The CO (conditioner only) washing thread

[Suze2012]

GRUThanks for the info on coconut oil being just fat and not having protein.

Can it still result in protein-overdose, since it's supposed to stop protein from leaving the hair when the hair is rinsed (or something like that, I forget)? That was my understanding of how people could use coconut oil and end up with crunchy ends.

I'm so confused on this whole protein thing. Seems like almost every stronger-than-Suave/VO5 conditioner has protein of some sort. I have coarse hair and the mane and tail I was using started to make it brittle rather quickly. Is silk protein still ok? Is it ok if it's low on the ingredient list? Or should I just do my best to avoid it altogether?

Good question....as another poster mentioned I had slightly crunchy ends when I used coconut oil initially but a trim sorted that out and my ends are soft now with coconut oil pretty much.

I am really stuck on the protein part..as my hair test turned out stretchy I'm thinking I need protein (not totally sure if that is the right way round though) but when I read conditioner labels I stop short whenever I see a silicone in the list.

I don't know whether it's only silicone conditioner which contains protein maybe?
Or is there something else I could use which is protein based until my hair gets to a balanced state again?

I actually just don't know what to look for on a label.

[Suze2012]

Hi everyone!

I'm returning and giving CO another shot (I just don't want to try oil shampoo and have to worry about ratios). I bought three V05 conditioners - kiwi lime, passion fruit smoothie and the plain volume one with collagen. I can't find any of the Tea therapy ones anywhere =(

Today I washed my three day old greasy and over-oiled hair with the kiwi lime. I made a center part and used about two small palmfuls for each half - one for the top of the section and one for the sides and underneath. Then I scrubbed gently for a good while, and left it on. Then I used one palmful for my length. I left it all on while I finished my shower and then rinsed it all out under cool water for several minutes.

I shed 20 hairs - the most I've shed in the shower for a long time. A little concerning but maybe it was hairs that had to go? lol

The results - very soft hair, but extremely frizzy. It's been raining for four days non-stop where I live so I chalk it up to this. My sides and under part of my hair is clean ( my main issue from last time).

The only issue I can see with CO is that I'm home for the summer with soft water. What do I do when I go back to apartment living with nasty hard water?

Thanks for all the wonderful tips and advice on this thread =)

I have a permanent battle with frizz also. I don't like my hair to be totally sleek as it's quite fine and can just look laden down with product.
This last week we've had terrible wind and rain in the UK and I am incredibly impressed with having lightly oiled with coconut (only the ends and a thumbnail of coconut oil) each night, then when I get to the conditioning the length stage I have added a thumbnail size of coconut oil again.
When wet I've added a couple of squeezes of Aloe Pura Aloe Vera gel throguh all of my hair and then scrunched with a 100% cotton t shirt.
So far it's working for the frizz really well for me.

I think..from what i have read on here that apple cider vinegar (ACV) rinses are a good way to combat hard water. Hopefully someone will come along and correct me if my memory has failed me on that though.

[brave]

GRUThanks for the info on coconut oil being just fat and not having protein.



Good question....as another poster mentioned I had slightly crunchy ends when I used coconut oil initially but a trim sorted that out and my ends are soft now with coconut oil pretty much.

I am really stuck on the protein part..as my hair test turned out stretchy I'm thinking I need protein (not totally sure if that is the right way round though) but when I read conditioner labels I stop short whenever I see a silicone in the list.

I don't know whether it's only silicone conditioner which contains protein maybe?
Or is there something else I could use which is protein based until my hair gets to a balanced state again?

I actually just don't know what to look for on a label.

It's definitely not only the coney ones that have protein. Almost every cone-free one I've found that wasn't Suave or VO5 had protein in them. I was using Mane'n'tail, which is wonderful and thick but a bit overbearing I think. If you go to Sally's they have a couple co-wash options in the ethnic hair care and I also noticed they had "plain" conditioner/lotion (in my store by the manicure/self tan supplies, oddly enough) and all of those options had protein in them.

I think however that the drugstore cone-free conditioners may not have much protein in them (garnier, etc.) Shea Moisture does, at least in their leave-ins (and who wants to spend 10$ on a tiny bottle of conditioner if you're co-washing?).

It would be nice if we could get an article or something about the anatomy of conditioners. From what very limited knowledge I have, they're basically water, oils, emulsifier, and preservatives. But I'm not sure if that's everything or what ingredients fall under what categories. I mean, what on earth is a polyquat, and what does it do for my hair?

[Siiri]

It would be nice if we could get an article or something about the anatomy of conditioners. From what very limited knowledge I have, they're basically water, oils, emulsifier, and preservatives. But I'm not sure if that's everything or what ingredients fall under what categories. I mean, what on earth is a polyquat, and what does it do for my hair?

