Facebook fans: You spoke and I listened! Here is the first in our series of crunchy (read: natural or low-effort) beauty tips. It may sound crazy to recommend Conditioner Only Washing (No Shampoo) and I don’t pretend to be a beauty expert, but I know what makes me feel good. And if it makes ME feel good, maybe it’ll make some of you feel good, too! If you don’t like this series you should probably become a Facebook fan so you can shout me down when I float these hair-brained (HAIR BRAINED, GET IT?) schemes of mine.
What’s blogging without a giant confession, right? I have one. But first, I have to say, I can’t even believe I’m doing a Beauty Tips post.
I’m no Audrey Hepburn or Audrey Tatou or any other Audrey for that matter. I’m a stay-at-home mom of five boys. BOYS. I ask them to brush their hair and they run screaming from me like I’m brandishing a hot poker at them instead of a hairbrush.
I grab for a warm washcloth to fix a pudding smeared face and the screams might make you think I’m wiping them down with acid. I suggest that perhaps they might want to change the shirt they’ve been wearing for a week solid and it’s greeted with a befuddled look, shrugged shoulders and a “NothankyoumomI’mcomfy.”
In short? I’m pretty much on my own here. I don’t even have a frame of reference for what is trendy or hip or even socially acceptable any more, so honestly, I don’t know how many people are going to get squeamish over what I’m about to say.
…Which is this…
I haven’t used shampoo in two and a half years. Yes. That is my beauty tip. No shampoo. (I can hear you now, “…And you’re surprised your boys are gross?”) Obviously there’s a bit more to it or everybody would be doin’ it, right?
Here’s a little history. After I had my youngest son a little over nine years ago, I felt perpetually rumpled. I had just given birth to my fifth child in eight years.
Translation: I was lumpy and hormonal. Translation of the translation: out of shape, shedding hair like mad and had spotty skin. The hair that remained attached to my head was scarcely behaving better than the stuff that fell out in handfuls in the shower/on my pillow/standing still. It was cottony looking, dry and my scalp itched like mad. (Boy, do I sound like I was a looker or WHAT?!?)
I embarked on a path that seemed like a good idea to clear up my lumpybumpy body, skin and hair problems. I started buying expensive creams and shampoos from the salon. And that?
Well, it didn’t work and it left me with bottles and pots and jars and squeeze tubes of things that were disgustingly expensive and useless. Then I tried all-natural shampoos/conditioners/beauty products. That didn’t work at all either. And the blue aloe mud bug organic herbal tinctures and shampoos and salves and whatnot were even more expensive than the professional products.
About five and a half years ago, my bathroom closet was overflowing with what amounted to more than a car payment’s worth of things I’d never use again. As a last ditch effort, I turned to the internet and googled a string of keywords that sounded like the punchline in a fairy tale:
“Straw, Hair, Pimples, Balding, Magic Shampoo, Smooth, HELP”
Rumpelstiltskin didn’t show up, but I got a list of websites that said, “No Poo”.
“But I’m not constipated, my hair just looks like cotton balls!” thought I, until I read a little further. These blogs were all talking about giving up shampoo and solving their hair problems. “Er, okay. Whatever.”
But I was desperate enough at that point to keep reading.
Over the next couple of weeks, I tried the baking soda/vinegar solution that many no-poo-ers recommended. That worked for a while, but left my hair feeling sticky. My husband had sniffed my hair when I got out of the shower and told me I smelled like a pickle. (From him, that’s a compliment. Hubby loves pickles.) I, on the other hand, missed the pretty smells of shampoo.
I tried Wen by Chaz Dean because I saw the commercial on television and any guy who can toss his hair like the Breck girl seems like a pretty solid authority on silky hair. The problem there was that it was insanely expensive and I had long hair.
I knew it wasn’t a tenable long term solution and I was only feeling so-so about the results so it was tough to justify the cost.
I turned back to the omniscient interwebs for help and discovered yet another no-shampoo group who was less intestinally know as the co-only (short for conditioner only) crowd.
The long and short of co-only is that you only wash your hair with conditioner. Again, there’s a little more to it. You can’t just pick any old conditioner; it must be a silicone-free conditioner to keep from weighing your hair down.
