Hair Today

The fact that most men hate having their hair cut is not because of a Samson complex but, rather, the result of the morning-after hang-up. No matter how great the style looks when the barber is through, a night's sleep or a morning's shampoo will undo the magic. A fellow knows that, on his own, he'll never duplicate that look. Still, you've had your hair styled in the newer, shorter length. Now what?

If you're all thumbs at maintaining a hair style, it's symptomatic of a larger syndrome: The average male hasn't the foggiest about any aspect of hair care. He habitually follows the grooming regimen established in his teens, with little or no thought involved.

Theoretically, all questions about hair care should be addressed to your barber. But you should know that there are almost as many opinions on hair care as there are barbers. One hair radical in New York City insists that nothing be done to hair except cutting it periodically, washing it every other day with shampoo diluted in seven parts water and "combing" it with one's fingers. In another hair emporium, the French chef concocts carrot shampoo in a blender before his client's eyes. Vegetable scalp packs are also served with gusto. At some cutting establishments, microscopes are proliferating for "scientific" analysis of hair. To make any headway into the perplexity of hair care, you must get involved. What you don't know may be the root of the problem.

Hair care is simultaneously simple and complex. At the simplest level, only clean and healthy hair can look good. To complicate the situation, hair reflects your general health. If your diet is unbalanced or if you don't get enough sleep, your hair won't look first cabin, no matter what you do to it. Yet, if you're perfectly healthy but use a wrong combination of hair products, your hair will be lackluster. Shampoos, conditioners, dressings and driers all affect how hair reacts.

What's the status of your hair? Is it oily, dry or normal?

If you're uncertain, shampoo your hair and towel-dry it. Add no other preparations. For three or four days, just rinse with tepid water and comb into place. At the end of this period, if your hair looks greasy, it's naturally oily; dull, it's dry; middle of the road, it's normal.

Once you know the basic condition of your hair, you can begin to take optimum care of it. Oily hair, which attracts and holds dirt, requires frequent shampooing and little else. Dry hair often demands extra conditioning. If your hair is normal and healthy, don't change a good program.

Proper hair care involves four steps: (1) cleansing it, (2) compensating for any basic shortcomings, (8) keeping the hair manageable and (4) styling it. But remember, no at-home steps can solve serious hair or scalp problems. Dandruff, for example, is a medical concern. So-called medicated shampoos sold without prescriptions usually only temporize the condition and sometimes create a more hazardous one.

Since cleanliness is next to healthiness, finding the most compatible shampoo is your first goal. Unfortunately, tracking one down is no simple task.

In A Lather

With all the exotic claims today about shampoos—X makes your hair squeak; Y is mild enough to wash your face; Z is made of passion fruit—you might easily forget that their function is to wash your hair and scalp.

A good shampoo dislodges dirt and oils so they can be rinsed away. But since natural, protective oils are also tampered with, shampoos must have conditioning agents to replace oils and moisture. Otherwise, hair becomes dry, dull and unmanageable. Shampoos for normal hair are therefore finely balanced between their cleansing and their replacing qualities. Shampoos for dry hair must remove dirt but must also replace a higher concentration of oils and moisture. The ratio of oil to moisture agents in shampoos for oily hair is markedly lower.

Then the best shampoo is obviously one formulated for your hair type, right? Not necessarily. Frequency of washing must be considered.

Men who shampoo daily (if you live in polluted cities or do physical labor, you should) must realize that most shampoos are designed for people who wash their hair only once or twice a week. The detergent action may be quite high. Thus, a fellow who shampoos every day with an oily-hair formula can strip away oil too vigorously, reducing the hair's natural protective film. Even the guy using a shampoo for dry hair may find it too harsh for every-morning lathering. Regardless of hair type, daily shampooing should be done with an especially mild product, perhaps of the baby variety. Similarly, if you shampoo often, disregard instructions to wash, rinse, then repeat. Only really dirty hair requires two cleansings.

Selecting the right shampoo still isn't easy. The mystique about products—herbal vs. acid-balanced vs. organic vs. protein vs. whatever—is just that, a mystique. Some herbal shampoos actually are formulated with natural herbs, while others add chemicals to smell "natural." Acid- or pH-balanced shampoos are bolstered so the degree of the product's acidity corresponds to that of normal hair. (Most shampoos are alkaline and potentially too drying.) Protein shampoos are supposed to be compatible with hair because hair is composed principally of protein. However, compatibility or smell or the other highly touted aspects of shampoos have little to do with the ultimate test, how a shampoo performs. Good performance stems from balanced properties and not from promotional gimmicks.

Basically, the only way to determine whether or not a shampoo works for you is to test it. For proper evaluation, simply shampoo, don't apply additional preparations. Try a new shampoo at least two weeks before damning it. If your hair's appearance doesn't improve, try another brand. With oily or normal hair, you should be able to see visible improvement when you hit upon the right product. If your hair is extremely dry, there may be slight improvement but not excellence. Probably you need to use a conditioner or a hairdressing.

