What is co-washing and why would you do it?
When you first start looking into curly hair techniques, there’s so much jargon that it’s hard to follow: SOTC, co-wash, STC… the list goes on. I think it’s really confusing and can intimidate beginners.
What is co-washing? Hair Romance Good Hair Q&A series
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Co-washing is a technique that stands for conditioner washing.
It’s where you wash your hair with conditioner instead of regular shampoo and then conditioner. This single step process replaces the routine most of us do.
Washing your hair with conditioner? Does that sound crazy?
It’s not as crazy as it first sounds.
Conditioners also contain cleansing agents so they will clean your hair and they’re gentler on your hair. Strong sulfate shampoos can strip all the oil from your hair and if you have curly or dry hair, this can create a problem.
Washing with conditioner helps to nourish your hair and maintain the natural oil balance of your scalp but the technique for co-washing is often misunderstood.
Co-washing techniques
With shampoo you can just slightly wet your hair, rub product on your scalp, rinse it out and you’re good to go. Shampoo contains wetting agents so it’s easily distributed to your hair and the surfactants quickly and easily clean out the dirt.
With conditioner, however, you need to follow a different routine:
- Wet your hair completely
- Apply a lot more conditioner than normal. You want to apply it from the root to the tip
- Clean your scalp. This is where you will need to do the hard work because the product doesn’t do it for you. You need to spend three to five minutes actively massaging and cleaning your scalp.
- Then ensure that you rinse all of the product completely from your hair. Some curly girls would like to leave a little conditioner in their hair but I will make sure to rinse it all from your scalp or you’ll end up with a heavy feeling.
Who is co-washing for?
Co-washing is great if you have naturally curly hair or dry hair.
Who is co-washing not for?
Well some people will say it’s for everybody but some hair types don’t fare so well. It’s not always the best if you have wavy hair, oily hair or fine hair.
Depending on your scalp health, if you have psoriasis or eczema for example, you may need to check before applying so much product directly to your skin. Some people report that it helps and other say that it aggravates so it really is up to you.
Can you use any conditioner?
You need to use a silicone free conditioner for co-washing.
Silicone is removed by sulfate shampoos so if you’re skipping shampoo, you need to avoid silicones or they will build up on your hair.
Some silicones are water soluble but most silicones in conditioner will require shampoo to remove them from your hair.
Silicone free conditioners
The market for silicone-free conditioners is really growing, but here are a few I recommend if you are looking to start:
- Darshana Conditioner
- SheaMoisture Coconut & Hibiscus Conditioner (in Australia & USA)
- DevaCurl One Condition
I hope this has helped explain what co-washing is and why you would do it.
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Hi Christina, thank you so much for your description on this. I’ve been trying to go CG for a couple of weeks now & have been finding it so confusing & hard. Your videos & blog are so down to earth & suit us time poor curly girls. Thank you so much for all of your hard work & effort you put into all of these resources.
thanks so much Amanda! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment too 🙂 xx
I’m in the process of learning about the curly girl method and was wondering that if you co-wash your hair do you still need to need to condition your hair as usual or does this replace the shampoo/conditioner process and make it one step? Thanks in advance!
Hi Zoe, good question! Usually you still need to condition as the co-wash is for removing dirt from your hair. The ends of your hair will feel more conditioned after this, and you might feel this is enough but most of the time, I want to use a conditioner on the ends x
Hi, I recently purchased kinky curly custard which makes my hair feel awful and dirty, even if I only use a small amount, why is this. If I use herbal essence toussly mouse, my curls look lovely but it makes my hair feel so dry. Tigi rock curls appears to be fine in my hair but I’m worried it’s not CG approved. I loo-poo once a week, co wash twice, deep condition once and use leave in papaya hair food. What do you recommend for my 2c wavy shoulder length hair, as products are not cheap. Love your videos by the way. Cheers Su.
Hi Su, sorry the Kinky Curly Custard didn’t work for your hair. There are some swap/sell hair groups on facebook if you can’t return it to where you bought it. It is a gel texture product so once you “scrunch out the crunch” it should feel better.
I like your routine, and you might find that you need to clarify once a month or so with a regular shampoo. I know the CG method is all sulphate free but all those products can build up and I find 3a hair and all 2 a/b/c hair types look better and have more volume after clarifying.
What’s your main styling goal? Do you want more moisture? Definition? volume? Then we can work out what other styling products could work x
I only use glycerin and rosewater on my hair for keeping the frizz at bay while also adding beautiful conditioning to my hair. I too only co-wash, and have been since November 2018. That in tandem with the aforementioned glycerin/rosewater, I spray on my hair, my tempestuous red, curly hair is absolutely beautiful. It’s soft, shiny and happier than it’s ever been.