CO does it make your hair fall out

[kurlylox]

CO does it make your hair fall out
I think I have read it on here a few times
What do you do instead of CO if you don't use shampoo

[FrannyG]

No, absolutely no, my hair doesn't fall out from CO. I have actually gained a lot of thickness during the time that I've been COing, which has now been several years. I attribute that to lack of breakage due to overall good hair care, but no, I definitely haven't lost any hair to COing.

I have read other members saying that they've had sheds when COing, but who knows what the cause might be? Could it be allergy to ingredients? Are they clogging their follicles with certain conditioners? I don't know.

I can only speak for myself.

[DarkCurls]

It depends on the person. I've noticed a bit more shedding since starting CO, but nothing really worrying. It may be because I never really paid attention to it before. The condition of my hair has improved too much for me to ever give up CO, anyway. :)

WO is good, too. I started on that as soon as I found LHC, because I wanted to try dropping the sulfates and didn't own any conditioner at the time (which is such a crime for a girl with dry hair and wurls, I know). I went water-only for a few weeks until I bought a conditioner, and it was really good. I just like the ease of detangling that a conditioner brings me, but otherwise, WO is a good alternative if you don't want to use shampoo.

[spidermom]

I think maybe people notice shed hairs more because the conditioner makes them slip through the length quicker. I really doubt that CO causes shedding, except in a few cases because of issues FrannyG mentioned.

It makes my hair limp, dull, and coated feeling if I do it more than once in a row. Once gives nice results, though. (I've tried a few different conditioners.)

[Dovetail]

Personally it hasn't made me lose or shed any extra hairs. Each person is different though! I think usually if someone has a problem it's more related to the ingredients than to actually the act of CO. It has however made my ends softer and less straw like. I haven't yet noticed a decrease in splits (but I still brush it in an abusive way sometimes) compared to shampoo, but it feels a lot happier.

(or at least that's what I've noticed anyways)

[MrsGuther]

CO made my hair shed massively.

[Ephemeral]

I CO wash and my hair has almost stopped shedding. I shed maybe 20 hairs a day. But, again, there a lot of factors that go into hair growth.

[Lauren710]

I agree with the above posters - I think it's probably pretty rare to lose hair from CO, and probably due to reacting to ingredients. I'm not shedding any more than usual, but since I've started CO washing and stopped brushing my hair all my shed hairs come out when I wash instead of gradually falling out during brushing between washes. It *looks* like a ton of hair in the shower, but my hair isn't thinner or anything.

[Bianca]

Nope.... I shed way more when I use shampoo, sulfate free or not.....

[bumblebums]

No. I shed more when I shampoo. CO gives me a nice texture with minimal shedding.

[mckenzie]

I just recently stopped CO'ing as shed way more than I was comfortable with. As soon as I returned to CWC, my excessive shedding stopped.

[CurlyMopTop]

Definitely excessive shedding with CO! My hair seems fine with the occasional CO rinse in between washes, but can't be left on the roots for any length of time. I stick to a gentle no sulfate shampoo (right now it's L'Oreal Eversleek) once or twice a week on the scalp only.

[Theobroma]

Insane, epic shedding with CO. As in about four times as much as normal - more than enough to lose thickness in the long run.

It stopped the INSTANT I reverted to shampoo and I have blood work to prove that there was no health issue behind it, so it's pretty conclusive that CO was the cause.

[mckenzie]

Insane, epic shedding with CO. As in about four times as much as normal - more than enough to lose thickness in the long run.

It stopped the INSTANT I reverted to shampoo and I have blood work to prove that there was no health issue behind it, so it's pretty conclusive that CO was the cause.
Yes, this is exactly what happened to me. Thankfully I stopped in time (thank you Theobroma), and am happy with my sulfate free shampoo and conditioner at length only.

[CurlyCurves]

CO'ing has been a lifesaver for me.

I only shampoo once or week, and will shampoo if absolutely necessary (like today, when the CO wasn't getting the coconut oil out of my hair). My hair feels absolutely gross after I shampoo and before I CO, even if I use a SLS free shampoo.

I can't imagine using shampoo on a regular basis like I used to shudder:

[Diamond.Eyes]

CO reduced my shed rate quite a bit. You might want to check the ingredients in the conditoner you are using,one of them may be the culprit. Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone are common ingredients in drugstore conditioners and have been kown to cause massive shedding in many individuals.

[AspenSong]

I think everyone has different experiences with CO, since we all have different hair!
My experience was this - Starting doing CO, things were awesome, I shed less, my hair was great. This went on for a over a year. Then a shed started. I would use shampoo, the shedding would let up....go back to CO, shed like nuts. I have no idea why! But I lost nearly 1/4" off my thickness, which is a LOT when you're barely at 2" to start.
I now use a sulfate free shampoo and my shedding is fine. It literally immediately let up on me when I started using it. *shrug*
Now, plenty don't have an issue and I didn't for a long time....so I'd say you have to try it out on your own hair and feel out how it'll do for you.

