Hair Care 101

Many of you may not know that I am a certified image consultant. I have taken over 85 hours worth of classes on everything from clothing styles and textures to hair and makeup. I know I don't always look like it (for example, I'm sitting here right now in shorts and a t-shirt [my new Shiner Bock t-shirt - thanks, Jody!]), but I do know what I'm talking about.

Now, with such knowledge comes the ability to give other people advice. But since it just isn't nice to walk up to someone on the street and tell them they're wearing the wrong color, or have applied their blush incorrectly, I thought I'd share some of my vast reserves of image knowledge with you here, where you know I can't see you. And if people across the internet are searching for such knowledge and happen to find it here, than I have helped many.

So today, my subject is hair. Almost everyone has it. Here are some things I've learned that have made a vast improvement in the condition of my own tresses:

• Shampoo is made for cleansing the scalp and the hair near it. Unless you've got dirt of some sort all over your hair (you've been painting, sandblasting, swimming), you only need to shampoo your scalp.
• Likewise, conditioner is really only needed on the ends of the hair. The exception would be if your hair tends to tangle near the base of the skull, in which case you should apply some there as well.
• When drying your hair with a towel, blot. Rubbing damages the hair follicles and over time causes split ends.
• Excessive brushing also damages the hair. You shouldn't brush for any longer than it takes to remove tangles and fix your style.
• Changing to a different shampoo for a couple of days a month can remove buildup left by your regular products, which can weigh down your hair.

So, I hope you found that informative, as opposed to boring. If you'd like me to share more of my image information, please let me know.