Are hair conditioners absolutely necessary?

Hair conditioner is that luxurious twin of your shampoo, the step people often skip when in a rush, or in a budget.

Illustration by Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/GMA News

Skipping conditioners would mean battling buhaghag, tangled hair, but applying it can sometimes make hair limp and feel heavy.

For those frustrated with not getting the promised shiny, silky tresses, here’s a ray of hope: Conditioner is important, our experts say. But it’s a matter of finding the right one, and applying it correctly.

According to dermatologist Gaile Robredo-Vitas, hair conditioners were made to really be partnered up with shampoo.

Shampoo is used to "clean our hair and scalp, to remove dirt, dead skin and residue," she says, but this act of "cleaning also removes our hair’s natural oils and sebum, leaving hair frizzy, dry, and unmanageable.

"Sebum, the ideal hair conditioner, needs to be replenished, hence the advent of hair conditioners.”

Dr. Robredo-Vitas further explains that hair conditioners are necessary to put the hair strands back together and gives it that commercial-worthy shine.

“After shampooing, the hair develops negative charge which cause the strands to repel each other, leading to rough and unmanageable hair,” she explains.

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“Conditioners contain molecules that carry a positive charge, which are attracted to the negatively charged hair strands, so it flattens the hair cuticles, giving the hair its shine.”

Lourd Ramos, celebrity hairstylist, owner of Creations Salon, and guest judge of Asia’s Next Top Model, says that skipping that step might result in hair "losing moisture becoming brittle. You might end up getting a drier or oilier scalp, due to scalp imbalances.”

What conditioner should I choose?

Choose a conditioner based on your hair type — not on the scent. According to Robredo-Vitas, people “with normal, straight, or untreated hair will not need heavy or concentrated formulations.”

Meanwhile, those with dry, frizzy hair will need to "find one that’s formulated with oils.”

She mentions that synthetic oils are superior to natural oils in terms of film formation, shine and luster. “Asian hair needs a higher concentration of silicone as compared to Caucasian hair, because of the large diameters of our hair follicles.”

This means that while natural oils like jojoba, olive oil, or grapeseed oil are great, synthetic oils like silicone will deliver better results for the Pinay hair.

When looking at the ingredient list of the conditioner bottle for silicone, it will be listed as dimethicone or dimethiconol.

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How should I condition my hair, and how many times a week?

Everyone knows that conditioner comes after shampooing, but how you condition your hair is crucial.

Avoid conditioning your scalp, since this will result in limp, flat hair.

Ramos says, “After your favorite shampoo, the basic application of conditioner is to start at the ends, up to midway of your hair. You may use a comb to deeply and evenly apply it to your hair. Then leave it on for at least three minutes. Rinse with cool water, so that the conditioning agents are left on the hair."

Hot water, he says, will "drain the hair from its deep conditioned state. If you’re washing your hair with cool water, but it still feels too silky under water, then it’s not yet okay — keep washing it off until it’s soft, not slippery.”

Dr. Robredo-Vitas and Ramos both agree that ideally, conditioning your hair should be done every time you shampoo or get a hair treatment.

Ramos adds, “This should be done especially for people who are outdoors a lot, due to dirt and free radicals around. It’s also good to do it every day if you have colored or chemically damaged hair.”

For other hair types, Dr. Robredo-Vitas states, “Those with dry, frizzy hair will need to condition around three to four times a week. Others with oily hair may need to condition like once or twice a week.”

Taking it to the next level

For those with a bit more time to primp, the market is awash with other kind of hair conditioners, like leave-on conditioners, hair masks, even blow-drying conditioners.

If you have undamaged or untreated hair, you can go ahead and skip those. If you’re a blow-drying aficionado or get your hair colored a lot, you might want to find yourself conditioners that will address those issues.

Conditioning your hair takes a few minutes, but those few minutes can make or break a good hair day. Conditioning wisely starts with choosing the product based on your hair type, and trying it out for a few weeks until you see results.

There’s a bit of trial and error that comes with finding the hair products right for you, but once you get a hold of what your mane wants, you’ll be saying goodbye to bad hair days, for good! — LA, GMA News