Wash your hair every day. Unless you’re working out so strenuously that you’re sweating through your hairstyle every day—and let’s be honest, this doesn’t apply to you—you don’t need to shampoo every single day. Set up a once-weekly to three-times-a-week schedule and shampoo when you have the time to do it right. Unless something awful happens to your hair, like a pigeon flying overhead drops a package. Again, this won’t happen every day. If it does happen every day, you’ll need to have a psychic remove that troublesome curse before you shampoo.
Treat your hair like silk. You wouldn’t wash silk in steaming hot water, right? Or scrub it briskly against itself, or dry it harshly with a stiff towel? Or call it names and twist it into a long knot and beat it against the side of the tub? (Good heavens, what did that silk ever do to you?) Instead, you must touch it with light, fluffy motions and pat it dry, then wrap it in warm pajamas and rock it to sleep. In reality, your hair is a bit more resilient than silk. Just be as gentle with your hair as you would with something fragile that you cared about. It’s a good idea to use lukewarm water when you shampoo and resist the urge to scrub (or beat) your hair.
Brush your hair with a natural bristle brush. Try not to think about where those bristles came from, or if the animal who donated them did so willingly. Try not to think about orphaned little piglets whose parents were slaughtered for their bristles. They were probably slaughtered for their bacon, and you still love that, right? But seriously, hogs are shaved for their bristles, not killed. Look it up. It’s like shearing a sheep. A natural bristle brush will be so gentle on your hair that it will feel annoying like it’s not doing anything at all. That’s how you know it’s working. Or buy a washable, plastic bristle brush and keep thoughts of hogs out of your mind completely.
Never use heat on your bare hair. Don’t blow-dry. Just don’t. Will you find it inconvenient to go about your daily routine with your hair dripping down your back? Yes. Will it be worth it to have shinier hair during the times when it finally dries? Maybe. But if you really want to protect your delicate silk hair, blot it lightly with a towel and then let it drip dry. You’ll shiver a little bit, sure. You’ll have damp shoulders. But isn’t it worth it, to have better hair? Isn’t it? If not, you can spray some product on it to protect it from the blast furnace of the hairdryer that you know you’re going to use. Or, like a young friend I know, ride around the block on your bicycle with your wet locks flapping in the breeze until they dry. And watch out for pigeons.