The CWC (condition-wash-condition) official thread

**Miss Catrina** · March 8th, 2012, 05:19 PM

The other night I was so excited to finally wash my greasy hair, I forgot to CWC... I just went straight for the shampoo. Oops.

**MintChocChip** · June 1st, 2012, 12:55 PM

I've tried this out the last few times I've washed my hair, and I've gotta say I love it! My hair feels so much better!

**spookyghost** · June 1st, 2012, 06:33 PM

I had two questions I wanted to ask and I forgot one already!

I want to try CWC and CO and I have no idea which one to do. I was all ready to re-try the CO tomarrow. I have done CO only once and my waves were gorgeous I tell you!

But my hair also looked very limp and had a greasy look t it. And looked evern more damaged than usual. It just looked bad, not just a little greasy. So here I had these waves that I couldnt stop looking at but that was the only great thing about it. Even with the great waves I still looked like I had bad hygeine

. Someone on the CO thead suggested a few things to me so I do think I will try it tomarrow. If that doesnt work than Im going to CWC.

My question-how long does all this take? I see some people leave in the last conditioner on for an hour or so. I have to wake up for work at 4am! The longest I can leave on any stage of CWC is maybe five minutes. Will this still work? I only wash my hair every other day.

Plus, Im still in that newbie-stage of does my hair like cones, sulfates, etc. How long did it take some of you guys to figure out if your hair likes the cones and sulfates? Or that your hair hated it? I just wish I knew what I was doing!

**GreyFae** · June 2nd, 2012, 11:35 AM

Im new to LHC and im going to try this method. I have done it a few times with good results. But totally forgot about it. My hair looks horrible right now. I figured it out finally. Its because i've been cone for a year and it sure doesnt work for me. Im going to get cone co, keep using my sls free s afnd use a sls shammpoo to clarify every few washes.

**HintOfMint** · June 2nd, 2012, 01:11 PM

I've actually modified my routine a bit to alternate a CWC wash with a sulfate-free shampoo and cone-free conditioner wash. I've found that small amounts of cones are good in my hair and that while cone-free conditioners can build up, the sulfate-free shampoo is enough to stave that off.

One rule though: never let a sulfate shampoo touch my length unless I am doing a once-in-a-blue-moon hardcore clarifying. It's good on my scalp but not on my length. Recently, I was running out of conditioner so I figured I could just concentrate the shampoo at the roots and then rinse it out and use the conditioner afterwards. BIG MISTAKE. My hair knotted up so bad I'm pretty sure I still have damage from undoing it even with conditioner! Note to self: no sulfates at the ends!

**spookyghost** · June 2nd, 2012, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by HintOfMint

I've actually modified my routine a bit to alternate a CWC wash with a sulfate-free shampoo and cone-free conditioner wash. I've found that small amounts of cones are good in my hair and that while cone-free conditioners can build up, the sulfate-free shampoo is enough to stave that off.

One rule though: never let a sulfate shampoo touch my length unless I am doing a once-in-a-blue-moon hardcore clarifying. It's good on my scalp but not on my length. Recently, I was running out of conditioner so I figured I could just concentrate the shampoo at the roots and then rinse it out and use the conditioner afterwards. BIG MISTAKE. My hair knotted up so bad I'm pretty sure I still have damage from undoing it even with conditioner! Note to self: no sulfates at the ends!

How do you not get sulphates on your ends? I have no idea if this hurts my hair or not but I dont shower. I bathe in the bathtub. I will fling my hair over the bathtub and under the faucet when I wash. Our working shower is in the basement and I hate the shower down there. I will not use it ever. We have a nice basement, dont get me wrong, but its an older shower that needs updated and I just cant handle it. That has never bothered me because I love taking baths.

**HintOfMint** · June 2nd, 2012, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by spookyghost

How do you not get sulphates on your ends? I have no idea if this hurts my hair or not but I dont shower. I bathe in the bathtub. I will fling my hair over the bathtub and under the faucet when I wash. Our working shower is in the basement and I hate the shower down there. I will not use it ever. We have a nice basement, dont get me wrong, but its an older shower that needs updated and I just cant handle it. That has never bothered me because I love taking baths.

