First there was the craze of not shampooing at all, then we switched over to cleansing conditioners. Now, we’re completely switching it up and doing reverse hair washing, i.e. conditioning first, then shampooing. 

When I first heard about the reverse hair washing method, my initial reaction was that it would probably make my hair dry and tangly. Normally when I just shampoo my hair, it feels dry and gross, so I feel that I need conditioner afterwards. 

Though I had low expectations, I was super curious to try this method, so I gave reverse hair washing a test for a week straight and I’m going to share my results, as well as my tips and tricks below.

I began by just using my usual shampoo and conditioner for the first few days. (I’m currently into the Wella Brilliance line for fine to normal hair, so those are the products I used.) I used conditioner from root to tip and scrubbed it into my hair like shampoo, then rinsed it out and shampooed my entire head. 

So how did it work out? Honestly, my hair felt like it normally does after conditioner, if not softer! I was so shocked. I usually blow dry my hair with a big round brush afterward, so I did that and I actually noticed that my hair had more volume and looked more clean than usual – really cool!

I was so impressed with this that I kept going with this routine for the next three days. A friend and I talked about this method and she suggested the Tresemme line for reverse washing. I love a good drugstore product, so I bought the pre-shampoo conditioner. It’s formulated for reverse washing, so I was definitely curious. 

I did the same routine as before, except I swapped the Tresemme for the Wella conditioner. The biggest difference I noticed is that I think the Tresemme required more product, but since you need more conditioner for this method than usual, I prefer using a less expensive conditioner.