Cowashing and bunning the key to wsl hair!

[greenandchic]

...........

 

[BGT]

I'm still co-washing and bunning!!

 

[AtlantaJJ]

I'm bunning but cowashing daily. I'll just around in this thread and see what I can learn.

 

[abcd09]

I think most of my hair is 4a. I've been cowashing on and off for years and stretching for about 2 years and never had issues with matting from it. If anything cowashing (as opposed to stretching out washing) causes more tangles.

greenandchic Did you mean it causes more or less tangles? Tangles aren't good either, especially for fine hair. erplexed I think I remember you saying your hair is fine once or twice...

 

[greenandchic]

greenandchic Did you mean it causes more or less tangles? Tangles aren't good either, especially for fine hair. erplexed I think I remember you saying your hair is fine once or twice...

I meant to say cowashing helps prevent tangles as opposed to stretching out washing cycles. The more I cowash, the less tangled my hair is for the most part as long as I keep my moisture/seal/protein levels in check.

Yes, a good portion of my hair is on the finer side. My hair is mostly medium - fine.

Sorry for the confusion!

 

[pookaloo83]

I've been doing this for a while now. But my method is kind of different from a lot of peoples. So I wash my hair once a month for starters. And on the first day after the wash, I let it air dry for a bit, then blow it dry on cool. Then I put it up in a pony tail. I braid the ends of the pony tail in a semi loose braid. I then proceed to tuck the braid under and bun my hair. I NEVER undo that braid. The only thing I do is at the end of each week, I undo the bun and pony tail I made (so keep in mind my hair is still in that braided shape) and repackage the pony tail together. And tuck the braid under once more. And bun again. I don't comb my hair for a MONTH. The bun still looks fresh everyday. I rap the bun itself with a scarf every night, then I put a bonnet on top of it. In the morning I just slick down the edges and go. Quite simple. Works for me. If you are prone to tangles and matting. Then it may not be your type of thing. But I retain allllll of my growth this way. Only problem is my boyfriend is starting to complain about my hair being in a bun all the time. But whatever. He can wait til March when I decide to be a little bit freer with my hair. For now. I want to retain ALL of my growth.

Good idea.

Sent From The Microwave Where I Warm Up Honeybuns With Cheese

 

[abcd09]

I meant to say cowashing helps prevent tangles as opposed to stretching out washing cycles. The more I cowash, the less tangled my hair is for the most part as long as I keep my moisture/seal/protein levels in check.

Yes, a good portion of my hair is on the finer side. My hair is mostly medium - fine.

Sorry for the confusion!

You scared me for a second

I used to cowash a while ago once a week and use a shampoo once a week. I can't remember what I liked about it, but I stopped because of the buildup made my hair look very very bad and dirty (caked on condish on the roots, grayish looking)

ETA: greenandchic @DominicanBrazilian82 and everyone else, Just got done cowashing and I had a lot of buildup. It took me forever to get it out. How are you all not getting buildup? I'm guessing that when you all cowash you are a. NOT dcing everytime and b, not leaving it on longer than 10 minutes.

 

[Fhrizzball]

You scared me for a second

I used to cowash a while ago once a week and use a shampoo once a week. I can't remember what I liked about it, but I stopped because of the buildup made my hair look very very bad and dirty (caked on condish on the roots, grayish looking)

ETA: @greenandchic @DominicanBrazilian82 and everyone else, Just got done cowashing and I had a lot of buildup. It took me forever to get it out. How are you all not getting buildup? I'm guessing that when you all cowash you are a. NOT dcing everytime and b, not leaving it on longer than 10 minutes.

abcd09
Are you using a cone free conditioner as for cowashing the ones with cones cause buildups on my hair. There are also cleansing/clarifying conditioners to try and for the moisturising ones try not to get it on your scalp and roots. Even though I cowash at times, I still make sure to use a poo to get rid of any buildup I may acquire.

 

[abcd09]

@abcd09
Are you using a cone free conditioner as for cowashing the ones with cones cause buildups on my hair. There are also cleansing/clarifying conditioners to try and for the moisturising ones try not to get it on your scalp and roots. Even though I cowash at times, I still make sure to use a poo to get rid of any buildup I may acquire.

Fhrizzball Yes they do have cones...but they also leave my hair tangle free at 24 weeks post. I've tried the cone free-- namely AO and Giovanni Direct- and they leave my hair tangled. Used to use wen /hair 1 a year ago and they don't seem to work that well with removing buildup. What do you use?

 

[Aggie]

I had to come and put in my 2 cents in agreement with the OP. I just started bunning and cowashing daily year and noticed a huge difference in the progress of my hair growth and its thickness. It has improved tremendously and I must admit, I do not wish to change this regimen because it's working so well for me. I'm doing far less to my hair and it is happy for sure!

