No more conditioner

[Siowiel]

Has anyone else stopped using conditioner?

My hair is now somewhere in the abyss between tail-bone and classic, and six weeks or so ago, I dropped the conditioner. It felt to me like it was making my ends oily and tangly, even giving them a "crunchy" feeling and made them look ratty.
They do get some coconut oil because I use it as body lotion and when my hair is drying, my hair can't help sliding over my greasy limbs, and even that is often too much, but other than that, I stick with Lush Karma Komba twice a week, I shampoo the scalp and let it run through the lengths when washing out, no additional rinse, and have been very happy so far.

I've been growing for some years, and my hair used to be very damaged when I started somewhere between shoulder blades and BSL, so I really NEEDED the conditioner, and I stopped trimming some time back, although I do S&D, so my ends are very, very fairy-esque (Sounds much better than "thin", doesn't it?), and I guess these two facts are the reasons why conditioner just doesn't cut it for me any more. I am pleased and somewhat scared at the same time, because, you know, seemingly EVERYBODY with long hair uses it! And deep-conditions! And oils!

I'd like to know if anybody else has made this experience and if it has possibly backfired on you, like it working fine for some months and then WHAM a tangly, split mess.

[Nesoi]

I do usually use a ton conditioner BUT honestly, occasionally in the shower I will rinse out my shampoo (my hair is always full of coconut oil, hair salve and plain old grease by the time I wash it) and I'll touch it and think...you know what, I don't need anything else on my hair today. I will still usually put a bit on my ends but often then regret it when my hair dries.

I'm assuming you've tried clarifying/chelating and that hasn't solved the crunchy problem?

[Zebra Fish]

A friend of mine stopped using conditioner years ago. But then, she lets her hair grow, than cuts some fancy hairstyle around shoulder length, then lets it grow again, cuts again... and so on. Her hair grows quite fast, and she doesn't really take any special concern about it. But I'm always jealous at how good it looks :p I know it is not really helpful to you, as she doesn't have length and "old" ends, but she is the only one I know, so this is my 2 cents :)

[AngryVikingGirl]

I don't use conditioner. I've had a good experience with two different herbal shampoos, both mild ones. One is called Finale and it's an Italian product. A cheap coney shampoo. However my hair is very tangly and has some flyaways after a wash, but it settles by the next day. Still, it's not the easiest to detangle, but as far as I noticed, my ends are fine, not dry and I've been using it for more than a year now I think. Sometimes I applied a mix of castor, olive and coconut oil pre-wash, that made my hair soft and easy to detangle.
The other one I discovered again (I couldn't find it for a while) is the same style nettle shampoo. It leaves my hair relatively soft thus easier to detangle from day one and I suspect the nettle does good for the growth too. I used it for years in my teens and my hair grew to around hip. Kinda noname Hungarian brand though.
The past two weeks I've been experimenting with another *local* shampoo which has castor oil in it and I use the DRY hair version as the one for oily hair is just the same harsh stuff like the rest that has that title. It gives me the softness and shine but I've noticed increased shedding though that could be from not being used to castor oil. (That happened when I started applying castor oil in itself. And the weather was extremely hot and sometimes I just forget to eat and my hair starts shedding.)

What I'm trying to say is that with typically mild, mostly herbal shampoos I have found that it works well without conditioner. The texture might not be supersleek but good for me. And a lot less fuss. :p Hope that helps. :)

[Kimberly]

I gave up conditioner, and I like my hair a lot better now. It's fine, so gets weighed down easily. Doesn't absorb well, so I get coated instead. Usually the result of conditioner for me is thinner-looking, curly for a couple hours in more sharply defined but stretched ringlets, getting straighter and straighter by the minute. The curl pattern gets mangled while I sleep when I use conditioner (but it curls up overnight when not weighted down/greased up) so only day one hair looks good. It gets greasy fast with conditioner, so I have to wash a lot more often. It tangles more with many conditioners, too, and I figure that must be a buildup issue with some conditioners, waxes in others, but is about lint attracting with most.

The problems are reduced by watering down the conditioner, but once I found out that it worked better and better with more and more water in it, I decided to try skipping it, and was shocked by the wonderful results. Anyway, I'm happy now with a shampoo bar and ACV rinse, and a teensy bit of Panacea or CO on the ends for pre-wash only if they get grabby. I'm a little horrified by how much time and money I spent over the years experimenting, trying to get my hair to act like it does now, but I guess that has just been my longhair journey. If I had known, I coulda bought so many hair sticks instead! Ah well. All I can figure is that my hair must be really strange, since most people seem to find conditioner essential.