Conditioners usually have ingredients that form a film on the hair shaft and make it appear smoother, and anti-static agents. So they are the "conditioning" ingredients (oils are too of course). Polyquarternium compounds are one of them I think. eta: And they are probably supposed to help with detangling. Usually there's also some acid like citric acid to make the pH suitable for you scalp and hair.

eta2: I just remembered that the conditioner I used to use for CO had a surfactant too, cocamidopropyl betaine. Not all conditioners have them but some do, just in smaller amounts than shampoos, and usually not sulfates, although I think I've seen one conditioner with SLES on this board.

[brave]

Conditioners usually have ingredients that form a film on the hair shaft and make it appear smoother, and anti-static agents. So they are the "conditioning" ingredients (oils are too of course). Polyquarternium compounds are one of them I think. eta: And they are probably supposed to help with detangling. Usually there's also some acid like citric acid to make the pH suitable for you scalp and hair.

eta2: I just remembered that the conditioner I used to use for CO had a surfactant too, cocamidopropyl betaine. Not all conditioners have them but some do, just in smaller amounts than shampoos, and usually not sulfates, although I think I've seen one conditioner with SLES on this board.

What are polyquats made from? I had forgotten about surfectants. Does it matter horribly if the conditioner you use for CO has them? I heard at one point that was the point behind co-washing, but conditioners that don't seem to have them (trader joes tea tree?) still seem to work to cleanse the scalp.

Is citric acid also a preservative?

The one that confused me at Sally's yesterday was a lotion with SLES in it. Sorry for the multitude of questions. I find this all pretty fascinating.

[Siiri]

What are polyquats made from? I had forgotten about surfectants. Does it matter horribly if the conditioner you use for CO has them? I heard at one point that was the point behind co-washing, but conditioners that don't seem to have them (trader joes tea tree?) still seem to work to cleanse the scalp.

Is citric acid also a preservative?

The one that confused me at Sally's yesterday was a lotion with SLES in it. Sorry for the multitude of questions. I find this all pretty fascinating.

I don't know what they are made from, but they are synthetic. Citric acid is used to lower the pH of the product, I doubt it would work very well as a preservative for a product like conditioner..

Whether a bit of surfactants in your conditioner is good or bad depends really on the results you get, I didn't have a problem with them. I wouldn't necessarily use a conditioner with harsh cleansers, but the milder ones in small amounts are not that bad I think.

[cmg]

It would be nice if we could get an article or something about the anatomy of conditioners. From what very limited knowledge I have, they're basically water, oils, emulsifier, and preservatives. But I'm not sure if that's everything or what ingredients fall under what categories. I mean, what on earth is a polyquat, and what does it do for my hair?

There you are:

http://books.google.se/books?id=Z2rH...page&q&f=false

I would start reading at page 25 or so. There are some 50 pages available online that are really worth reading. Very easy to understand for non chemists also.

/ CMG

[Alexblue]

Couldn't agree more about VO5 and Suave. I would love to try both since so many aware by them. You can order them online but with delivery they will quickly become another expensive necessity

And oh yes, all the ingredients to remember! I think I need to bring a little cheat sheet next time I'm looking at hair products.
...still it's kinda fun reading up on LHC especially as I'm already seeing such an improvement in my hair.

[luxepiggy]

It would be nice if we could get an article or something about the anatomy of conditioners. From what very limited knowledge I have, they're basically water, oils, emulsifier, and preservatives. But I'm not sure if that's everything or what ingredients fall under what categories. I mean, what on earth is a polyquat, and what does it do for my hair?

Most conditioners are oil-in-water emulsions. The most basic components are water, fatty alcohols (e.g. cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol), cationic surfactants (centrimonium chloride, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine) and preservatives. The water provides the continuous phase of the emulsion. The fatty alcohols are the discontinuous phase. The cationic surfactants serve two purposes: they are the emulsifiers that keep the fatty alcohols properly suspended in the water, and they help the fatty alcohols adsorb to the hair surface.

Other conditioning agents commonly found in conditioners include cationic polymers (anything that starts with polyquaternium), silicones (often ending in -cone or -conol), proteins (anything that starts with hydrolyzed, or ends with amino acid), glycerin and various oils.

Some conditioners also contain EDTA, a sequestering agent. Citric acid is a mild sequestering agent as well as a pH adjuster.

[afu]

My tesco smooth coconut conditioner is lasting forever, I bought my 900ml bottle at the begining of march and i'm still going with it (washing approx every 2 days), I don't dilute it (just added a good squirt of aloe vera gel) and use probably 2-3 palmfuls for each wash. I should finish it tonight - then my next wash will be a clarify followed by a purple toner and then onwards with my new Morrison's Jojoba.

I'm the same as you lot, I walked my mum to the station this morning and just couldn't help myself wandering into boots on my way home and reading the ingredients of practically every conditioner (and a few body butters too - I have a few mini ones from them that didn't have ingredients lists so wanted to see how pure and natural they are!)