Conditioner Confusion

sprocket · 03-27-2012, 08:10 AM

Co-wash, Rinse-out, Leave-in... Which products are good for what? Do you use two out of three? All three? Since going CG about a month ago, I've been experimenting with different combinations, but am curious to hear what other CGs do. I'm especially interested I hearing those who use CJ Daily Fix.

kimmidawn · 03-27-2012, 08:27 AM

I don't use CJ Daily Fix, but I can put in my two cents. Because my hair is on the fine side, I have to occasionally use a low poo, but I include a cowash, rinse out, and leave-in in my routine.

Cowash - use it occasionally; rotate it every so often with a low poo; favorite is V05 Kiwi Lime because the clarifying formula works well for my fine hair
Rinse out - always use; generally either use a light formula (Tresemme Naturals) or protein heavy formula (Aubrey Organics GPB or Cure Care)
Leave in - use most of the time, especially if I use a protein heavy rinse out; like to use either KCKT or CJ CCCCLite since it doesn't weigh down my hair too much

Corrina777 · 03-27-2012, 08:45 AM

I hate to do this, but I'm going to possibly add a bit to the confusion. Kimmidawn gave good explanations of RO and LI. I follow pretty much the same routine, but will use some heavier products because my hair still needs lots of moisture.

You can probably break down your cleansing options under CG into 3 different categories (not including the option of water washing, baking soda and apple cider vinegar, etc):

Low-poo would be a sulfate free shampoo. This product is designed for cleansing hair and has surfacants added for that purpose. People with finer hair will sometimes need to low-poo more frequently than some others to prevent hair from getting weighed down.

Cleansing Conditioner is a conditioner (very moisturizing, no lather), that is designed to cleanse the hair and has surfacants added for that purpose. These will typically be gentler surfacants than those in low-poos (or at least lower concentrations). This is where CJ Daily Fix and Deva No-Poo fit in. I'm personally a huge fan of these products, especially Daily Fix.

Co-wash is the use of an actual conditioner to cleanse the hair. Conditioners do contain surfacants, but the difference is that these surfacants are not added for the purpose of cleansing the hair and they will be milder than those found in low-poos or cleansing conditioners. I have found that I can co-wash, but only if I stick strictly to conditioners marked as volumizing or clarifying. Anything heavier tends to leave my roots feeling gunky.

I hope this helps a bit. I know there can be an overwhelming amount of info to sort through when you're getting started.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk