Episode 2: Throw Away Conditioners

Hello, I'm Mike Ryan, and welcome to this episode on conditioners and why you should throw them away. The conditioners we are talking about are the ones you use in your shower. By the end of this episode, you'll discover why you might want to head to the shower and bid farewell to those conditioners. The surprising truth is that the more often you use conditioners, the stiffer your hair will become. I've witnessed many customers who use conditioner seven days a week, and most of them end up with hair so dry that it ranks at a nine or 10 on my dryness scale.

I ask all my clients how many days a week they use a conditioner. Truth be told, I kept finding time and time again, those who used conditioners seven days a week had the driest hair of all. And you might ask yourself, 'How is this possible?' Do the conditioner companies develop their conditioners to bind to the oils? And if so, do the conditioners wash the oils out of the hair? So, what you need to know about truly conditioning your hair is that the overall product that is used needs to have the ability to be absorbed so that way it can reach the center of the hair shaft where it's the driest.

Now, here's the trickiest and most difficult part to understand. Conditioners leave a residue on your hair that has weight. This weight tricks you into thinking that you are feeling something in your hair. What could it be? These conditioners are designed to make you think that your hair is oily and dirty. They do this so that they can get you to shampoo more often and eventually buy more and more.

Do conditioners get absorbed into the hair shaft, or do they just stay on the outer superficial layer of the hair, tricking us into thinking that the hair is soft to the touch? The key is absorption. The only thing that can get absorbed are oils, not conditioners. When the oils get absorbed, they make the center of the hair shaft go limp. When the hair goes limp, it softens and bends in any direction. This is what we call movement.

When I’m in my salons, I demonstrate movement on my own hair. Keep in mind, I don’t have any hair products in my hair. On most days, I have a perfect balance of my natural oils. With only my hands, I’ll lift my bangs and they will stand straight up. Then I’ll use my hands to change the direction of my hair. My hair goes any direction I want it to with ease. That wasn’t the case with my hair in the past before I understood the importance of oils. If my hair can improve, then so can everyone else’s.

You heard it first from me, a stylist, business owner, instructor, and creator of Openseat 24-7! For best results, throw away your conditioners and rely on your own natural oils!