 

[DominicanBrazilian82]

You scared me for a second

I used to cowash a while ago once a week and use a shampoo once a week. I can't remember what I liked about it, but I stopped because of the buildup made my hair look very very bad and dirty (caked on condish on the roots, grayish looking)

ETA: greenandchic @DominicanBrazilian82 and everyone else, Just got done cowashing and I had a lot of buildup. It took me forever to get it out. How are you all not getting buildup? I'm guessing that when you all cowash you are a. NOT dcing everytime and b, not leaving it on longer than 10 minutes.

I DC each time I co-wash and I don't have much, if any, build-up. I let me DC sit on for about 45-1hr under heat, each time.

I co-wash like I'm shampooing (paying a lot of attention to my scalp when in the shower). My DC will take care of my strands, so while I apply my co-wash condish to my hair in the shower, I'm more concerned with agitating my scalp to rid some of the things that might be on there. Now I don't have a lot of buildup, because I don't use that many products on my scalp. I also chelate every other wash. I do one lather of the chelating shampoo and one of the moisturizing poo. When I clarify/chelate (ORSCreamyAloe), I rinse out my prepoo about 80% and then add my chelating shampoo. Rinse and follow up with a moisture poo. This might help me rid some of the buildup for my co-washes.

 

[DominicanBrazilian82]

I had to come and put in my 2 cents in agreement with the OP. I just started bunning and cowashing daily year and noticed a huge difference in the progress of my hair growth and its thickness. It has improved tremendously and I must admit, I do not wish to change this regimen because it's working so well for me. I'm doing far less to my hair and it is happy for sure!

I agree. When I co-wash I either bun it, or knot it. My hair has truly thanked me for this. The thickness and overall health is partially due to conditioning my hair often. I would recommend this practice to anyone who is not doing it.

 

[Fhrizzball]

@Fhrizzball Yes they do have cones...but they also leave my hair tangle free at 24 weeks post. I've tried the cone free-- namely AO and Giovanni Direct- and they leave my hair tangled. Used to use wen /hair 1 a year ago and they don't seem to work that well with removing buildup. What do you use?

I use Tresemme Naturals and sometimes I add oil to it for more of a boost. Even when I cowash though I don't apply it to my roots or scalp as that just causes buildup for me. I hear As I am has a good cleansing cowash and I only hear rave reviews on that. Then there's also the Suave/V05 cleansing conditioners to use. Since you're so far along and if you don't already, keeping your hair sectioned helps. I go a step further and braid or twist the sections because even with sectioned loose hair I get tangles galore.

 

[greenandchic]

To help with buildup, I sometimes use a cleansing conditioner if I don't want to use a shampoo.

 

[Ogoma]

abcd09: I use a cleansing conditioner once a week, especially now that I have introduced modified cones. I clarify whenever the mood strikes me. I clarified this weekend, the last time I clarified before this was in August.

I am curious what you define as buildup. How does buildup manifest on your hair? what are the things you experience? I am just wondering if you are misdiagnosing the problem.

 

[Bublin]

I'm going to start co-washing at night, bun and tie it down with a scarf for smooth hair. i have zero time for all that in the am.
The braidouts are killing my hair. I always bun it but the actual process of braiding and undoing is killing my ends.

 

[abcd09]

@abcd09: I use a cleansing conditioner once a week, especially now that I have introduced modified cones. I clarify whenever the mood strikes me. I clarified this weekend, the last time I clarified before this was in August.

I am curious what you define as buildup. How does buildup manifest on your hair? what are the things you experience? I am just wondering if you are misdiagnosing the problem.

Ogoma Buildup to me is white gunk that comes from conditioner and other products. It makes the hair closest to the scalp look grey and sticky and when a fingernail is ran across the scalp/strands whitish stuff comes up. I don't think it's another scalp problem because it seemed to occur like this after I cowashed on saturday. I noticed it in the shower and spent 20 or more minutes just trying to rinse it out without resorting to using a cleansing product, yet I still couldn't get it all. This occurs even though I do not put the condish on or 1 inch from my scalp (I guess it seeped down there because I left it on for an hour). I don't know if my hair in particular is more susceptible to buildup for some odd reason.

I know the products I use have cones. I wish I could find something else that worked in moisturizing my hair.

 

[Ogoma]

@Ogoma Buildup to me is white gunk that comes from conditioner and other products. It makes the hair closest to the scalp look grey and sticky and when a fingernail is ran across the scalp/strands whitish stuff comes up. I don't think it's another scalp problem because it seemed to occur like this after I cowashed on saturday. I noticed it in the shower and spent 20 or more minutes just trying to rinse it out without resorting to using a cleansing product, yet I still couldn't get it all. This occurs even though I do not put the condish on or 1 inch from my scalp (I guess it seeped down there because I left it on for an hour). I don't know if my hair in particular is more susceptible to buildup for some odd reason.

I know the products I use have cones. I wish I could find something else that worked in moisturizing my hair.

abcd09

When last did you clarify? Perhaps you need to clarify and start all over. If you are using cones then you are going to need to regularly use products with cleansing agents to get it out. To help you out, here is a great list of surfactants and what cones they remove: http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/whats-the-scoop-on-silicones. I was getting white flakes with products that never flaked before and I knew it was time to at least clarify my edges since I massage oil on there in addition to everything else I do with the rest of my hair.