[lunalocks]

I stopped using conditioner a year ago for your above reasons and replaced it with catnip tea soaks on the last foot of my hair. It has decreased splits and deceased need ofr trims. I grew 5 inches last year whereas the year before I grew none due to trimming off damage. My hair is at TB now.

Well, I use conditioner before washing to get the oil out of my hair, then wash, then gently squeeze out excess, dip last foot into catnip tea for 20 min, gently squeeze that out and finger comb or comb with wide tooth comb and let dry. When ends are almost dry, one drop of baby oil to ends.

I do want to tell you that,for me, coconut oil on my hair is terrible. It gets hard and crunchy and then I have a horrible time washing it out.

[Loribelle]

[/QUOTE]I stick with Lush Karma Komba twice a week, I shampoo the scalp and let it run through the lengths when washing out, no additional rinse, and have been very happy so far.[/QUOTE]
You made me Google this ;-) Now I must buy it. Anything else you recommend while I'm on their site?! LOL!!! Your hair sounds like mine-- minus the length. I'm still a few inches from waist. It feels like my hair has changed. I used to co-wash and be just fine, but now I'm experiencing *crunchies*

[Larki]

I skipped conditioner for like a year in high school out of laziness, and my hair felt like straw and broke super easily. Never doing that again.

[MINAKO]

Oh god, i would never try to lya of the cosish with my hairtype, i would be doomed to live in tangle land forever after a few washes.

[dellad]

I've been considering this too. I only apply conditioner to my hair from the neck downwards. Recently, I noticed that the hair that I don't condition is actually shinier, softer, and more manageable than the hair that does gets conditioner. It could be because they are newer growth and therefore in better condition, or maybe my conditioner is doing more harm than good. I don't know how I would detangle my hair without the help of conditioner though. Anybody tried anything that works?

[Anje]

Well, I tried doing WO washing for about 8 months before I gave up largely because my ends were getting dry with the lack of conditioning. So in my experience, I can go quite a long time without conditioner, but not indefinitely. Obviously, YMMV, since all our hair and history is different. Looking back, I imagine I could get by with something like a monthly deep-conditioning instead, if I weren't shampooing, but for me at least some conditioning beyond just oil and dilute vinegar is necessary for optimal hair health.

[Wolfie]

Wow! I had no clue conditioners could be so bad. I'm afraid of what my hair would look like.

[stachelbeere]

I didn't use conditioner for ehm... years... I was doing no-poo and my hair was fine. The reason why I started using conditioner is LHC :) and I can't say that my hair is doing better than before but maybe it's something I imagine? no idea tbh.

[spidermom]

Sometimes I don't use conditioner. Sometimes I do. It seems that the effect of conditioner lasts through the next 2 or 3 washes, then I get to a point of "yikes! I need conditioner!"

[eadwine]

It's fine, so gets weighed down easily. Doesn't absorb well, so I get coated instead. Usually the result of conditioner for me is thinner-looking, curly for a couple hours in more sharply defined but stretched ringlets, getting straighter and straighter by the minute.
Not nearly as curly as you are, but I discovered the same thing for my hair. Shampoo only all the way now.

[Emelyn]

I haven't used conditioner in years. When I did use it, my hair would look like a waxy, stringy, limp mess in 2 or 3 washes. It happens even if I clarify my hair like crazy. I've been using a very gentle shampoo and I oil it if it seems a little dry afterwards. I also do a heavy oiling before every wash. Apart from some splits at the ends (which were caused by heat damage, not lack of conditioner) my hair seems happier than ever. I'll never use conditioner again if I can avoid it.

[bunnylake]

I also use very little or no conditioner and my hair is so much better for it. I used it by the handful for years and years thinking that the more the better, and then I wondered why my hair was always so flat!
I need a deep conditioning once in a while, but I generally don't experience any dryness.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

The same thing happened to me too, that crunchy, tangly feeling after conditioner. I also quit using conditioner for some time and only applied oils daily. Although my hair didn't turn into a tangly splitsville, it still wasn't feeling its best.

Recently, i digged an old bottle of hair mask (cone free) in my beauty graveyard and decided to give it another chance. This time though, i massaged it very well into my hair and left it on for a minute or two. Then i made sure to rinse it very well (usually i leave a bit of the condish on, thinking it would intensify the effect). I was shocked at how manageable and soft my hair was.

It's not always about the products and ingredients, but how you use them.

