Does wearing hair gel ommit conditioning?

I heard this from somewhere that for shorter styles if you use hair gel(good quality)it will protect your hair and you won't need conditioning.Do you think this is true?I use the Aveda's Aloe/Flax gel for strong hold everyday and before that I spray my hair with the Aveda's Brilliant Damage control(leave in light holding conditioner).Whenever I wash off the gel with just water my hair feels great.It feels great too after shampooing(spell check).But after using the condioner my hair feels a bit stiff.I have coarse oily short hair.Hmmmm.....I wonder why?