Co-Washing What Is It

Co-washing is short for conditioner washing, does that clear it up? What do you mean no? ?

Its actually super simple, instead of shampooing your hair first and then conditioning it, you just use conditioner as if its shampoo.

Whey would we do this you ask?

Like a lot of learned human habits, shampooing the hair is not actually necessary to clean your hair and scalp. In fact you are removing a protective layer that your body is intentionally making.

The oil that your scalp produces, (named sebum), is produced to protect your skin from sun and UV. Removing it is a little counter productive whether you have an oily scalp or a dry one.

That being said we do need to cleanse our scalp to remove dead skin cells, that’s why we still need a process.

To co-wash your hair all you need to do is:

– wet your hair thoroughly as usual in the shower

– take out the excess moisture with your hands

– using a good quality conditioner scrub your scalp as if you’re shampooing it

– rinse thoroughly

That’s it, done faster than a normal wash using less products.

It will take a little time for your scalp to adjust, its been getting used to shampoo for your whole life. Dryer hair types come good a lot quicker than oily hair types.

The benefits:

– Your colour will fade at a slower pace

– If your prone to scalp/skin issues, this can fix it as your allowing your body to sort itself out rather than using a detergent, (essentially what shampoo is), to cleanse

– You’re going to save money as you only need a conditioner. No excuses now not to use a good one!

– For dryer hair types the small amount on natural oil you have won’t be washed away, it will ends up making your hair more manageable and shiny.

– For oilier hair types, once your body adjusts the production of oil will slow giving you longer between washes and not getting oily on the same day you’ve washed it.

I’m not gonna lie, when I did this with my oily hair it took 2 months of horrible hair till my body worked out what was going on. Now though I don’t get oily on the same day as washing which used to drive me crazy and lead to excessive dry shampoo use.

As always if you have any questions I’m here for them.

I heard a great quote today which is the only stupid question is the unasked one.

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.