Wednesday, June 6, 2018

The Low-Down on Co-Washing

"What IS co-washing?" I have so many guests that have heard this term and wondered what it meant. Co-washing refers to the use of conditioner to cleanse the hair, but the definition has widened slightly to encompass some non-sulfated, low-lather, or creamy cleansers. The idea behind this method is that we are not stripping the hair of precious oils that keep it protected; rather, leaving the hair's natural moisture system in place and removing unwanted dirt, styling product, and pollutions in a more gentle manner.
From my experience behind the chair, I can isolate a few problems with co-washing that any well-intentioned person of curl should be aware of before committing to this method:

1. Not all Co-wash is created equal. Look at your ingredients! If there are silicones in your co-wash, you have a problem. This can cause hair fall and myriad other issues that I will get into in just a moment.  Likewise, look for ingredients that have some inherent cleansing properties. Some are rosemary, tea tree oil, and mint, to name a few.

2. Make sure that if you are co-washing, you are not also using products that contain silicone. Silicone is not a curl's best friend, and that is because it coats our hair in such a way that it prevents true moisture from being obtained. So the first step to healthier hair would be to eliminate all silicones completely, as most silicones are at least partially water insoluble. That means that in order to remove them, you require a sulfated cleanser. The problem with washing curly hair in harsh detergents is that it makes the hair incredibly dry and fragile. Thus, using silicone enters us into an unhealthy cycle of coating the hair which prevents moisture, and then cleansing with harsh surfactants to remove the silicone. To remedy this, many reach for yet more silicone-laden products to smooth out their dehydrated hair, and so it continues. What makes this even worse is when we dabble in silicone use and expect a co-wash to be able to handle removing these products. This can have disastrous results if practiced for any length of time, as the silicone collects on the hair, scalp, and follicles, never completely being removed. Imagine a friend holding a roll of industrial plastic wrap as you pirouette around and around it. Not only would you feel like you were suffocating, if you hopped outside in the rain, the water would bounce right off of you. This is what happens to your hair when you use silicone. Unfortunately, we've been brainwashed to believe that keeping moisture out of curly hair is the main goal, and that just is not true. Our hair needs moisture to look and feel healthy.

3. Time commitment. Co-washing isn't just about hopping in the shower, half asleep and splatting a handful of conditioner on your head. As you are replacing the action of harsh surfactant with mechanical movement, guess what happens if you omit that movement? Unfortunately, many begin their use of conditioner washing without the massage necessary to actually remove excess sebum, dirt, and product from the scalp. You MUST massage the scalp when co-washing, both on the way in and out.  Without the massage, product and sebum can accumulate on the scalp and hair, coating it much like a silicone can! You must also stimulate the hair follicle so that it continues to produce new hair. A coating on the scalp, over the follicles can create an unhealthy environment in which the hair cannot bloom from the follicle. Some may notice bumps, blemishes, flaking, itchiness, oiliness, a dull coating, and scalp pain if they have gone for any length of time improperly co-washing. The key is to use the pads of your fingers in a circular massaging motion, moving the co-wash over the entirety of the scalp vigorously, and then rinsing it out using that same movement. I tell my guests to flip over in the shower as it helps remove product from the crown and nape, areas that some with very dense curls may miss.

4. Consider your water. For most of my guests, it makes sense to co-wash most of the time, adding in a hard-water removing treatment or gentle lathering cleanser every so often, perhaps every couple of weeks. Hard water can make it difficult to remove any cleanser, including co-washes, and that is why I recommend an occasional treatment to ensure that mineral deposit is being removed.

5. The crown is the spot where I find many have build up and the reason why is because that tends to be the area with the most density. We think because we are standing under the shower and the shower head is rinsing that area the most, that we should be fine! The truth is, because that hair is thicker in that spot, we must be moving it aside so that the water can make it all the way down to the scalp, and manipulate the product off of the scalp in that area. It should feel like a nice hearty massage and your arms should get a workout!

I have seen some of the healthiest scalps using a co-wash method and I have also seen scalps with tremendous build up from co-washing. If you feel like you have build up, some steps you can take to re-start a healthy co-wash routine are as follows:

1. Take an unadulterated oil, like Innersense Organic Beauty's Harmonic Healing oil, and massage into dry hair at the scalp. Massage vigorously.
2. Wet hair in shower and either apply DevaCurl Build-Up Buster or Malibu Undo-Goo or Hard Water cleanser. You may need to do this twice.
3. Proceed with applying Co-wash as suggested above using massage. I love Long Hair Don't Care for my own Co-wash.
4. Condition as usual, being sure to rinse conditioner from roots completely.




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