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At his last haircut, my friend and client, Chad, brought up a very common question: Can the conditioning step be skipped. Like many other busy people, Chad would rather speed through his shower in order to spend more time over breakfast and the newspaper. My answer to him, and everyone else with similar inclinations, is—simply—no.

You see, shampoo opens up the hair cuticle in order to cleanse out dirt, oil, styling product buildup, etc. Conditioner is necessary to close that cuticle back down, restore the hair’s normal pH and leave it soft and manageable. In fact, conditioner is meant to be applied on damp, not soaking, hair. This allows it to penetrate more deeply instead of just coating the outer layers, which just results in limp strands. To accomplish this, I suggest using a dry washcloth to blot moisture before working conditioner into the length of the hair.

To shave precious minutes off your routine, try multitasking: Shampoo, blot hair, apply conditioner, then bathe before rinsing from head to toe. You’ll save time without sacrificing your strands.