a little help with CO washing..? am I using the right stuff?

ClaireAndLola · 08-22-2012, 08:40 PM

So this summer I was in a position where I didn't have to get out much, so I took the opportunity to do a little hair experiment. I had been using sulfate free shampoo before, but I decided to go cold turkey and stop using shampoo. For the past three months, I have been washing my hair with about 1.5 tsp BS and 1 tblsp ACV to rinse once a week, only washing with water a few times in between. My hair is normally super oily like my skin, so I had been shampooing every day, but over time my head has adjusted so that it doesn't get noticeably oily until about day 3, and then it's not too bad. the water only washes help after that point, but in the latter half of the week its still visibly not "clean," so to speak.

I will be going back to school in two weeks, and I have also been reading that BS and ACV can yeild nice immediate results but over time damage hair. I decided to try a cone-free CO wash on 4 day old hair today to see if I could balance it out with the BS/ACV while I am up at school.

Well. It hasn't been ten hours yet and my hair is a stringy, sticky mess! with the WO washes, my hair didn't feel clean so to speak, but the oiliness felt kind of slicker and more natural...after CO washing it feels thick, and dry and greasy at the same time. When I run my hands over it, my hands feel like they are coated in powdery wax. My waves look okay, but overall it feels terrible! is this normal? I was hesitant to try CO washing with an oily scalp, but I wash my face with the OCM with good results, so I thought it might work for my hair...

any ideas as to what might be going on? thank you~

Corrina777 · 08-23-2012, 07:00 AM

I also have naturally very oily hair and it took some trial and error to get co-washing to work for me. I have to use either a very light conditioner (I'm very fond of VO5 Vanilla Mint Tea), or a cleansing conditioner (I prefer CJ and Deva products for this, but L'Oreal has one as part of their new EverCreme line that has gotten very good reviews here).

I use a TON of conditioner for co-washing. I start at my hairline and work my way in along my scalp to the crown. I spend a good 2 or 3 minutes massaging my entire scalp really well and then I continue to massage my scalp as I rinse. It wasn't until I had both a light enough conditioner and a good technique that I was really happy with my co-wash results.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

ClaireAndLola · 08-23-2012, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corrina777

I also have naturally very oily hair and it took some trial and error to get co-washing to work for me. I have to use either a very light conditioner (I'm very fond of VO5 Vanilla Mint Tea), or a cleansing conditioner (I prefer CJ and Deva products for this, but L'Oreal has one as part of their new EverCreme line that has gotten very good reviews here).

I use a TON of conditioner for co-washing. I start at my hairline and work my way in along my scalp to the crown. I spend a good 2 or 3 minutes massaging my entire scalp really well and then I continue to massage my scalp as I rinse. It wasn't until I had both a light enough conditioner and a good technique that I was really happy with my co-wash results.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

thank you so much! I'm going to try to find a light conditioner...I also didn't use very much, so I'll keep trying with a bit more. How many times a week do you CO-wash? I've been trying to cut back on the amount of times that I wash per-week...

Corrina777 · 08-23-2012, 10:18 AM

I do intense martial arts training 4-5 days a week, so I cleanse my hair daily. I would say the breakdown is usually3- 4 days conditioner co-wash, 2-3 days cleansing conditioner and 1 day gentle sulfate shampoo.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk