Like most women, my hair-washing ritual has always been hugely important to me. For as many years as I can remember, I have shampooed twice, then massaged¹ conditioner from roots through to tips and waited two minutes before rinsing².

像大部分女人一样，洗头发对我来说很重要。自有记忆的多年以来，我都是先抹两遍洗发水，然后把头发从上到下涂好护发素，等2分钟之后冲洗干净。

A few woefully short, bouncy, glossy³ hours would follow before my hair would revert⁴ back to its default setting of lank⁵ and limp[. Now, it seems, that limpness was all my own fault.

但令人悲伤的是，洗完头发后好看的发型只持续短短的几小时，然后头发就又变得又薄又茸、油腻腻地贴在头皮上很难看。现在看来，似乎是我洗头发的顺序错了。

Reversing the order in which you wash your hair is meant to give you all the detangling and glossing⁶ benefits of conditioner - along with extra volume - but without any residual⁷ side-effects.

调换一下涂洗发水和护发素的顺序，你不仅能让秀发柔顺飘逸，还能避免护发素残余造成的副作用。

The method itself is simple: wet your hair then work in your favourite conditioner, concentrating almost solely⁸ on the ends of the hair, with just a tiny bit at the roots. Leave the conditioner in for five minutes, then rinse⁹ thoroughly¹⁰. Only now should you shampoo, rinse, and repeat, making sure you don’t use more product than you need.

方法本身很简单：把头发用清水淋湿，然后涂上你以往最喜欢的护发素，要注意把护发素主要涂在发梢、发根要少涂；然后让护发素在头发上停留5分钟，之后用清水把头发彻底冲洗一下；接下来才是涂洗发水、冲洗头发，并重复一遍，注意洗发水要适量不要放多。

I towel-dried as gently as I could, worried that without the final smoothing of conditioner I'd be left with a mass of tangles¹² which would explode into a haze¹³ of split ends the moment I tried to take a brush to it.

我轻轻地用毛巾擦干头发，有点担心梳头的时候头发会不会打结。

To my immense relief, however, my wide-toothed comb went through my hair as easily as it normally does - with not a tangle¹¹ in sight.

然而，当我用宽齿梳子梳头发的时候，头发像往常一样柔顺，一点都不打结。我终于如释重负了。

I blow-dried it as normal and immediately noticed a difference. My hair definitely looked shinier than normal.

我像以往一样吹干头发，马上就注意到了与以往不一样的地方：我的头发比平时要光泽得多嘛！

Two days later I repeated the process - and the difference was just as pronounced. My hair was definitely looking thicker - as though I'd used a volumising mousse, but without the dulling effect that many styling products leave behind.

两天后我重复了这个试验，效果就像照片里一样：我的头发看上去厚多了，就像用过增发剂一样，但却毫无增发剂的那种副作用！

By the end of the seven-day challenge, I could see a marked difference in my hair. Not only did it leave hair shinier, it helped combat frizz caused when particles of dirt stick to the residual product. Best of all, it felt softer yet thicker. Not a sticking-out ear in sight.

在7天测试结束的时候，我看到了自己头发和以前相比的显著差异。先用护发素再用洗发水，不仅让头发更光泽，还避免了护发素残余导致头发小卷曲；最好的一点是头发摸上去更柔软、看上去更蓬松，甚至把耳朵都遮住了呢。