+ and - of CO wash

[Nenwing]

If there is a thread about this somewhere, kindly direct me to it, I did a search and couldn't come up with anything substantial.

What are the positives and negatives of conditioner only washing?
Does the hair and scalp get really clean with washing with conditioner? I always figured shampoo did that, and conditioner just helped afterwards.

So in your experience what are the good and bad?

[Sissy]

for me it's a good thing as it keeps my hair from getting too dried out from shampooing every day. I just have to use the light conditioners first like V05 or White Rain.

[Dars]

For me personally:

Positives:
Cheaper.
Feels less harmful to my hair.
Can wash hair daily if I wish too and not feel guilty.
Makes my hair wonderfully soft.
Defines my curls well.
Doesn't dry out my hair.
Feels moisturised and shiny.

Negatives:
Takes more time and effort to cleanse the scalp and hair correctly for maximum efficiency.
I buy my conditioner in a bulk bottle and it's heavy and impractical to carry from different houses.
If I rush the wash when my hair drys I find some spots where it's greasy.
Get a build up feeling from time to time.
Took time to find the right conditioner for me.

That's all I can think of for both now.

[Delila]

All I know is that CO did not work out for me long term. My scalp needs more thorough cleansing than CO can provide, my scalp just didn't feel clean no matter how often I CO'd so I had to move on.

[Ash]

CO made my hair fall out in small clumps. It worked okay for a few months but the top of my head always felt greasy and lank. I don't even think it was much cheaper than my current routine since I had to buy a bottle of conditioner every week.

I do CO every other day now with CWC alternating and I use chemical free products and this seems to work much better.

[Yozhik]

Oops -- I had been trying CO with only washing the length of my hair! But you all are saying it means you actually wash your entire head with conditioner?

Thanks for the info.

[friskybiznus]

I'm still kind of new to doing CO. Right now I alternate between CO (once per week) and CWC (once per week). So far, it's working pretty good!

[renarok]

CO didn't work well for me. I do a modified CWC and don't have to wash my hair nearly as often.

[may1em]

+
Not as drying
Ok for when my scalp feels dirty but my length doesn't (have not mastered the scalp wash, alas)
Gives me an excuse to be in the shower longer
Cheaper than the expensive, non SLS shampoos that I prefer (though not cheaper than queen helene mint julep)
Less stripping than the QHMJ.

-
doesn't last as long as shampoo (tend to have to wash again sooner)
you can go through the conditioner pretty quickly sometimes
overuse makes me shed
makes the shower slippery
takes longer.
probably more polluting (more stuff rinses down the drain that shower).

Things that help:
Only putting the CO from roots down to chin-length - doesn't work any less well, and saves on product.
An acidic rinse while the CO is still on my head. (Apply CO, massage scalp with fingertips, let sit for awhile, apply acidic rinse, massage scalp with fingertips, rinse out with shower water.) This seems to help the CO rinse away better and prevent it from building up.
Not doing CO all the time.
Experiment with brands - see which one works best for you.

[Roseate]

+
very gentle
hair is soft afterwards
good after swimming

-
hair gets dirty faster, have to wash more often
uses up tons of conditioner and I feel guilty about all the plastic bottles


The "hair gets dirty faster" is pretty much the deal-breaker for me. I find wetting my hair to be a big PITA because of the drying time, and with CO I have to wash twice a week as opposed to my usual once with CWC, diluted nonsulfate poo. I CO if I go swimming or want to wash my hair more often for some other reason.

[Irishred]

I Coed for a while. Really moisturized my hair but I think I could have done that easier. Then got the greesies when we moved/change of water. What I didn't realize was COing was contributing to my PP shed. My pony diameter went down a lot. Tried it again like 3 times in a row about a yearish later and had a horrible shed (nothing else going on). Needless to say, I won't do that again.

[CaityBear]

I find that it works great for me. I always found shampoos (SLS free or not) to be kind of drying. And it's so much easier to comb afterwards! The shampoos make the roots to ears a matte of hair. I can wash my hair without bad side effects. I don't find I have much of a problem with a build up, but if my horomones start to go wonky every now and then, my hair will start to react differently to CO and I'll have to rinse with something else. It as well makes my hair feel really soft.

Yes, downside is it does take time in the shower. It as well takes time to find the right conditioner.

[Peter]

Pros:
Cheaper (don't need to buy shampoo)
Scalp is less itchy
Hair is smoother
Can wash less frequently

Cons:
Can be difficult to find a cone-free conditioner
Requires clarifying every now and then (not much of a con since I only clarify every 2-3 months)
Hair can get a bit greasy sometimes

[Nenwing]

Good replies! It is interesting how for some it seems to work just great, while others it is a no go and instead makes things definately worse. I guess its just individual hair type/texture, say curly haired vs straight hair, or if your hair tends to be on the dry side vs more greasy.

[Heidi_234]

Oops -- I had been trying CO with only washing the length of my hair! But you all are saying it means you actually wash your entire head with conditioner?

Thanks for the info.
I don't use conditioner on my scalp, I just WO (water only) on my scalp. It does not get oily anyway, and even with this kind of washing seems sometimes too dry. I CO my length though.

