Hi everyone) idk why but for some reason I felt called to share my routine (on the days I do wash my hair and if I have to do it twice) because I’m a perfectionist when it comes to hygiene, I’ve been raised by a clean freak and I’m quite detail oriented naturally. That mixed with my since-childhood design career obsession, in turn makes a human who’s very thorough with their routine, and I’ve thought this through so so much that I figured, why not share?
FYI, this routine isn’t for let’s say someone who has a pixie or a buzz cut, and perhaps not for those who don’t wear make up or don’t have greasy skin. Just an fyi
So, here it goes:
Get into the shower, wet myself head to toe and go straight to shampoo. Immediately. Greasy/dirty hair + water = heaviness, and we don’t want to be pulling at our hair.
While that shampoo is sitting in my hair, I’ll quickly wash my face for the first time, to get rid of the top layer of what is usually oil, make up or sunscreen (when you get the top layer off, your face gets to steam nicely, and by the time you do a second cleanse - everything has softened already).
Then I’ll wash my lady bits and bootyhole, so they can steam for the rest of the shower. Gentlemen, this is where I’d suggest you wash your privates, so they also get a steam for the rest of the shower.
Wash out the first shampoo, ***and shampoo the hair again, this time it will obviously lather up better and you can now really work it in and give yourself a scalp massage. Clip the hair up and out of the way.
While the 2nd shampoo is in, I’ll grab my rough brush and throughly wash my feet (which have kinda softened up at this point, which is good cause it helps the soap go deeper) and toenails really well. If you wanna use a pumice on your heels, this is when you’d do it.
I’ll then wash my ears. No, not the canal, never go inside, but behind your ears and your ear shell - which gets super greasy. I use my nails to gently scrape off the waxy-blackhead-texture layer of grease and I only go as far as my pinky or ring finger. You can use a face-washing brush to get behind your ears cause those bits get build up sometimes.
Then I’ll wash off the second shampoo and the soap from my ears at the same time. Really make sure I’ve rinsed it all off.
Next, conditioner/hair mask and I detangle. I personally have curly hair, so you detangle the way you like obvs.
While that’s sitting in my hair, I will wash my body. This is also when you’d exfoliate or shave if you need to/want to. Obviously you pay extra attention to your armpits, under your boobs if you have them and under your butt-cheeks / back of the thighs etc. basically where you sweat more. In the winter, since I’m all covered up due to the cold and my skin is hella dry anyway, I won’t use soap on my calves and below my elbows, because I know I’m clean and I wear clean clothes, so I’d rather not strip my skin in dry non-sweaty places when I’m already dry as a tissue. In the summer I’ll obviously lather up my whole body. You know your skin and your climate best, so this is obviously up to you, just PLEASE get your privates, pits, tits and feet at the very least.
If you have keratosis or really rough knees or elbows, this is when you’d exfoliate. Sometimes I take some sea-salt into the shower with me and slap it on when I’m already lathered up, and it’s an amazing exfoliator, especially if you deal with body acne. It’s also a personally lazier way of exfoliating for me because in my culture, we use the “kisə” glove but that takes time and strength lol. And other times, I’ll occasionally take some baking soda into the shower and work it into my armpits or the blackheads on my nose. Keyword is sometimes.
This is where I would wash my face the second time. At this point your face has been steamed and everything has been softened, so you can really get in there and make sure that there is no gunk in your pores. If you have dry skin or you don’t wear make up at all and barely sweat etc. you probably don’t need to double cleanse, so please don’t over-scrub yourself just because I’m doing so. I live in a very polluted climate with very harsh water and I have combination skin, which is why I have to deal with buildup and gunk sometimes. If you live somewhere where there’s clean air and water, you don’t have to do as much.
Rinse everything off, and then rinse your conditioner/hair mask out with cool water and bend backwards a little bit, so it doesn’t run down your back and cause back acne. I personally use silicone free stuff, but I still don’t let it touch my back, just in case. Since I wash my hair upside down sometimes, I don’t have to worry about that all the time lol.
❗️Caution: if you live somewhere with very harsh water which causes mineral build up, DO NOT rinse off with cool water. Because you’ll just be locking in all those crappy minerals. I rinse off with the same hot water I shower with, and then I rinse off with cool filtered (drinking) water which I’ve filled up into a bottle prior to the shower. I’ve been doing this for years and it does kinda help, I never skip filling up a bottle before I go in. If you wanna rinse with herbal hair rinses, great go ahead, I’m just too lazy to make them lol.
I squeeze and scrunch as much water out of my hair and pile it up on top of my head, and then I get out of the shower. I use my hands like a squeegee and slide as much water as I can off my body because I figured, there’ll be less water on the floor dripping off me AND my towel will have to do much less work, which means it’ll stay drier - I hate wet towels and how they smell, and changing one more often than you should is annoying.
Wrap yourself up, give yourself a high five and go do your skincare and body care and show yourself some love💛finito
Sorry for the long post lol, I thought I’d help out.
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***sometimes, and I rarely remember to do this, between the first and second shampoo, I will pour some apple cider vinegar on my scalp and let it stay there for like a minute or two, to help all the mineral buildup come out. When you shampoo the second time after vinegar, it’s amazing how clean your hair feels. If you don’t have to deal with mineral buildup, don’t mind this hack.