How you shampoo is also telling. Hair must be prepared for washing by brushing it briskly to loosen dirt and oil particles. After brushing, massage your scalp by firmly planting the tips of your fingers in place, then rotating them. Work from the base of the neck upward. This increases circulation. Wet your hair with tepid, not overly hot, water; work up a lather. Be brisk but not rough. Rinse thoroughly. Rinse again. All shampoo should be rinsed away. Residue dulls the hair and coats the scalp. Many men believe they have a dandruff condition when they haven't rid their scalp of leftover shampoo that eventually flakes.

Conditional Pauses

Even the most sophisticated shampoos can do only so much. If hair is excessively dry or brittle, no shampoo can supply the remedy. Sometimes even normal hair cries for help if temporarily abused, perhaps by an overdose of sun. In these circumstances, you must compensate for the hair's shortcomings by applying a hair conditioner to improve texture, luster and manageability.

Hair conditioners are products that coat the hair shaft to soothe, smooth, seal and protect. They are applied only on freshly shampooed hair. Conditioners are not hairdressings, like creams or tonics, nor are they rinses, like lemon or vinegar and water mixtures that neutralize chemicals in shampoos. Whether sluiced through damp hair and left on for only a few minutes or worked into towel-dried hair for 20 minutes or more before being rinsed away, conditioners are temporary measures. They don't cure a problem; they camouflage it. How often a conditioner need be used varies with the extent of hair damage. If you shampoo daily, two or three conditionings a week will probably suffice.

The problems inherent in finding the right shampoo also exist in selecting a conditioner. Only trial and error can be your guide. However, a fairly trustworthy rule is, if you're satisfied with one brand of shampoo, odds are you'll find that company's conditioner acceptable, too.

Management Position

Today's hair styles are casual and free. But unruly, never.

Hair quality, texture and density affect manageability. Generally, oily and/or coarse hair is more easily controlled than dry and/or fine hair. Although hair conditioners do affect manageability, reconditioning is their main purpose. Wispy or fine hair can literally be dragged down by a heavy conditioner, causing it to look flat and lifeless. It's "manageable," yes, but at a price. Hair dressings—oils, creams, gels, tonics and liquids—impart control and luster with a lighter touch. However, they should be applied sparingly or the hair will have unnatural sheen and no movement.

Men with oily hair rarely, if ever, require hairdressings that add more oils. Someone with normal hair occasionally may need extra control. Brittle, dry hair should be dressed so that it doesn't appear strawlike.

The formula for choosing a hairdressing is, if the hair is fine or thin, the dressing should be lightweight (a gel or a tonic), while thicker hair can support heavier aids (creams or oils). Despite label instructions, don't massage dressings into wet hair: You can't judge how much is added. Wet your palms with water, then add the product to your palms and rub them through dry hair. Check the results. Add more dressing only if needed. Combing the hair will give more lift than brushing it.

Hair sprays are another method of (concluded on page 188)Hair Today(continued from page 90) putting hair in its place. No hair specialists recommend them. So what? Sprays are a way of grooming life for many men, and the newer ones incorporate protein protectors.

The real threat of hair sprays is overuse. When too much is applied, not only does the hair look and feel tacky, the hair shaft can be overly coated, contributing to premature breakage. The trick is to hold the container at least a foot away from the hair and to direct the mist lightly over the hair, never aiming directly at the scalp.

Like all hair preparations, sprays should be brushed out nightly. Of course, waking the next morning, you face that perennial problem—how to get your hair in shape again.

Tooling Around

Sometimes you feel like pulling your hair out over manageability problems when there really aren't any. Hair falls according to its growth pattern. When you want it to do something it resists—look straight if it's wavy—what you've got is a styling dilemma.

Remember those day-after-barbering blues? They most likely occur because the barber, completing his styling, employs that ubiquitous tool the blow drier. From his elevated vantage point, he can perform feats you can't hope to achieve with a towel and a comb.

Whether professional or one-hand-operated types with clip-on attachments, all hand-held driers use heat to relax the hair so it can be manipulated into a new shape. Since hair's at its most malleable when wet, it tends to hold an "unnatural" shape when dried into it.

Hair driers should be used with care, since they can literally scorch hair. Air flow should be directed over the hair and the implement should be in constant, side-to-side motion. However, before flicking the drier on, towel-dry shampooed hair. On top speed, remove most of the remaining moisture. Then reduce the speed and style.

Styling takes manual dexterity gained by practice. Ask your barber to demonstrate the techniques he uses when finalizing your style. If susceptible to scalp problems or oily hair, however, be extra cautious when using driers. Also, extremely curly or very thick hair can seldom be blown dry without appearing either bushy or electrified.

If becoming a drier junkie to maintain a hair style seems unpalatable, there is another alternative. Insist that your barber deliver a style that requires no special maintenance tricks. Happily, such a style will probably be short and casual, "wash 'n' wear"—which just happens to be this season's trend-setter. Lucky you.