One Monday, during our weekly Her Campus chapter meeting, our lovely president Avenley told us that she had recently been washing her hair upside down in the shower. She said that she has reasonably thick hair and that she thinks washing it upside down helped rinse out all of the product. Afterwards, she could last longer on one wash, and her hair felt lighter and less oily. So, I thought I would test it out and see how my hair reacts.
On Monday night right after our meeting, I washed my hair upside down. I flipped my hair over my head; then I shampooed and rinsed. I have thick wavy and curly hair, so my typical routine is to brush my hair while it’s wet in the shower. I know there’s a lot of controversy over whether this damages your hair or not, however I feel that my curls come out much better when I brush my hair while it’s wet rather than while it’s damp after I shower; it’s definitely better than if I try to brush it dry.
So, I added my conditioner upside down, flipped my hair right side up to brush it, then flipped it down again to wash the conditioner out. Then, I added my regular leave-in conditioner upside down as well just for fun. After this first wash, I noticed that my hair dried much softer than usual. My only complaint was that my hair dried a little too voluminously, and I had to tame it a little the next day.
On Tuesday, I co-washed my hair. This is a curly hair technique where you use a small amount of conditioner and no shampoo to wash your hair. I did this wash upside down once again flipping it up to brush and then back down to rinse. After the co-wash, my hair dried curlier than it usually does, and the curls stretched further up to the roots of my hair rather than just at the ends of my hair. I’m hypothesizing that washing my hair upside down rinses out more product than normal leaving less weight on the ends of my hair from residual product. This would make my hair lighter and allow for more curls to form.
My next wash was on Thursday night after I heat styled my hair with a curling wand on Wednesday. Once dry, I noticed that the section of hair on the bottom of my head and back of my neck region was less oily than usual. I think that the product from heat styling that would usually cling to that part of my hair fully washed out reducing that typical oily effect.
Friday I co-washed again, but what I noticed on Friday was my favorite part of trying this method. So the theme of this upside down wash is that it really cleanses the hair of all residual products which affects not only the health of my hair, but also the health of my skin. I have bangs that go straight across my forehead and residual product left in my bangs greatly increases my acne breakouts.
As I neared the end of the week, I saw the blemishes on my forehead clearing up and healing. It never occurred to me prior to trying this method that the acne on my forehead was being promoted by leftover oils in my hair. This particular benefit of upside down hair washing was enough to make me want to permanently change my hair care routine.
Saturday was the last wash I did during this trial week. In general, I was able to go three or four days without washing my hair as opposed to the usual two day window between washes. Saying that washing your hair upside down is life changing would be an exaggeration, however, I definitely think it has been a positive addition to my hygiene routine. I highly suggest giving it a try if you struggle with oily and heavy hair or if you notice a lot of breakouts around your hairline. Maybe an upside down wash is just the thing you’ve been looking for!