No need to condition?

[SopphireGem]

If you diluted your shampoo enough so that it removes only the excess oil from your hair and no more, would you still need conditioner?

[Amber_Maiden]

hmmmm.... I think it really depends on your hair. Like with my hair, even if I diluted the shampoo, I would need to condition.

[kittymallow]

i will try to say this in an understanding way.. but it may sound silly! Think of the hair as a pine cone. A dry pine cone will have shells standing straigth out and a healthy one will be smooth and shiny. A shampoo roughes up the cuticle on the hair, and alot of other things do that to, like brushing and daily wear. This will make your hair cuticle like a dry pinecone over time and after a while it will tangle, get dull and be hard to handle. So to smooth and protect the hair cuticle to make it like a fresh pinecone you will need conditioner. The conditioners job is to close the cuticle and to protect against any harm that may accour. I hope you guys understand me, because it is a bit hard to translate this over to english in my head:P

[RitaPG]

It might depend on your hairtype, but I know for sure that I can't go for too long without some moisture on my hair.
Also, I live in a dirty, dusty city and I prefer to wash all my hair, so even if I shampoo the scalp only, I use conditioner on the length and ends (since it has cleansing properties too), that way my hair feels both clean and moisturized.
And conditioner works as a detangler as well, I use it to comb my hair in the shower, without it I would probably have a lot of breakage.
But why are you asking about this, is there something about conditioners that you don't like?

[SopphireGem]

Thanks everyone! It's just that conditioners seem to make my hair feel quite sticky and not that soft, so I was wondering if just using diluted shampoo would work better :)

[RitaPG]

That could be an issue with the ingredients, maybe your conditioners are too rich and heavy. My hair thrives with rich, creamy conditioners but I know for a fact that it doesn't work the same for everyone.
Have you tried diluting your conditioner too? It's a trick many people use around here :)
Also, make sure you rinse it off well.

[kittymallow]

You may need to use a really light volume conditioner :) thoose are just to give protection and to close the cuticle:)

[coffinhert]

Sometimes if i dont rinse the conditioner out well enough it feels like you describe.

[jaine]

Thanks everyone! It's just that conditioners seem to make my hair feel quite sticky and not that soft, so I was wondering if just using diluted shampoo would work better :)

Definitely look for a different conditioner - it shouldn't feel that way!

I would still need conditioner even if my shampoo is really diluted. I'm convinced that shampoo doesn't fully rinse out of my hair with water alone - it needs conditioner to fully rinse out. Why? Because I can rinse shampoo out for 5 minutes under running water, then add conditioner and rinse that out too - and the conditioner foams up. If I then add more conditioner after rinsing out the first conditioner, it doesn't foam up at all. Not sure if this is my soft water or my weird hair or what. But I would much rather have all the shampoo completely out of my hair... so I'll always use conditioner.

I like to keep one of each kind of conditioner on hand depending on what my hair needs...

- moisturizing conditioner (oils are pretty high in the ingredient list, this may leave some oil in your hair on purpose. Usually more expensive)

- protein conditioner (protein is high in the ingredient list....often labelled as "strengthening" conditioner)

- light conditioner that doesn't really have much oil or protein, the ingredients are mostly emulsifiers with other water-soluble things (these are usually the least expensive and they typically rinse out very easily ... good for CO-washing if my hair doesn't need a full shampoo)

[jesis]

They say that the pH of conditioner is used to close your hair shaft, but this can also be done with a cold water rinse as your final rinse.

[Madora]

Perhaps trying a different conditioner and diluting it might help.

The conditioner is meant to protect the strands and aids greatly when detangling. A final rinse with cold water helps close the cuticles that were opened with warm water when you shampooed.

[Annalouise]

It depends on your hair type. If you have wavy or curly hair you can't achieve long lengths without conditioner because curly hair is more prone to drying.

Some women just use oils as a pre-wash and then shampoo. The oil acts to protect the length from the drying effects of the shampoo.

[proo]

I do this: shampoo once a week with just a couple or 3 drops Prell in a huge pitcher of cold water -
lots of cold rinsing, very little manipulation. Then I dry it turbaned up in several large silky scarves.
No conditioner is needed since my own sebum has a chance.
Like you, I don't like the coated quality of conditioner. And it makes my hair dirtier alot faster.

[embee]

If you dilute the shampoo sufficiently, or go WO, you will not likely *need* a conditioner. At least I didn't. My hair was not very tangly and combed out pretty well.

Conditioners tend to make my fine thin straight flat stringy hair be even flatter and limper. Which is pathetic. Now that my hair is long enough to be up all the time, things are better, but I remember...

[gazelle]

Some straight and greasy haired people don't need to use, as you have mentioned. But I can't do without conditioner myself, because detangling is impossible without it, for me

[ktani]

If the shampoo is acidic and most are, your hair cuticles will be fine.

There are some people here who shampoo only and have no problems.

[holothuroidea]

I heavily dilute my shampoo and add oil to it. I've been perfecting a technique for washing only my scalp and roots and avoiding the ends of my hair. When I do it right I don't need to use conditioner, but if my ends get washed I need some to get the tangles out. I dilute conditioner to leave-in consistency for when this happens and I rinse it out afterwards.

Tricks I've learned for avoiding ends when washing scalp:

-Before washing, if my hair is sebumy I preen to coat the ends. If it isn't, I oil them lightly.

-Shake up the diluted shampoo and only use the lather on a DRY scalp and hair, that way it wont travel down the ends.

-Massage in the foam with my head upside down, leave it in for a minute to let it work, then rinse right side up or sideways.
ETA: I do not stand there with my head upside down for a couple minutes. :D I go about my showerly business.

I am still working on this. I think an acid rinse might be helpful. Does tea build up? I love tea rinses. :)

[BlazingHeart]

My hair doesn't have enough slip if I don't use conditioner. Even if I just get my hair wet, I need to apply a bit of conditioner or I have tangle city.

[Deborah]

I never use conditioner as conditioner, only for CO washing. I'm sure it depends on your own particular hair. For me conditioner is not needed. Same with oils. They just sit on top of my hair making it, surprise, surprise...oily.

[Amazinggrace]

I have to use conditioner, even if I use teh tinest bit of shampoo my hair will dry out.