Co Washing and Conditioning with Oils

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Current body
Jeffreestar cosmetics
Makeuptalk.com forums

Help Support Makeuptalk.com forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Dragonfly

Dragonfly

Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
7,538
Reaction score
38
Hi everyone.

I'm going to start Co washing on Monday, and hopefully my hair will look better than what it does now.

I have a question that I hope Co washers can help me with.

If I deep condition with coconut or olive oil every week, is a silicon free conditioner capable of removing the oil. Or do I need to use a shampoo to remove the oil.

The last thing I want to do is create build up that a conditioner can't remove.

Also, does anyone incorporate a rinse of Apple Cider Vinegar after a co wash?

Thanks

 
You can't even get coconut oil out with 1 washing with shampoo, you won't get it out with conditioner.  It took me at least 3 washings shampoo to get coconut oil out.   I don't know why you''d need to use any deep conditioning however, using a conditioner to cleanse your hair, you don't need to deep condition at all.  

I have been doing this for 5 months now.  I add sweet almond oil to my conditioner, I think it is great.  I also add some chamomile hydrosol and if you don't have that, brew some strong chamomile tea.  The emulsifiers in the conditioner will incorporate both without a problem.  I make a big batch and I put it all into a large pump bottle for easy dispensing. Once every 2 weeks, I will use my liquid castile soap to keep my hair from getting heavy.  I think my hair starts to get too heavy after 2 weeks.  

One thing with washing with conditioners, you'll need to use a lot more than you would a shampoo. Adding the tea and chamomile tea will help stretch it out and also make your hair feel awesome! 

Originally Posted by Dragonfly /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Hi everyone.

I'm going to start Co washing on Monday, and hopefully my hair will look better than what it does now.

I have a question that I hope Co washers can help me with.

If I deep condition with coconut or olive oil every week, is a silicon free conditioner capable of removing the oil. Or do I need to use a shampoo to remove the oil.

The last thing I want to do is create build up that a conditioner can't remove.

Also, does anyone incorporate a rinse of Apple Cider Vinegar after a co wash?

Thanks
Click to expand...


 
Ive always wanted to CO wash, but conditioner really weighs down my hair and roots.

I have used coconut oil many, many times. Diva is right, conditioner only will not remove it!

It took me two shampoos to rinse it out but it left my hair very soft and nice looking after.

I have also used pure Shea butter, with good success. It also conditions your hair and leaves it smooth and soft. I can't recall if it rinsed out any easier though, as I havent used it since August. It probably took two shampoos as well.

Apple Cider vinegar is good to use when rinsing your hair once in awhile as is beer! LoL It doesn't leave your hair smelling like beer either. Any brand or bottle will do.

With CO washing, how do you keep your hair from being heavily weighed down?

 
Like I previously wrote^^  It will eventually weigh hair down but slowly.  I use a shampoo every 2-3 weeks to start fresh.  My 8yr old daughter also uses my concoction.  Her hair is finer than mine and so far, no problems for her.  She does only wash her hair every other day where I use mine every day, sometimes 2x a day.  I also use hair wax made with beeswax and shea butter to style my hair she doesn't so the residue from that is probably what is slowly building on my hair.  

Take the time to get and read the list of ingredients in WEN cleansing conditioner and try to match the conditioner with same ingredients.  If you wanna know how a good cleansing conditioner works, buy a bottle of WEN then try to make it because the stuff is NOT cheap.

Try using Sweet Almond oil.  This stuff washes away with water almost.  It's great for skin and hair.l

Quote Originally Posted by katana /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Ive always wanted to CO wash, but conditioner really weighs down my hair and roots.

I have used coconut oil many, many times. Diva is right, conditioner only will not remove it!

It took me two shampoos to rinse it out but it left my hair very soft and nice looking after.

I have also used pure Shea butter, with good success. It also conditions your hair and leaves it smooth and soft. I can't recall if it rinsed out any easier though, as I havent used it since August. It probably took two shampoos as well.