To the OP -
Big + is: No need to use shampoo! What a life (hair?) saver it is for me. :)

[Rosetta]

These are the main pros and cons for me:

Pros:
Gentler to hair (probably, although the more frequent washes may negate that effect)

Cons:
Much more expensive (uses up tons of conditioner, plus very hard to find affordable coneless condishes here)
Hair gets dirty faster (usually doesn't look so nice anymore on day 2)
Scalp mostly doesn't feel "clean" or good
Hate to hang around the house with conditioner on my head (it has to stay there at least 10 minutes to clean anything)!! Awkward and inconvenient. Especially on cold weather...
Connected to above: much more time consuming than S&C.


As there are much more cons than pros, you can probably guess I don't really CO much anymore :p

[ericthegreat]

Nenwing, it really depends on your individual hair and its needs. Even two people with the same exact hairtype can have different needs. One person may live in a place with harder water and thus the CO method might prove to be less effective in cleansing their hair and scalp.

Both people with pin straight hair and people with extremely curly hair can use the CO method with excellent results. My own hair is pin straight, its 1a most of the time but sometimes I just might get a slight curve to my hair so I put my hair in the 1a/1b category. I CO rinse my hair every single night. I CO my hair because at my length, moisture is like the Bible. My hair is very coarse and thick, so for me shampooing is a bad thing because any harsh detergents or sulfates would dry out my hair and make it really hard. I only shampoo to remove the excess oil when I do my pre-shampoo oil treatments. My hair never feels like it gets any buildup, so I clarify very rarely.........say once every 3 weeks or even just once a month.

[Nocturnal]

-
Doesn't disinfect, no anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.

Now I wonder if it is possible to add something like tea tree oil to have these properties. :confused:

[HoneyDrop]

+
Doesn't dry my hair out
Defines my waves

-
I don't like it that you need so much product
It's hard to find a cheap conditioner that works for me around here
Takes too much time
My hair gets dirty quicker
Makes my hair fall out more

[Tap Dancer]

I've probably gushed 100 times over the years about how great CO washes are. Not anymore. :p My hair got a waxy buildup that went away when I went back to shampoo and conditioner. Then it always came back after a CO wash. It didn't matter that I would switch between the conditioners or how long I went between them. I waited a week and the waxy feeling came back. So I used a clarifying shampoo and decided to wait a few weeks before trying CO washes again. But the same thing happened. I'm strictly washing with shampoo and conditioner now and I don't plan to return to CO washes again.

My hair looks and feels the same with either method. CO washes never made my hair softer than shampoo and conditioner. I just felt like it was better because it's considered to be more gentle. I love how much quicker my showers are now that I don't have to sit around with the conditioner on my scalp.

[maaria]

For me co is
+
can wash hair more often (weighlifting 3 times a week)
doesnt dry out my hair
need no schampoo
moistering my hair

-
when I have not washed my hair for a while it looks greasy

I have been CO washing since last year november and feels very pleased with it. :p

[3azza]

I'm not a big fan of CO. I use it when i feel i need to wash my hair daily like if i swim daily to get rid of sea water, but i do it because i don't want to use shampoo 2 days in a row. So the + is that i give my scalp a break from SLS, and the - is that it leaves my scalp feeling waxy and oily and although it rearranges my curls but it's not as efficient as Shampoo/ conditioner wash.

[Rohele]

When I joined here I switched over to CO for a while (now I CWC). For the most part I liked it.

Pros:

Hair was soft and shiny
Didn't have my usual "regrowth halo" frizz popping up all over
Waves were nicely defined
Product was cheap
Hair and scalp were less oily (I never had problems with getting clean enough)

Cons:

There is only one and it's a big one, and the reason I now do CWC. CO washing was making me shed. A lot. I switched back to sulfate shampoo and the shedding stopped.

I don't know if it was the product I was CO-ing with (suave) or the method itself.

If it wasn't for the increased shedding, I would still be washing my hair this way.

[GlassEyes]

For me? Nothing, except that I use a ton of conditioner. :p More than I'd ever need with shampoo, but I use cheap stuff for the first C, so it doesn't bother me that much.

I might've started to shed more with it in the beginning--my family did notice an increase in the drains clogging :p, but it's fine now.

[Thinthondiel]

I haven't really tried CO... I've only done one CO wash.
I'm doing WO, but I think the water here is a little harder than where I used to live, so a while after I moved, my hair started looking a bit flat and just a little bit greasy... so I decided to do a CO wash without cones, because I didn't want to use shampoo (it makes my hair really dry and frizzy). My hair looked a lot greasier after the CO wash than it does when I WO (and I know I rinsed it all out), so I don't think CO would work for me.

[Eden Iris]

I don't CO because my hair doesn't really like conditioner (a more common thing than I thought judging by all the shedding comments above), but I do a diluted CO wash on my kids.

Pros:
- Much faster than a two-step process for impatient little people (I don't leave it on any longer than I would shampoo)
- No tangles

No cons that I have observed, and I've been doing it for several months. I know kid hair is more resilient and shiny (and less oily) than adult hair, so maybe CO will work for you if you have very little oil production.