Giving up shampoo and conditioner

[nogojones]

My hair is very long at the moment and I'm still dodging shampoo, however I've taken to using conditioner now and than as it starts to dread otherwise.

 

[purenarcotic]

What was your routine and why did you stop?

Co-wash with As I Am Dry and Itchy Co-wash (not cheap but you only need a minuscule amount, lasts for fucking ever) using a scalp scrubber

Condition with XHC Ginger conditioner, leaving it on whilst I washed and then STC when rinsing it out

A small amount of either the XHC or Alberto Balsam Raspberry as leave in

Gels varied, but I got great results with L’Oreal Invishold

I stopped for a couple of reasons really; my hair got very over moisturised and I just couldn’t bring it back, I had to wash every other day because the As I Am was probably too much for my scalp so whilst it completely killed the dermatitis I had, it made my hair very greasy. I got tired of both ludicrously long showers and my hair taking 7 hours to fully dry (I don’t own a hairdryer so only air dry) and… it just felt like too much effort really I think. And I got irritated with the absolute zealousness in the FB groups. And then I got ill so I just couldn’t keep it up.

I use Aveeno’s shampoo and conditioner for coloured hair. The shampoo is actually classed as CG friendly I think, but that’s not why I went for it. I don’t use gel now and I’m not massively enamoured by my hair at the moment tbh, but I can’t quite bring myself to get back into it all at the moment. I’ve seen a lot of curly hairdressers actually extol the virtues of a really good quality shampoo as part of your routine… as with so much, I think everyone is different and your hormones, stress levels etc play a massive role. I did get some amazing results with CG though; proper sausage ringlets which I hadn’t had since I was a child

 

[purenarcotic]

Thanks! Is the idea that you don’t use any anti frizz products after you’ve washed or do you still need to?

The idea is not to use products containing silicones, SLS etc. Most ‘anti-frizz’ products work by coating your hair in a very thin layer of silicones. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but the theory is that this ultimately weighs your hair down and doesn’t allow water, the thing you need to hydrate your hair into the shaft. Conditioner alone will not lift that off your hair at all. So if you’re gonna go CG, you need to use CG friendly products. There are masses of gels and mousses which are, which will help define your curl and reduce frizz. But you can’t eliminate and it’s probably better to try and learn to embrace a bit of frizz; that’s normal. It also is a method which takes time. Don’t expect overnight results.

 

[purenarcotic]

muscovyduck - what’s your routine?

 

[muscovyduck]

muscovyduck - what’s your routine?

Conditioner once a week



To be fair I also put Moroccan oil on while my hair is drying.

I use the Treseme conditioner but going to experiment with a conditioner that comes in a bar rather than in a plastic tube to cut down on waste. I make sure I give my scalp a good work with my fingers when I'm washing the conditioner out.

I'm very on it with my lifestyle and what I let touch my hair, silk pillow cases only, silk lined hats if I'm wearing one, use an old cotton shirt to dry my hair, even watch what I'm wearing on the top half my body and what materials my sofas and chairs are made from to reduce split ends where my hair meets it.

I do want to branch out from the routine a bit and try gels and stuff but what I like about the way I've approached it is that it's so low maintenance. I know you can do things like get a filter for your shower head so I might try that first before adding stuff to my routine because it's just another passive thing in the background.

My lifestyle/work life fluctuates a lot and you can definitely see a massive difference in how your hair behaves depending on where you are and what you're doing.

 

[jontz01]

Haven't really read all of the thread but just wanted to share that when I lived on the road for best part of a year, I only washed in the sea, lakes and rivers, very rarely using any soap. My hair and skin was in the best condition it had ever been in. It was silky smooth and sun bleached. Lockdown occured and we ended up in emergency accomodation, we had hot showers and products for the first time in ages. Within a month, dandruff had retuned, hair was constantly greasy and my skin was scaly and horrid.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

As a bit of a counter, both my kids always get their hair wet during their daily wash and on day three or four after a shampoo, my straight haired daughter’s hair looks like it needs another one. It gets noticeably harder to brush too. I only shampoo the curly haired one’s hair twice a week and have started doing a conditioner only wash (as it only gets brushed when conditioned), but I’ve been wondering about switching that ratio. Her hair has looked effortlessly amazing today!

Admittedly kids’ hair is probably different as they have a tendency to climb trees/have it drape in jam/fall over in mud etc. The chorine from a weekly swim needs to be washed out too!

 

[purenarcotic]

Conditioner once a week



To be fair I also put Moroccan oil on while my hair is drying.

I use the Treseme conditioner but going to experiment with a conditioner that comes in a bar rather than in a plastic tube to cut down on waste. I make sure I give my scalp a good work with my fingers when I'm washing the conditioner out.

I'm very on it with my lifestyle and what I let touch my hair, silk pillow cases only, silk lined hats if I'm wearing one, use an old cotton shirt to dry my hair, even watch what I'm wearing on the top half my body and what materials my sofas and chairs are made from to reduce split ends where my hair meets it.

I do want to branch out from the routine a bit and try gels and stuff but what I like about the way I've approached it is that it's so low maintenance. I know you can do things like get a filter for your shower head so I might try that first before adding stuff to my routine because it's just another passive thing in the background.

My lifestyle/work life fluctuates a lot and you can definitely see a massive difference in how your hair behaves depending on where you are and what you're doing.

I do think you can make CG as high or low maintenance as you want, which is the nice thing about it. I am torn by wanting lovely curls again but liking not having a scalp which bleeds and sheds yellow flakes (and not having to wash every other day. With the Aveeno I only do twice a week). I just shove it into a bun most of the time now.

 

[muscovyduck]

I do think you can make CG as high or low maintenance as you want, which is the nice thing about it. I am torn by wanting lovely curls again but liking not having a scalp which bleeds and sheds yellow flakes (and not having to wash every other day. With the Aveeno I only do twice a week). I just shove it into a bun most of the time now.

I really want to grow my hair out but it's so difficult. Especially because it's curly, 3 inches for everyone else is at most an inch for me

 

[Agent Sparrow]

So today I decided to use shampoo and conditioner but not use the cuticle sealer afterwards, with an aim to only use conditioner for a bit. It is extremely fluffy and not as curly as normal. Thankfully I am wfh today so we’ll see what happens across the week. I am keeping an open mind!

 

[Agent Sparrow]

First day of conditioner only (I suspect it will be a SLS free one) but no product. Curls not as defined and it’s fluffy but not frizzy…

 

[savoloysam]

When I have done this the condition of my hair has improved but sadly it smelt bad so back came the shampoo.