[clairenewcastle]

Whether I need conditoner or not depends on the shampoo I use, some are moisturising enough for me not to need any. I managed to be conditioner-free for most of this year but over the last few weeks my hair has got very dry so its back to deep conditioning over the weekend.

[LadyCelestina]

I get better results without using classic bottle conditioner,but I use it for convenience.
I try to buy coney-but not too-coney conditioners like Pantene which is my staple, as those don't give me build up and are good for detangling.Though I sometimes buy a product just to try it or because it was cheaper than pantene.

[Hrtchoco]

When I had really short hair, I didn't use conditioner that often mainly because I was lazy. Now I use conditioner ever time. If I don't, my hair is dry.

[Theobroma]

I haven't used conditioner in two and a half years. My routine is soap, vinegar rinse, and EVOO, and even just the vinegar rinse gives me more than enough slip for detangling. My hair feels silky soft and my ends have never been better.

[Johannah]

I wash my hair twice a week instead of once, simply because I don't need to wash my hair, but my hair needs conditioner. I can't imagine I'd ever skip it :p

[lapushka]

I wash my hair twice a week instead of once, simply because I don't need to wash my hair, but my hair needs conditioner. I can't imagine I'd ever skip it :p

My gosh no. I need conditioner *twice* for my hair to detangle nicely without a hitch (a comb just glides through).

[Siowiel]

Thank you for replying! I'm glad I'm not the odd/only one for making this experience, as some noted, you could pry the conditioner bottles from most LHC members cold, dead hands.
I will simply continue my current routine (wash 2x/week and "involuntarily" oiling") and see where it gets me.



I do want to tell you that,for me, coconut oil on my hair is terrible. It gets hard and crunchy and then I have a horrible time washing it out.

It's definitely not the coconut oil, I've been using this for years on hair and skin, and in small amounts, it is still beneficial to my hair (and in large amounts to my skin). I'm a "no jojoba oil, please"-type.



I stick with Lush Karma Komba twice a week, I shampoo the scalp and let it run through the lengths when washing out, no additional rinse, and have been very happy so far.
You made me Google this ;-) Now I must buy it. Anything else you recommend while I'm on their site?! LOL!!! Your hair sounds like mine-- minus the length. I'm still a few inches from waist. It feels like my hair has changed. I used to co-wash and be just fine, but now I'm experiencing *crunchies*

I used to be a bigger fan of Lush than I am now, but it is a easy source for solid shampoos here, as I want to reduce my use of plastic, and as long as it works... I like their bathing products because of the smell, but if you buy there, please be aware that their stuff is heavily scented, has a lot of essential oils and harsh cleaning agents ("home made" or however they market their stuff does not equal "natural"!), so they can be irritating if your skin is sensitive. I like their fresh face masks, though. The hair mask Jasmine & Henna Fluff Eaze used to be my holy grail for more shine a few years back.
Perhaps you need to clarify or use another conditioner if you get crunchy, that's the first thing I tried when I noticed this, but the crunchy-ness returned after each wash with conditioner, and I tried a few before discontinuing use.

[Nadine <3]

The only time I can get away without using conditioner is when it's super humid outside. If it's humid, conditioner makes me greasy so I skip it.

[queenovnight]

Interesting! I water wash sometimes, but could never go conditioner-less because I have curly hair (I co-wash). The only thing I would say is that if you still use shampoo, it isn't best to give up conditioner. Shampoo is (literally) like a detergent, while conditioner smooths the cuticle. It's also good to stick with conditioner if you 1. Heat style 2. Have chemically damaged/dyed hair or 3. Shampoo. - This was all taken from a Cosmetology book. Just thought I would add a bit of information before some of you guys give it a shot.

[patchoulilove]

As a child and pre-teen, my hair was down to my hips and I do not recall ever using conditioner at that time (in my teens, with bsl/waist-length hair, I began to use conditioners).

I'm interested in resuming this with a shampoo bar (J.R. Liggits) and acv/lemon juice rinse. Maybe with catnip soak, too, since it is praised very highly around LHC. I'm not partial to the shampoo bar, but it is what I have on hand.

I'm curious, for those who are shampoo /light oil only - what brand of shampoo are you using? I read above that some are using international herbal types, Lush or Pantene, but it would be neat to have a comprehensive list for those who prefer to go without conditioners and what shampoos are being used (cone/no-cone? Sulfate? Herbal? etc). Just an idea to expand upon this topic. Any tried-and-true drugstore brands?

:blossom:
patchoulilove