With CWC, your hair is slathered in conditioner when you shampoo your roots so your length is protected from being saturated in a sulfate shampoo when you rinse it all off. I'm sure some sulfates do touch the length (I'm exaggerating when I say NEVER let it touch the length) but the contact is minimized through the first leg of conditioning.

From my experience, sulfate shampoos dry out my length quite a bit and I always regret it when I don't use CWC and I'm not clarifying.

**Ndayeni** · June 5th, 2012, 05:54 PM

Ok, I feel like I'm just dense that I can't quite get how to only shampoo the scalp, and am hoping there's something simple and obvious that I'm missing here.

I've been trying this the last few times I've washed, but am having trouble figuring out how to just get the shampoo to my scalp/roots and not on the rest of the hair on the top/sides of my head, and especially at the back of the head where the hair is thickest. I get how to put the conditioner on to protect the length, but then when I get the shampoo lathere and diluted a bit in my hands I have a hard time getting it to the scalp and not just on top of the hair that's still exposed. I've tried parting and rubbing it on the part, but that doesn't seem to be getting much of the shampoo to my scalp, and and seems to get more on the hair that I'd like.

Any suggestions for what I'm missing/doing wrong would be appreciated.

**spookyghost** · June 5th, 2012, 06:41 PM

I have only CWC one time so far and what I did was put my first conditioner on dry hair not wet hair. From the ears up. I massaged it in and you wouldnt even know I put conditioner in because my hair was dry. I also did this on my oiled hair and putting the conditioner on dry hair took the oil out of my hair much better than if I wet it before. I dont know why it works so good but Im glad it did.

**patienceneeded** · June 5th, 2012, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by spookyghost

I had two questions I wanted to ask and I forgot one already!

I want to try CWC and CO and I have no idea which one to do. I was all ready to re-try the CO tomarrow. I have done CO only once and my waves were gorgeous I tell you!

But my hair also looked very limp and had a greasy look t it. And looked evern more damaged than usual. It just looked bad, not just a little greasy. So here I had these waves that I couldnt stop looking at but that was the only great thing about it. Even with the great waves I still looked like I had bad hygeine

. Someone on the CO thead suggested a few things to me so I do think I will try it tomarrow. If that doesnt work than Im going to CWC.

My question-how long does all this take? I see some people leave in the last conditioner on for an hour or so. I have to wake up for work at 4am! The longest I can leave on any stage of CWC is maybe five minutes. Will this still work? I only wash my hair every other day.

Plus, Im still in that newbie-stage of does my hair like cones, sulfates, etc. How long did it take some of you guys to figure out if your hair likes the cones and sulfates? Or that your hair hated it? I just wish I knew what I was doing!

It took quite a while to settle on a routine for my hair, but I finally settled on CWC. I do CO every once in a while, but CWC is my normal routine. I also generally don't use cones or sulfates, but am not too exclusive. I'll use cones and sulfates every so often. The main reason I avoid them is due to my eczema. The sulfates irritate my scalp and make it itch. The cones tend to build up without sulfates to wash them away. So, I mostly avoid sulfates and cones. I don't get too worked up over it though.

I do not do the super-long CWC that others subscribe to on this forum. I wet my hair in the shower, then apply my first conditioner (a light conditioner, usually) from my ears down, avoiding my scalp. I then make my diluted shampoo (put shampoo in a squirt bottle, then fill with shower water). Then I apply my shampoo mix to my scalp and massage it in, making sure to get my whole scalp clean. Next, I rinse everything (the conditioned length and the shampoo mix) well. Last, I apply my second conditioner to the length only. I shave my legs, soap, rinse my body, then rinse my hair until the conditioner is mostly rinsed. I wash my face, rinse again quickly, and am done. This whole process takes between 5-10 minutes unless I choose to make it take longer. I can be in and out of the shower in 5 minutes with this routine if I want. It works well for my hair, but isn't excessive.