WHY I STOPPED CO-WASHING MY HAIR

Hey hey hey people!!

How are ya?? For those of you who’ve just started school again, I hope it’s all going well so far! And for those about to start uni next week, good luck! I’m going into my 3rd year and I’m excited to be finishing up but I’m still scared!! It’s not easy but we’ll get through it!

I wanted to chat to you guys about why I stopped cowashing and why I now use cleansing conditioners every week. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a minute (thank you!), you will know I tend to stick to co-washing my hair. Co-washing is when you use a conditioner to wash your hair instead of shampoo and conditioner. This is very popular in the natural hair community because of how dry our hair tends to get. However, I started feeling like my hair needed something else to clean it but I didn’t want to go as far as using shampoo every week. I was beginning to feel like there was too much build up on my scalp and having too much build up can actually stunt your hair growth because it physically blocks the hair follicles. I decided to switch up my regimen to include cleansing every week and I have had amazing results! My hair has grown soooo much since I started this routine (about 3/4 months ago). Aside from that, my hair is a lot shinier – I suspect the build up was dulling my shine!

Cleansing conditioners have become essential in my hair regimen.  These products will clean your hair without stripping it like shampoo often does. Now, I still use shampoo of course – I use it every 3-4 washes to ensure I get a good deep clean but I now use a cleansing conditioner of some sort every week. Currently, the only time I co-wash is if my hair is insanely dry and needs to be refreshed mid-week (as I only wash my hair once a week). I am NOT trying to say co-washing is bad and you need to stop it right now! This is just what works for my hair and it may be something you may want to look into if you’re having growth or build up problems!

I have two main cleansing conditioners I tend to stick to – the DevaCurl Low Poo and the RenPure Solutions Cleansing Conditioner. These two products are formulated with some great ingredients and are both from reputable brands. DevaCurl also offers their No Poo version which has no lather at all in contrast to the Low Poo that does lather a bit. Another very good option is the Shea Moisture High Porosity Moisture-Seal Co-Wash. This is a milder cleanser so it still cleans the hair very well but not quite as well as the other two!

Oh and a cautionary tale: unless you have very loose curls or very detangled hair, you probably can’t detangle with cleansing conditioners. The word “conditioner” misled me into thinking I could detangle my very thick hair with the stuff – it was a major fail lol!

If your hair just doesn’t get clean enough with co-washing but you don’t want the drying effects of shampoo, give cleansing conditioners a shot. They will switch up your whole hair game! Oh and before the relaxed ladies run away screaming, it’s a great product to use on relaxed hair too!

I hope it works out for ya! Keep me posted!

Love,

Tara xXx