CO-Washing- What kind of hair is it best suited for? Does it work for you?

[JLeighs]

I co washed for about a year when I decided to try the CG method about 5 years ago. It initially worked very well for me. Eventually I started noticing that I was losing a lot of hair with every wash. I came to the conclusion that my fine and fragile hair can't take that much manipulation since co washing requires more manipulation (for me anyway) to get the hair and scalp clean. I tried it again not too long ago, and I had the same problem --tons of hair down the drain. No more co washing for me.

[VJG]

Well, I found that I shed more CO washing and my ends dried out faster. I do sometimes alternate CO and shampoo, but not always.

[VJG]

Oh, I'm so sorry! This came up as a recent thread. My bad.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I'm torn because my hair likes CO, but I cannot handle the shedding it caused. I do use it from time to time, maybe a couple times a month, if I feel my hair needs a little extra conditioning since I use cheap sulphate shampoo (diluted, of course).

Well. I'm back to COing full/part time again. My hair is dry, runs the entire 2 spectrum, mostly coarse, and pretty thick. Shampooing only exacerbated my dryness, no matter what conditioner I followed up with after. I just couldn't stand how my hair was behaving with shampoo. Like I was tempted to shave it all off and be done with it. I CO washed today and presto! My hair soft and shiny with little frizz and my waves don't look half bad. There is even a ringlet or two in there. I think with co-washing, my hair is more on the 2b/2c side of wavy. I'll probably do what I did before and COwash 6 days out of the week and use a shampoo once a week, since my scalp really needs it.

For the record, I use VO5 Shea Cashmere as my CO, and then I mix a little of that with some oil as my "conditioner" and then I use a smidgen of oil as a leave in since my hair absolutely loves oils.

[Foxylocks]

Not everyone will consider my method of washing to be true CO, but I thought I might contribute. I wash with a shampoo bar once every three days, and on the days I am not using the shampoo bar, I use only conditioner on the lengths. My hair is 1c/2a, mostly fine but with some medium sections, and of average thickness. My method works pretty well. My hair certainly is not curly, but it works.

[SouthernSweetie]

I definitely feel more beautiful with my hair down and curly because my hair is naturally straight! A cute bun/up do can make me feel awesome too, but I have to be in the mood for it.

ETA: Sorry wrong thread!