearly normal again Phew! I do like the reverse system but my hair needs a heck of a lot of product to stop it frizzing. When I do the reverse system again in a couple of days I am going to try a curl support serum/mousse & see how that works out. I am commited to trying this for at least 7 days (Only washing every 3rd day or so) because I am very interested in the fact the colour has drastically improved  My hair isn't getting oily roots.  No feral cave girl hair today.
 Day 5 & 6
Not too frizzy but definitely dry feeling, I have decided to loosely tie it up & will do a reverse wash on Monday, 
Day 7 (Monday)
Today before washing I noticed my hair feels weirdly dry & oily at the same time. So after the reverse wash  I added some curl support mousse to my damp hair & let it air dry, The feral cave girl is back ! Not with so much frizz but still wild looking.
My summary of the reverse washing system.. This system does have some pluses-  I really like the fact the greenish tinge has greatly diminished whilst I have been reverse washing & it's great that you can put conditioner into your hair before a shower if you want & leave it to penetrate for longer that you possibly would whilst actually in the shower... But my hair is a lot harder to control & I end up needing a lot of anti-frizz potions, My hair is drier through the lengths than it normally is & my hair is prone to more fly aways. I think as other curly/wavy haired crew members have found it is not such a good system for our hair type. I am satisfied to have spent a reasonable amount of time trialling the reverse system but have decided I will now go back to my usual routine. x


 

Well this sounds like something I may just have to have a go at!! 

Well this sounds like something I may just have to have a go at!! 

I must say all these positive results are really making me want to jump on band wagon... but one question... do you ladies think this technique would benefit dry damaged hair. I can see it working for oily hair but somehow not convinced about dry hair.

Ooo this is so interesting!

So far I'm getting the impression reversing is not the way for curly hair, but other people seem to be having the good results I have - I did it again last night, my hair seems to have more natural volume and be less frizzy.  My layers are actually naturally shaping in to light, loose 'curls' - hasn't been the case in years!

Top tip - make sure you run a comb or a tangle teezer through while the conditioner is on :)

isemonger - you are literally too funny for words, oh you brighten our day (and oh my, Game of Thrones waaaaa)

Love BR Nat x
 

Ive tried it but I found that I still needed to use conditioner again after shampoo'ing it. Maybe that's just me? My hair is fairly dry and I'm guessing it's from dying it blonde :(

I'm going to try this tonight, I'm looking forward to seeing how my hair likes it! 

Colleen, mine is dry and damaged, you'll have to try it as I think it didn't work well for me as I have thick curly dry hair and it just seemed to make my curls drop out and be all frizzy, not sure if that was to do with it being dry, I did freak a bit too when I washed out the shampoo and my hair was like straw that normally indicates to me that the moisture has been stripped *shrugs*

Thanks so much Chikoboo! Think I'll be giving this a miss then. Dont think I want to upset my dry hair :)

Colleen I have really dry damaged ends but this has done wonders for my hair.
If you wsnt to take a peek I have just up loaded a photo to.instagram
My username is g1ggles2

Im just loving my hair today I dont think it has ever dried this beautiful on its own!

After reading all these posts, I'm game to give this a go too. I used to shampoo and condition every day, now I'm on one or two shampoos a week but condition every day. I struggle with the hair once it's dry. Nothing I seem to use keeps it from turning into a frizz fright wig. Other people don't seem to notice it like I do, but it drives me CRAZY.

That's really interesting! I've never heard of that before, pretty keen to give it a go!

That's really interesting! I've never heard of that before, pretty keen to give it a go!