Apple Cider vinegar is good to use when rinsing your hair once in awhile as is beer! LoL It doesn't leave your hair smelling like beer either. Any brand or bottle will do.

With CO washing, how do you keep your hair from being heavily weighed down?



 
I will have a look at WEN products. Thank you Diva.

My hair is quite fine, and with just one wash of getting conditioner on my roots, my hair lays a lot flatter on my head and is weighed down!

 
Good advice - thank ladies

Here's two articles about WEN from the Beauty Brains
 

How To Clean Your hair With Conditioner – Beauty Brains

WEN is a line of cleansing conditioners created by a Hollywood hair stylist Chaz Dean. Dean believes that sulfates in most shampoos can be very damaging and stripping to hair so he created these cleansing conditioners to clean hair without stripping it. Can hair really be better off in the long run by cleansing with a conditioner. And if it does work, will a regular drugstore conditioner produce the same effect.

First of all, the idea of cleaning your hair with conditioner is not new and was not invented by Chaz. And no, he’s not using any kind of revolutionary technology.

Let`s take a look at the ingredients:

Water, glycerin, cetyl alcohol, rosemary leaf extract, wild cherry fruit extract, fig extract, chamomile extract, marigold flower extract, behentrimonium methosulfate, cetearyl alcohol, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, amodimethicone, hydrolized wheat protein, polysorbate 60, panthenol, menthol, sweet almond oil, PEG-60 almond glycerides, methylisothiazolinone, methylchloroisothiazolinone, citric acid, essential oils.

Looking at just the functional ingredients (leaving out extracts, preservatives, pH adjusters) leaves the following:

glycerin, cetyl alcohol, behentrimonium methosulfate, cetearyl alcohol, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine (SADMA), and amodimethicone

These are very common conditioner ingredients. Here’s what they do:

Glycerin can provide moisturization in a leave on product, but it doesn’t do anything for hair when it’s rinsed out. Cetyl and cetearyl alcohol are thickening and emulsifying agents are used to make a conditioner rich and creamy. Because they`re oil soluble they could, in theory, help lift some of the sebum of your hair and scalp. Behentrimonium methosulfate, SADMA, and amodimethicone are very effective conditioning ingredients because they deposit on the hair.

Could you clean your hair with this product? Sure, if your hair isn’t very dirty this could work pretty well. But so could any basic conditioner. In fact, I’d look for a conditioner that doesn’t have any silicone in it, just to make sure it leaves as little on your hair as possible.

But what if you have greasy hair, or if you use hairspray, mousse gel, or putty? Then cleansing conditioners are not a very good idea. They don`t have enough cleansing power to remove gunk from the hair. Chances are that cleansing with conditioner will leave your hair feeling dirty and weighed down.

Bottom Line

If you’re really worried about drying your hair out from over-shampooing, there’s nothing wrong with skipping your shampoo and just rinsing with conditioner once in a while. But you don’t need to spend $28 on a special product. A nice inexpensive drug store brand that doesn’t contain any silicones will do the same thing.
Click to expand...
  ...........................................................................................................................................

Affiliate links removed.

 
There's no information that will explain whether you like a product or not because it is subjective.  I say give it a try and then find something that closely works like it.  I've not found one that works as well but close so I don't think that just any non-silicone conditioner would work as well. 

 
I'm finding that my hair feels quite dry now that I'm only using a silicon free conditioner.

I have a lot of coconut oil so I'd like to use that to help get my hair in better condition.

Does anyone use coconut oil or another oil mixed into their conditioner or do they apply the oil prior to the co wash?

 
Like I previously mentioned^^^  I add sweet almond oil to my conditioner.  The link I supplied is how to create a dupe of WEN and WEN doesn't leave your hair dry.  I'm currently using it as a benchmark product for my attempts to copy it.  Adding sweet almond oil will eliminate the need for coconut oil.  Sweet almond is not as greasy and the excess will rinse nicely away with water, unlike coconut oil. 
 

