Stop Obsessing Over Your Skin-Care Routine & Give Your Hair Some Much-Needed TLC

We so often hear about the importance — and extravagance — of various skin-care routines, whether we're devouring celebrity profiles or swapping product recs in the group chat. From extensive, 11-step Korean methods to more minimal, one-product-wonder approaches, there's seemingly endless discussion and debate surrounding our skin-care rituals. But where's the same chatter when it comes to our hair-care routines?

"I have, for many years, been preaching that hair care should be looked at just the same way that skin care is looked at," says Kevin Mancuso, Nexxus global creative director. "It shouldn’t be just routine, it should be regimen." While skin and hair are both primarily made of protein, there are a few basic differences between the two: Skin is biologically active and constantly regenerating, whereas hair’s protein structure is dead. But nourishing the hair’s strands is still just as essential nonetheless.

To better understand exactly why we ought to be investing more in our hair-care routines, we tapped Mancuso and Dr. Fraser Bell, Nexxus science insights leader, to dive into the nitty-gritty details of why a hair-care routine is such a worthy endeavor and why your consistent efforts won't be for naught. "Understanding how hair protein changes at the molecular level lets us select the right molecules, proteins, and actives to put back into the hair to nourish, replenish, and rebuild its structure," says Bell.

We're not going to lie, our conversations lit a fire under our butts to get more invested in our own personal hair-care routines. Read on to join the club.