Condition-Wash-Condition

As I've mentioned many times before, I wash my hair with conditioner only, CO being the abbreviation.  A lot of people want to try conditioner only, but find that it leaves their scalp a bit too greasy.

Here are a few tips if you try CO and find that your scalp remains oily.

1. Make sure that your hair is really, really wet before using the conditioner.
2. Use a LOT of conditioner. I usually use a handful or more. For this reason, I stick with the very inexpensive conditioners, such as Suave Naturals, and I stock up if they're on sale.
3. Work it in just the way you would with shampoo.
4. Gently clip up the conditioner-laden hair and try to leave it on your hair for several minutes. Usually for me, the time it takes to wash my face and body, etc. in the shower is long enough.
5. Rinse, rinse, rinse. I generally rinse for about 3 minutes.
6. Consider using a mild vinegar rinse. A few tablespoons of vinegar in a pitcher of water will generally remove excess conditioner residue.

If you've tried all of the above and still don't feel good with COing, but you don't want to go back to regular shampoo and conditioner, there is also the CWC (condition-wash-condition) method. It's a very good compromise between the two.

How to CWC:

1. Wet hair thoroughly.
2. Put conditioner on the length of your hair from the chin down.
3. Shampoo the scalp.
4. Rinse well.
5. Condition as you normally would after shampoo and conditioner and then rinse as usual.

I hope this is of help to some of you who are struggling with finding just the right routine for you.

As for me, I'm still on the lemon juice rinse experiment, in lieu of using an apple cider vinegar rinse. It's often said at The Long Hair Community that it takes a month to know if a new aspect of our routine is working or not. It's been a week now, and so far so good. I originally said I would give it three weeks, but I've decided that I will give it a month.

My hair really does feel soft and lovely. I'm not certain if it is as shiny as it is with the ACV rinse, but I'll keep my eye on it.

I'm dying to hear if any of you curlies have tried the lemon juice rinse. I think it's meant to make the biggest impact on wavy and curly hair.

So that's it for today.

'Til tomorrow. Love to all, and extra hugs to anyone feeling ill today.
xo