Originally Posted by Dragonfly /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I'm finding that my hair feels quite dry now that I'm only using a silicon free conditioner.

I have a lot of coconut oil so I'd like to use that to help get my hair in better condition.

Does anyone use coconut oil or another oil mixed into their conditioner or do they apply the oil prior to the co wash?
Click to expand...


 
Appreciate the advice Diva.

However, due to a lack of funds and an abundance of coconut oil/olive oil, I'm only trying to learn how to incorporate CO with coconut or olive oil.

Maybe if Santa brings me some Sweet Almond Oil or other products, I can experiment with them at that point.

 
Sweet almond oil is readily available at E Indian stores for every modest price of $4 for a small bottle.  You can use it as moisturizer and you can also use it for cooking.  You can use it to remove makeup.  If you have olive oil, add a small amount of olive oil to your conditioner and see how that works.  

 
I mostly CO-wash with Inecto coconut conditioner, which is super cheap and light with little coconut oil content! For intensive conditioning I blend one part pure coconut oil with two parts of Inecto conditioner then turban and leave overnight. This rinses out with water well enough for me (I have curly hair) or any residue is easily removed with more Inecto. There are girls on the Long Hair Community who use straight coconut oil as a pre-wash and CO-wash it out, IIRC the key is to only use a small amount of coconut oil, pre-dilute the conditioner slightly, plenty of agitation then leave the conditioner on to absorb the oil for a few minutes. Conditioner actually removes oils better than shampoo because they contain large amounts of cationic surfactants which are designed to help oil mix with water in the formulation. Shampoos contain anionic surfactants, the same ones as in dish soap in a much weaker solution. Just think how much dish soap and hot water you need to get a greasy oven tray clean - and how much that strips your skin if you don't wear gloves or follow with lashings of hand cream.

I use coconut oil as opposed to any other plant oil because research shows it is the best absorbed into the hair shaft. I dilute it with conditioner as this aids with spreading an oil which is solid at room temperature, yup I did have lumps of pure coconut oil all the way through my hair the winter before I tried this!! Unlike Divadoll my hair is damaged so it definitely benefits from occasional deep treatments. However using a light conditioner such as Inecto means I do not need to use harsh sulphates or alkaline castille soap, both of these aggravate my dermatitis so I am thankful! I don't use wash off conditioner in the usual way at all as I find this a waste of product, water and time; instead I use Garnier Fructis Repair & Shine (Triple Nutrition in the US) after every wash as this is rich in palm oil. No reason why you could not emulate this by simply adding a little olive oil to your light CO-wash conditioner. Do this only in small batches tho because you are knocking off the balance of preservatives.

HTH!

 
My hair is not damaged because I use the products that I do but I dye my hair every 4-5 weeks and heat style almost every day and once a year, I perm.  My hair is healthy using sweet almond oil.  If you can get coconut oil out of your hair without shampooing 3x then that's great.  Non-silicon conditioners alone leave my hair dry and stiff.  I could not stand it, its actually worst than shampoo alone.  

Originally Posted by Firefox7275 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I mostly CO-wash with Inecto coconut conditioner, which is super cheap and light with little coconut oil content! For intensive conditioning I blend one part pure coconut oil with two parts of Inecto conditioner then turban and leave overnight. This rinses out with water well enough for me (I have curly hair) or any residue is easily removed with more Inecto. There are girls on the Long Hair Community who use straight coconut oil as a pre-wash and CO-wash it out, IIRC the key is to only use a small amount of coconut oil, pre-dilute the conditioner slightly, plenty of agitation then leave the conditioner on to absorb the oil for a few minutes. Conditioner actually removes oils better than shampoo because they contain large amounts of cationic surfactants which are designed to help oil mix with water in the formulation. Shampoos contain anionic surfactants, the same ones as in dish soap in a much weaker solution. Just think how much dish soap and hot water you need to get a greasy oven tray clean - and how much that strips your skin if you don't wear gloves or follow with lashings of hand cream.

