Because I have curly hair, I have to pay close attention to the products I put in it every day. For instance, chemicals like sulfates and parabens must be avoided at all costs, as they can remove beneficial oils from hair and, and even worse, have been linked to cancer cell growth.
I have always made sure to buy shampoos and conditioners that don't contain harmful chemicals, but somehow my hair is still dry, lackluster, and loses its color within a month of a touch-up.
When I spoke to my hairstylist recently, he mentioned that this may have something to do with the curly texture of my hair, which is naturally dry and only gets worse when I use too much shampoo.
Luckily, my stylist had a potential solution: co-washing. According to Curls Understood, co-washing is the process of using only conditioner to wash and moisture your hair instead of using both shampoo and conditioner. This trick allegedly allows for smoother, softer hair, especially for women with curly locks like myself.
With such damaged, dry hair, I was willing to give anything a try, so for five days I said goodbye to my shampoo and only used conditioner to cleanse and moisturize my curls.
What Is Co-Washing?
Quite simply, co-washing is the process of only using conditioner to wash, condition, and moisturize your hair. According to experts, conditioner is more gentle on the hair and still lifts dirt and product from strands, as a shampoo would.
Products designed specifically for co-washing exist, but you can also use your own conditioner to effectively co-wash.
In excess, co-washing can potentially lead to conditioner buildup in the hair. If this happens, you can simply cleanse the scalp with a sulfate-free shampoo and continue the co-washing process.
The Experiment
Day 1
Because shampoo strips the hair of natural oils, my stylist recommended that I only wash my hair every other day long before this experiment. By the start of this experiment, last Monday, I hadn't used shampoo for 24 hours.
On Monday, I took my morning shower as usual, but instead of washing my hair with shampoo, I only used my conditioner. Usually I would just use a small squirt of conditioner on my ends, but when co-washing, it's important to massage the scalp with conditioner to make sure that the hair gets cleansed.
Immediately after washing my hair, I noticed some significant changes in the texture. Normally, my hair gets knotted easily, but when I brushed my hair, it was silky smooth, and the brush went right through my curls.
I don't blow-dry my hair because it makes it frizzy and poofy, so I rely on air-drying to give me my ideal ringlet curls. Normally, my hair looks best on the days that I've used shampoo, but even then, it can sometimes appear greasy and dried out.
On the first day of co-washing, I had none of the problems I experience with shampoo — my hair was silky, and all of my curls were perfectly in place, and it didn't hurt that my hair smelled delicious!
Day 2
Since I normally only wash my hair every other day, I tried to stick with that routine throughout the experiment and didn't use any conditioner on day two.
Normally, on days when I don't wash my hair, I like to use dry shampoo to avoid any grease buildup, but that wasn't an option during the experiment.
Luckily, I didn't even need any dry shampoo, as my hair was completely grease-free!
Day 3
By day three of my co-washing experiment, I hardly even recognized my hair. What was once a tangle of could-be curls was now a smooth, tamed head of ringlets, easy to brush out and maintain. Like so many websites had promised, co-washing had already helped to bring the moisture and shine back to my hair just by taking advantage of its natural oils!
Perhaps the best part of all of this? If my success with co-washing continued, I was going to be saving a huge amount of money on haircare products!
Day 4
As you can see in the picture above, my curls held up well during my co-washing experiment.
As I've mentioned, it doesn't take much for my hair to go haywire, but throughout this experiment, I noticed little to no problems keeping my curls in place.
On day four, I took another day off from using conditioner, and I still didn't notice any greasiness in my hair.
Win!
Day 5
By Friday, I was coming down with a bad sinus infection, so I barely left my house.
Because I was sick, I didn't care much about my appearance, but I still managed to drag myself to the shower for my fifth and final day of co-washing.
Even though my entire Friday was spent in bed, it made me feel a little better that my hair looked nice.
Despite paying no attention to my appearance, my hair still felt healthy and silky smooth, and it was one of the few redeeming parts of my day.
It's just a shame that I had a good hair day when I didn't even leave the house.
Final Thoughts
Would I recommend co-washing to a friend?
Depending on who the friend was, absolutely. If the friend, like myself, has hair that's curly or dry, then I would definitely recommend trying co-washing to see if it helps them regain moisture.
Would I ever co-wash your hair again?
Yes! In fact, even though my experiment is over, I still haven't used shampoo, and it's now over a week and a half since I last washed my hair the traditional way. My hair has never felt so healthy!
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