If co-washing is not working for you and you want to bun your hair wet everyday, you might consider water rinsing and using conditioner halfway down your hair. The key is to modify things to work for both your hair and your lifestyle.

 

[abcd09]

@abcd09

When last did you clarify? Perhaps you need to clarify and start all over. If you are using cones then you are going to need to regularly use products with cleansing agents to get it out. To help you out, here is a great list of surfactants and what cones they remove: http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/whats-the-scoop-on-silicones. I was getting white flakes with products that never flaked before and I knew it was time to at least clarify my edges since I massage oil on there in addition to everything else I do with the rest of my hair.

If co-washing is not working for you and you want to bun your hair wet everyday, you might consider water rinsing and using conditioner halfway down your hair. The key is to modify things to work for both your hair and your lifestyle.

I use shampoo once a week. No problems before. Only when I cowash. I suppose if I pick this up again I'm going to have to still shampoo once a week.

Thanks I will take a look at that link.

 

[beautyintheyes]

Does anyone experience dry scalp cause I'm getting little flakes but not bad I've just never had that problem and I've just started co washing every other day but winter just started as well so that might be it as well

 

[curls4daze]

Personally, I started co-washing every day this week and I love it. I don't even see as much breakage as I used to, and my hair feels much stronger.

 

[pookaloo83]

Ogoma Buildup to me is white gunk that comes from conditioner and other products. It makes the hair closest to the scalp look grey and sticky and when a fingernail is ran across the scalp/strands whitish stuff comes up. I don't think it's another scalp problem because it seemed to occur like this after I cowashed on saturday. I noticed it in the shower and spent 20 or more minutes just trying to rinse it out without resorting to using a cleansing product, yet I still couldn't get it all. This occurs even though I do not put the condish on or 1 inch from my scalp (I guess it seeped down there because I left it on for an hour). I don't know if my hair in particular is more susceptible to buildup for some odd reason.

I know the products I use have cones. I wish I could find something else that worked in moisturizing my hair.

I get the same buildup. I have to shampoo my scalp. Just HAVE too. I cowashed last night and I ran my fingernail across my scalp. Gunk. I had to shampoo just a little to get the gunk out.

Sent From My Pheauxne

 

[havilland]

I get the same buildup. I have to shampoo my scalp. Just HAVE too. I cowashed last night and I ran my fingernail across my scalp. Gunk. I had to shampoo just a little to get the gunk out.

Sent From My Pheauxne

i use a cleanser once every 4-6 weeks or so. i use diluted sulfate shampoo or diluted ACV or a sulfate free shampoo or DR Bronners castille soap diluted on my scalp to get at buildup. i co wash every 2 days or so and bun. so far so good.

 

[lamaria211]

Ion Hard Water condish is the best it conditions and removes build up

 

[abcd09]

i use a cleanser once every 4-6 weeks or so. i use diluted sulfate shampoo or diluted ACV or a sulfate free shampoo or DR Bronners castille soap diluted on my scalp to get at buildup. i co wash every 2 days or so and bun. so far so good.

havilland
What condish do u use? I'm jealous that you don't get "the gunk" lol and shocked. How is this possible

 

[abcd09]

Oh update. I washed with a cleanser (borax) after a prepoo and dced with my usual mix. No gunk and my hair was super easy to detangle and comb. Maybe the gunk was worth it lol

 

[havilland]

@havilland
What condish do u use? I'm jealous that you don't get "the gunk" lol and shocked. How is this possible

oh i get gunk.....i just massage my scalp and rinse it with the water and ignore it....

i tried tresemme and HATED IT! i tried hello hydration and HATED IT! i tried aussie moist and HATED IT! so much for those....so now i use:

suave coconut - my cheapie but least favorite

hairveda moisture 24/7 - this is pricey for co washing, but works the best

hairveda moisture pro - this is a light protein i use for when my hair feels moisture overloaded



for cleaning ---

i clean my hair and scalp as needed with Vo5 clarifying conditioner, or with diluted ACV (forgot about that one) i usually use ACV first before i try anything with sulfate if my hair is gooky and scalp is itchy

hairveda amla shampoo (very clarifying...this is a sulfate free sudsing shampoo)

or hairveda amla cream rinse (cleansing, but not clarifying..this is a creamy gentle product)

or for a deep deep clean i use Tresemme Deep Cleansing shampoo (sulfate but so gentle it ridiculous)

 

[Bublin]

Are you ladies detangling with a comb every time you co-wash?
How often do you comb?

 

[Ogoma]

Are you ladies detangling with a comb every time you co-wash?
How often do you comb?

I detangle 1x a week. I smooth my products in with open palms so I don't rake through my hair daily. The further I am away from a detangling session, the more shed hairs come out when I smooth.

 

[havilland]

Are you ladies detangling with a comb every time you co-wash?
How often do you comb?

I try to detangle once a week. I don't always do it. And I pay for it when I don't with tangles galore.