I use coconut oil as opposed to any other plant oil because research shows it is the best absorbed into the hair shaft. I dilute it with conditioner as this aids with spreading an oil which is solid at room temperature, yup I did have lumps of pure coconut oil all the way through my hair the winter before I tried this!! Unlike Divadoll my hair is damaged so it definitely benefits from occasional deep treatments. However using a light conditioner such as Inecto means I do not need to use harsh sulphates or alkaline castille soap, both of these aggravate my dermatitis so I am thankful! I don't use wash off conditioner in the usual way at all as I find this a waste of product, water and time; instead I use Garnier Fructis Repair & Shine (Triple Nutrition in the US) after every wash as this is rich in palm oil. No reason why you could not emulate this by simply adding a little olive oil to your light CO-wash conditioner. Do this only in small batches tho because you are knocking off the balance of preservatives.

HTH!
Click to expand...
Its good that you got the information that agreed with what you wanted to hear.  You weren't really going to accept anything contradictory anyways.  
 

Originally Posted by Dragonfly /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Great info Firefox - thanks!
Click to expand...


 
No offense or criticism was intended by mentioning your name. It's kinda funny that you and I could not have more different hair histories if we tried - mine is wrecked from 'reverse perms' (wet hair/ ponytail/ hairspray) plus irregular colouring, plus a haircare routine that was nothing but sulphates and silicones ... my saving grace was no heat styling! Coconut and palm oil have me six months out from my last trim without dry ends or splits, but at least a year away from being where you have got your crowning glory to. My face likes sweet almond oil, so perhaps I can go that route with my hair eventually?
 

Originally Posted by divadoll /img/forum/go_quote.gif

My hair is not damaged because I use the products that I do but I dye my hair every 4-5 weeks and heat style almost every day and once a year, I perm.  My hair is healthy using sweet almond oil.  If you can get coconut oil out of your hair without shampooing 3x then that's great.  Non-silicon conditioners alone leave my hair dry and stiff.  I could not stand it, its actually worst than shampoo alone.  
Click to expand...


 
You HIGHLIGHTED my name to make it stand out.  I can only expect that the post is directed at me.  

My hair is in good condition because what I am using is working for me.  Obviously the products you are using is not helping therefore you require further conditioning.  

 
If I direct a post at someone other than the OP I usually quote as I have here; if I am referring to another forum member I embolden their name so they can read if they choose to do so. That is standard practice on some forums, I am genuinely sorry if it reads as a criticism or offense here. My current routine IS working for both my hair and purse but curly girls tend to be dryer than straight plus I am still growing out the damage from the past: even WEN cannot glue the hairs that snapped off back together! I totally accept cutting the damage out would make the most sense but I need to be able to put my hair up for work and two weddings I am in next year.

Originally Posted by divadoll /img/forum/go_quote.gif

You HIGHLIGHTED my name to make it stand out.  I can only expect that the post is directed at me.  

My hair is in good condition because what I am using is working for me.  Obviously the products you are using is not helping therefore you require further conditioning.  
Click to expand...


 
Nothing glues hair back together.

Please don't take offense to posts that are responding directly to your that contractict yours.  You seem to want to voice your own opinion and not be able to tolerate someone elses when it is different from your own.  Forums are discussions and not testimonials to 1 opinion.

 
I am not offended, hun, I was actually concerned I had offended you by coming over wrong! Your experience of your hair type is as valid as mine of my hair type, I haven't suggested you change your routine I made suggestions to the OP based on the oils she has available and her wish to use them. I am totally confused, where does the intolerance come into it?
 

Originally Posted by divadoll /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Nothing glues hair back together.

Please don't take offense to posts that are responding directly to your that contractict yours.  You seem to want to voice your own opinion and not be able to tolerate someone elses when it is different from your own.  Forums are discussions and not testimonials to 1 opinion.
Click to expand...


 

Latest posts

Back
Top