body lotion on your hair

Kuroneko, thanks for bringing us back on topic. I remember you mentioning that you didn't have much luck with Garnier Fructis. Given your experience with GF, I bet St. Ives (with silicones?) did something similar. I've done the same thing with jojoba oil... sometimes the crunch doesn't show until the next morning!  

Taggi I totally forgot to address your original question. Body lotion may have similar ingredients as some hair conditioners, but it shouldn't substitute for a hair conditioner. Skin is much more absorbent than hair, so lotion is going to be much richer and more moisturizing than hair can usually handle. (As Eatgreenjello said, this means using a lot less lotion than expected.)

At the same time, manufacturers tend to put a lot more ingredients into lotions than some varieties of cheaper conditioner... so it's hard to be picky about things like silicones, petrolatum/petroleum, various oils, etc. when looking through ingredients in lotion. Normally, this results in compromising a hair routine with ingredients a person would normally avoid, especially silicones or parabens if you avoid them. Edited to add: A lotions can also have the exact ingredients as a conditioner, but in different proportions (therefore meant for a different purpose). my point: it's harder to have good long-term success with a lotion than something meant for hair.

I think one of the main questions is not "whether a person should use lotion on their hair", but "whether it would work if you have nothing else to use". If lotion works for you then that's great though  

Some leave-in conditioners include:
Giovanni Direct Leave-in (no silicones, available on HBMP)
Beauty Without Cruelty Leave-in Conditioner ("Revitalize") (no silicones)
Thermasilk Detangler/Leave-in Conditioner (contains silicones and silk protein)
Bumble and Bumble Leave-in

Hope this helps someone.

Hugs
Anais

just a bit of personal experience, I tried once throwing a whole bunch of jergens lotion on my hair and wrapping it with a plastic cap at night and washing it out the next day, (shampoo and conditioner) It washed out nicely, and made my hair smooth and shiny and not too oily. The only downside is it did itch a bit during the night so I agree you just don't know what stuff is going to do to you, but I did it because I didn't have anything else but standard wash out conditioner and I wanted a deep conditioning...I guess I should have used mayo or whatever lol.

Wendy