The CO (conditioner only) washing thread

**brave** · July 3rd, 2012, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by louzen

This conditioner looks lovely - might give it a try

I find it so hard to find shampoos and conditioners with as few harsh chemicals/fragrances/preservatives in the ingredients (I'm using Green People unscented conditioner at the moment). When I do find them, they're always expensive

It was around 11$, but the bottle is huge. I wish it smelled more strongly of lavender though!

**caadam** · July 3rd, 2012, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by brave

It was around 11$, but the bottle is huge. I wish it smelled more strongly of lavender though!

Where can one find this brand anyway? I've actually never seen it before!

**brave** · July 3rd, 2012, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by caadam

Where can one find this brand anyway? I've actually never seen it before!

I found it in the health section of a grocery store, and I've seen it in other co-ops and health food stores I think. Go to the fancy organic conditioner shelf, and look for the biggest bottles, hah.

**caadam** · July 3rd, 2012, 01:59 PM

Well, I just got back from doing some grocery shopping and I got a bottle of Suave Naturals. I haven't used it in a while, but it's cone-free, so I'm going to see how it turns out.

I'll be going to Central Market later, which is a pretty fancy all-natural/organic grocery store, and they may very well have Everyday Shea. I'll keep my eye out for it.

**BlackbirdFly** · July 3rd, 2012, 02:09 PM

Hi Patrycja, I share your pain of expensive shampoo bars. I just wanted to share with everyone (who hasn't already discovered this) that etsy.com has many shops with excellent, inexpensive shampoo bars. I'm using Nature's Muse Rosemary Mint bar ($4.50) and I LOVE it.

**NoRush** · July 3rd, 2012, 05:05 PM

Hello ladies (and gentlemen) I'm having a bit of trouble, so I thought I'd ask the experts first, before I pill out my hair

So, I CO-washed my hair for the 3rd time today, with largely the same results as the two previous tiems...

And here is my problem: when wet it all feels as it should (as it normally does when I shampoo and condition) then it dries and.... The most frustrating thing ever! My scalp and roots are fine and dandy, clean, soft and shiny... and my lengths are matted, stringy and sticky

First time it happened I figured I had to be doing something wrong because my roots were also kinda greasy , it happens when you try something new, no problem. So I tried again, went back to the instructions here on LHC, the scalp and hair on my crown area nice, clean and soft everything from ear level down stringy and greasy, so try again. Come the third attempt all of my scalp and roots (save for a small patch on the back of my head) is nice and clean and my ends are so sticky I can't french braid because the ends stick together and snag.

So here is what I do and use:
Cone free conditioner.
Take a good amount slightly diluted (just a few drops o fwater to make it a bit runnier) in an old dye bottle (the ones with the narrow nozzle) and apply generously to the whole scalp until slick, then massage well put it up in a showercap for a few minutes and then rinse well (I rinsed until my hair felt squeaky)and then applied a bit of conditioner to the ends, rinsed well again.

I tried both coating the lenghts as well and not, but the result didn't change.
I did use a different conditioner before the final rinse, a cone free as well, could that be a problem??

Do you have any idea as to what might be the problem?

**afu** · July 3rd, 2012, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by NoRush

Hello ladies (and gentlemen) I'm having a bit of trouble, so I thought I'd ask the experts first, before I pill out my hair

So, I CO-washed my hair for the 3rd time today, with largely the same results as the two previous tiems...

And here is my problem: when wet it all feels as it should (as it normally does when I shampoo and condition) then it dries and.... The most frustrating thing ever! My scalp and roots are fine and dandy, clean, soft and shiny... and my lengths are matted, stringy and sticky

First time it happened I figured I had to be doing something wrong because my roots were also kinda greasy , it happens when you try something new, no problem. So I tried again, went back to the instructions here on LHC, the scalp and hair on my crown area nice, clean and soft everything from ear level down stringy and greasy, so try again. Come the third attempt all of my scalp and roots (save for a small patch on the back of my head) is nice and clean and my ends are so sticky I can't french braid because the ends stick together and snag.

So here is what I do and use:
Cone free conditioner.
Take a good amount slightly diluted (just a few drops o fwater to make it a bit runnier) in an old dye bottle (the ones with the narrow nozzle) and apply generously to the whole scalp until slick, then massage well put it up in a showercap for a few minutes and then rinse well (I rinsed until my hair felt squeaky)and then applied a bit of conditioner to the ends, rinsed well again.

I tried both coating the lenghts as well and not, but the result didn't change.
I did use a different conditioner before the final rinse, a cone free as well, could that be a problem??

Do you have any idea as to what might be the problem?

My hair gets like this if it gets too much protein (for me that means pretty much any protein at all!) - does your conditioner contain protein? and have you checked your hair's moisture : protein balance lately using the stretchy strand test?

**Tisiloves** · July 3rd, 2012, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by NoRush

Do you have any idea as to what might be the problem?

Are you always cone free? I find I need cones to even fingercomb my hair.

ETA: Finger combing the conditioner through your length is also a great idea.

**NoRush** · July 3rd, 2012, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by afu

My hair gets like this if it gets too much protein (for me that means pretty much any protein at all!) - does your conditioner contain protein? and have you checked your hair's moisture : protein balance lately using the stretchy strand test?

I have no idea, more than tangly my hair is sticky/waxy and I don't know what sort of ingredients to look for for protein?

Originally Posted by Tisiloves

Are you always cone free? I find I need cones to even fingercomb my hair.

Yep, I've been mostly cone free for about six now (sometimes I use a shampoo that has a few cones but not often and I don't notice a big difference when I stop using it) but I've never had a problem.

**Tisiloves** · July 3rd, 2012, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by NoRush

I have no idea, more than tangly my hair is sticky/waxy and I don't know what sort of ingredients to look for for protein?

Usually it'll straight out say like hydrolised silk protein, but also anything with keratin or -amine-.

I'd also check the conditioner for anything like lanolin or beeswax, it sounds like you have a heavy, sticky ingredient in there.