What is Cowashing?

Cowashing is short for Conditioner Washing

Which means... washing your hair with conditioner!

That's right. You can use a Curly Girl (CG) approved conditioner (no sulfates or silicones!) to wash you scalp and hair. Why is that? There are cleaning agents in your conditioner. Really!

But even though conditioner has cleansing agents in it, you can't just suds it up with a few quick rubs as you would with a sulfate-rich shampoo. To clean your hair, you gotta work! The cleansing ingredients, plus your manual labour, work in tandem to clean your hair without stripping your scalp of its natural oils.

Step One
Apply a generous amount of conditioner to your scalp

Step Two
Rub and scrub every square inch of your scalp. Rub your fingers in circles all over your scalp for at least two minutes - ideally, five. Rub your scalp until your arms hurt! Run your down your hair as well.

Step Three
Rinse completely and continue to rub your scalp and your hair as you rinse. This gets it all out and cleanses your hair as you rinse.

Step Four
Condition as normal. You can now rinse all of this new conditioner out, rinse some out, or leave it all in. Experiment and see what your hair prefers.

You may find your hair to be a tad greasy the first few days. This is normal. It's your scalp and hair transitioning to this new life where it doesn't have to overproduce the natural oils every day because they've been stripped away. After a couple of washes, you will be just fine.

If your harms hurt while cleaning, you can get a little scalp massage brush (from Sally Beauty Supply, Beauty Supply Outlet, Cloré, Chatters, Amazon) to rub your scalp while cleaning.

Or, a handful of raw sugar (the big crystals) mixed with your conditioner works, too.

Comments

What is Wet Plopping?

The difference between wet plopping and regular plopping is with wet plopping, you plop your wet hair on top of your head in a shower cap instead of a cotton t-shirt, leggings, or micro fiber towel. Why wet plop? It encourages hair hydration It defines curls It reduces frizz ... and more. How do I do it? After you wash and condition, apply your leave in, curl cream and/or stylers to soaking wet hair with praying hands and rope each clump Squish out excess water with your hands Dip your clumps into a shower cap Wrap a towel around your head and the shower cap to keep water from dripping all over you, OR just keep a towel around your shoulders, OR wrap a headband around the shower cap Plop for 10-20 minutes Remove the shower cap, remove excess moisture by squishing with your hands, a microfiber towel or a cotton tshirt (some prefer to regular plop at this stage) I learned about this method from @powerdomi on Instagram - she is the queen of hydration for wavy hair,

What is Shrinkage?

Ok, get George Costanza in the pool out of your head and bear with me. Shrinkage in the curly community is completely different! An in our case, it's a good thing. Shrinkage means that curls hair appears shorter when it's curly as opposed to when it's wet, or stretched out (like when you straighten it). Natrually curly hair looks shorter than it actually is when it's stretched out. Shrinkage = Healthy Hair When your hair absorbs water and dries, your hair will curl, or shrink, into its natural hair pattern. Wet hair appears stretched, because water weighs down the curls. When the water dries, the hair is lighter and bounces up or "shrinks," resulting in shorter looking hair. What Does it Look Like? Shrinkage can be an issue amongst curlies with kinky and/or coily hair (4A, 4B, 4C curls.) 4C natural hair is the most tightly coiled. Wavy hair can also experience shrinkage, though it is less noticeable. But it is a sure sign that your hair is healthy.

What is a Buff?

I have to admit that... this time, a couple of years ago, I had NO idea what a buff was. I had to Google so much to figure out what those crazy curlies of Instagram were yammering on about. But over time, I learned, so I hope this can be of use to you. Basically, a buff is a tube of cloth. What is a buff used for? You can protect curly hair at night (or when you're out and about) by placing your hair in this tube. Because it's tight and stretchy, a buff usually holds itself into place. Buffs are also popular among bikers and hikers to keep air and dirt out of their faces, or keep their necks warm, or to keep sweat out of their eyes. It really has so many uses and protecting hair at night is only one of them. Where can I buy a buff? Costco Amazon Any outdoor store (ie Mountain Equipment Co-op) The sport and outdoor department of most stores Dollar stores How do I put it on?

Di Dumbs It Down

Search This Blog