CO experience thread

The CO is still kind of going. I washed my hair twice a week the first week and the next I left it five days. I was using somerfield own brand conditioner for fine/greasy hair as the cleaner and the own brand one for normal hair as the conditioner. My hair was clean enough at the roots and it wasn't greasy although it was kind of...coated. The thing is, the outer layer of my hair was all kind of separating and looking a little stringy. It looked fine when pulled back but nasty loose. So this morning I did a diluted shampoo. I think I'll stick to CO but maybe shampoo once in a while to get rid of residue. Wasn't there someone else who does that who said so on here?

I was thinking, like Anais's list of useful threads, maybe we should keep this thread up, posting about our own experiences of CO so that people wanting to try CO can read about it without starting a million threads on the same topic. What do you think?

I finally broke down today and did an ACV rinse and DSO, then conditioned and used Giovanni Direct Leave-In as the final conditioner. The itchies finally came, and also much stringiness. I am going to try to go one week with only CO again and maybe just wear my hair up all the time. It sounds, from Karen's experience, that the more time and the longer the hair, the better CO works, so I'm going to stick with it for most washes. Thanks Anais and Karen for the abbreviations and making this a regular thread.

 

I'm not oiling right now - it didn't work great for me. I use a very light spray with some oils in it (it is Burt's Bees carrotseed oil face spray) - the oils are carrotseed, sandalwood, patchouli, and rose oils. I mostly use it for the fragrance but I think the light oiling helps with dryness. I think if you use a heavy oil like olive that you would have to use shampoo or ACV to keep your hair from being greasy all the time...Anais? (by the way, Sasumi, your hair is beautiful and shiny!)

Sasumi wrote: Ehhh, question about CO washing. Once I heavily oiled my hair with olive oil, and I tried just rinsing it out with water, and then applied conditioner and rinsed it out (without shampooing) and the next day my hair was terribly oily. So, do you use shampoo on days when you oil?

Hi,

Little tip about oiling...before you wash...apply a tiny bit of unconcentrated shampoo into the palms of your hands.  A tiny bit should work...just enough to cover your palms lightly.

Then pat the shampoo covered palms along the top of the oiled hair.

Get into the shower and turn on the lukewarm water.  Or you can use the clean bottle-of-water-over-the-head approach.  Drizzle water onto the shampoo and pat lightly to form a slight lather.  Keep drizzling water until you have a full lather and then let the suds gently float down over your strands to the ends.

Then rinse really really well with lukewarm water.

The shampoo applied to the dry oiled hair will cut the oil instantly and if you are careful, the undiluted shampoo doesn't undo all the great advantages of the oiling process.

I love oiling my hair but often worry that the effort at getting the oil out undoes all the benefits.  :-)

Try it and see if it works for you.

I do not advise that anyone use Castor oil on their hair.  I did that years ago and spend literally weeks trying to get it out.  YUCK.

Edited by Karen Shelton

Great info, Anais and Karen! Wow, that castor oil experience sounds horrid....  I think I am definitely more of a shea butter person than an oil person. I also think the ACV rinses help with my itchy scalp, though I notice my hair seems dry the day or two after an ACV rinse. Does this happen to you Anais? Thanks again.

I'll give it a try

Hi LadyFrog, yes I am still doing CO most weeks with good results. Last week, however, I used some diluted shampoo because I was speaking at a conference and wanted my hair down, and the "piecy-ness" you speak of I have as well. So that was the first shampoo I've used in a couple of weeks. I also cleaned all my hair tools at the same time.

I'm going 3-4 days in between CO's and my hair is wavy, soft, and not greasy at all. No itchies either. I've found CO works far better for me than oiling or using butters. If I use either, I have to then use shampoo to wash out the greasies. If I only CO, then my hair is not greasy at all.

I am still using the Burt's Bees Carrot Seed Oil Spray in between washes to dampen for braiding, and that is such a light spray that it is really almost like using water. As for method, I just wet my hair in the shower, use Aveda diluted conditioner, let it sit, rinse, then Lush Veganese conditioner, rinse, then Aveda for the final, then rinse. I alternate using leave-in every few washes.

LadyFrog, can you tell me how to use a hairstick to put volume in your roots? I'd like to try it!

Great info, thanks LF! I'm glad your CO is going well also. I will try to find that link soon.

Cool! A soap for shampoo - that would really help me since I travel a great deal for work. Thanks Anais

My hair's a bit piecy now  I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do-just carry on COing or do a diluted shampoo, or see if just rinsing with water would unpiece it (my Mum is convinced that it's the residue from conditioner that's making it clump together.)

Suggestions?