[UpNorth]

hm I'm not sure. But the few times I tried CO (3 washes now) I shed A LOT more.

[Wiggy Stardust]

No, but I do shampoo once a month as well.

[bunzfan]

CO reduced my shed rate quite a bit. You might want to check the ingredients in the conditoner you are using,one of them may be the culprit. Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone are common ingredients in drugstore conditioners and have been kown to cause massive shedding in many individuals.

I believe this ^^ is what happened to me i switched my usual co washing conditioner to a very cheap one and i shed like crazy the big sign should of been the minute i put the conditioner on my head it would itch previously though i had been co washing for nearly 2 years with no problems so i would really look at the ingredients.

I like shampoo but my hair kinda goes flat with it i get far more body with co washing:D:

[louzen]

I've been CO washing for about 3 weeks now and I've actually noticed a decrease in my shedding and my scalp seems much happier and softer (and hair too).

Maybe it's certain ingredients in a particular conditioner that can cause this? Or even perception (hair slides out more easily when smooth and soft instead of only when you brush?). Did CO washers who noticed more shedding switch to different conditioners, or did they stay with the same one?

I used to shed more with sulfate shampoos.

[HintOfMint]

I shed bucketfuls when I did CO on a regular basis.

It's not because I'm giving more slip to my hair so that strands that were already shed were easily worked out.
When I shampoo and condition, I'm manipulating my scalp just as much and I'm adding enough conditioner to slip out all of the shed hairs.
Also, my hair would continue to shed tons even after I got out of the shower.

Whether it was due to an allergy of being overexposed to an ingredient in my conditioners (I tried multiple kinds including the nice organic ones), whatever, I still found that CO increased my shedding in a scary way.

[Theobroma]

I tried three different conditioners. None of them with the two suspect ingredients someone mentioned upthread. All of them caused equally massive shedding.

[Anje]

Nope, CO doesn't make me shed, compared to S&C. I do tend to have the loose hairs come out on the conditioner step, but that has more to do with slip. (I do, however, seem to lose fewer hairs with WO than when I'm using conditioner or shampoo.)

[Carolyn]

The only way to know for sure it to do it yourself. I've seen a lot of varied experiences reported with CO. I alternate CO wash with S & C washes with sulphate shampoos. I don't notice any more or any less shedding with either wash method. I tend to do a CO wash after I've done an overnight oiling as I think CO gets the oil out so well. You are just going to have to give it whirl and see what happens.

[Tabitha]

I CO intermittently, when I have enough time to sit around with it on my head (I use the long-soak method - leave it on dry hair for at least an hour). I definitely see more hair come out in the bathtub when rinsing it out than with normal shampooing.

[Tisiloves]

I haven't noticed any increase in shedding, but I always shed like a labrador in spring.

[ladonna]

Yes co made me shed, but I also have health issues that make my hair shed really bad. If there is even my own sebum on my scalp then I have hair loss.

[afu]

I've not noticed anything major, if anything my hair feels thicker since COing! I love what CO does to my hair, gone is the dry, straw bleached hair and in is the silky, tanglefree natural looking highlighted hair :) Best thing I ever did for my hair guarenteed :D

[lmfbs]

I CO and no issues with shedding. Shedding seems to be a seasonal thing for me. However, I have used certain products in the last that caused massive sheds, so I don't doubt for a second that they could react like that on some people.

I say give it a shot for a couple of weeks and see how your body goes.

[maborosi]

No, CO doesn't seem to do that for me.
I shed slightly more when I shampoo, though, but I'm pretty sure that's normal.

~maborosi~

[DragonFlyPie]

I've been co washing for 8 months (i think?) & have no noticeable shedding - not more so than any other time in my life. I typically use the super cheap V05 & Suave conditioners. But I have conditioners from Pantene, Whole Foods brand, Aussie, White Rain, CIBU, and Carol's Daughter that I use as well. I don't even notice shedding when I henna my hair, if anything I shed LESS after I henna (been doing that monthly for about 8 months, too). My hair is in better condition now than it has been in years, and much thicker.

I wonder if people scrub their scalps a LOT more when co-washing & hence loosen up more hairs that would just fall out normally during the course of the day? I can honestly say I never massaged my scalp while shampooing the same way I do with co-washing. If anything, i avoided scalp massaging with shampoo because I wanted to avoid as much drying out of the skin as possible. So it was always a super fast shampoo (mere seconds) followed by a long soak in conditioner. With co-washing I massage my scalp for a good 5 minutes, and I do it pretty intensely (not painful or anything LOL just a really good, strong, stimulating massage like you'd get at the salon.)

[TheMechaGinger]

CO made my hair fall out in handfuls too, and I used just plain old vo5, suave and white rain like so many on here suggest. I just use plain old coney s&c now and my hair is doing way way better. But putting oil on my scalp also makes me shed loads as well, so I just don't put anything on my scalp any more besides shampoo