A Beyond Easy Trick To Get Rid Of Hair-Product Build-Up

You know the saying "too much of a good thing?" Well, nowhere is that more true than in the world of hairstyling. While sprays, gels, creams, and pomades can be lifesavers at making our locks behave and helping us craft all those cool styles we've been eyeing, they can also cause some serious hair woes. Products that are meant to make your mane stay put don't necessarily wash out easily. Use them regularly, and you could wind up with product build-up that leaves your strands sticky, tacky, and gunked-up. Easy enough to fix, right? Just hop in the shower, shampoo it out, and off you go. Well, not quite. That may work for some styling products, but a lot of the heavy and firm-hold stuff will cling to your hair even after the most thorough of shampooing sessions. That's because, according to Herbal Essences celebrity stylist Charles Baker Strahan, when the water comes in contact with your shellacked locks, "it congeals and acts as a barrier, so your shampoo can't get in and break it up." Which is why your hair might still feel sticky, even after you've cleaned it. Fortunately, Baker Strahan has a pretty snazzy fix: Apply a clarifying shampoo to dry hair to break up the product, and then hop in the shower to rinse it out. Because the product on the hair shaft hasn't come into contact with water yet, it hasn't had a chance to congeal and create that blockage. This means your shampoo can penetrate and truly clean your hair — no more sticky residue. Genius, right? Herbal Essences Wild Naturals Detoxifying Shampoo, $6.39, available at Drugstore.com.