There’s good news, though. ANYTHING in the Suave Naturals line is silicone free. In other words, one of the cheapest conditioners out there is perfect for the job, and it’s a good thing, too, because co-only washing consists of massaging palms-ful of conditioner in your hair and scalp and letting it stay there (preferably under a shower cap) while you complete the rest of your shower then rinsing it out.
In October of 2010, I tried it. I didn’t really have any great expectations. I figured I’d get out of the shower and find my hair lank and greasy and my scalp itchy. “This is it,” I told myself, “If this doesn’t work, I’ll just cut my hair short and go back to using shampoo.”
I was shocked to find it was the opposite. My hair felt as smooth as silk and not weighed down in the least bit. For the first time in almost a decade, my scalp didn’t itch to the point where I felt like clawing it off. And ladies?
When I tell you my hair looked good, I mean it looked goooooooooooood. As in it behaved and did what I wanted it to when I wanted it to do it with little effort and almost no product and smelled pretty to boot.
The next time I went to my hairdresser, I screwed my courage to the sticking point and confessed what I was doing. She said, “Wow! Are you kidding? Your hair looks great. I’ll have to tell some of my other clients about this.” I haven’t looked back from that point on and I’ve been conditioner only washing for four and a half years now.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: My hairdresser has gone on to recommend this to many of her clients and they have reported back with great results.
I wouldn’t yank your leg on this, folks. It truly has been the holy grail for me. When I gave up shampoo, it didn’t just clear up my hair problems, it eliminated my skin problems completely.
The pimples and acne that I had been blaming on my poor choice in beauty products and/or hormones went away almost overnight.
What I learned AFTER finding what worked for me was that shampoo was stripping the natural, protective oils from my hair and scalp and face (by virtue of its proximity to my hair- thank heavens). In order to make my skin and hair behave after doing that, I had to replace what I could with conditioner in my hair and lotions on my face.
For whatever reasons, my fish-belly pale skin was too sensitive for this routine. Eliminating the shampoo/conditioner cycle did the job for me.
Is this a solution for everyone? Maybe, maybe not. Some people have reported an adjustment period where their hair and skin acted like a petulant, oily child for a week or a month or so before becoming bouncin’ and behavin’.
I had zero funky down time with my hair when I switched to conditioner only. In the interest of full disclosure, I have never in life been a wash-my-hair-every-day kind of girl. The only time I’ve washed my hair two days in a row is after exceptionally sweaty gardening excursions or after a child threw up in it or used my hair as a napkin or -worse- a hanky.
Oh, come on… you KNOW it’s bound to happen with five kids, right?
Here’s my point. It’s worth a try if you’re frustrated with how your hair is treating you or horrified by the amount of money you have to spend to make your hair do what you want it to do. Let me break down the specifics on how I conditioner only wash my hair.
How to Conditioner-Only Wash Hair:
- Wet your hair thoroughly in the shower, massaging your scalp.
- Squirt a palmful of silicone-free conditioner into your hand and massage it into your scalp and the hair near it.
- Squirt another palmful of silicone-free conditioner into your hand and massage it into the rest of your hair. Repeat this until all of your hair is saturated with the conditioner. If your hair is thick and lower-mid back length like mine, you’ll need about 4 palms-ful to coat your hair and scalp.
- Pile your hair on your head to keep it out of the shower stream. If you have one, put a cheap-o shower cap on to keep the conditioner from rinsing away.
- Complete whatever else you need to in the shower; wash your bod, shave, whatever.
- Add a splash of water to your hair and scrub your scalp again, then rinse your hair fully.
- Dry/Style/Whatever your hair as usual. For me, most often this means blow-drying my bangs so they don’t lay funny and letting the rest of my hair do whatever it wants. This is what works best for me!
- Do this two to three times a week. Unless you’re working out HARD daily or having someone wipe boogers in your hair, this should be sufficient.
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Use this for Conditioner Only Washing (No Shampoo):
- Suave Naturals Coconut Conditioner (This 6 pack is a “Subscribe and Save” option on Amazon, meaning they automatically ship to you every month, two months, three months, or however often you specify!)
I’m feeling a little sheepish about even bringing this up here, so help a gal out. What do you think? Am I nuts? Would you ever try it? Do you want to sniff my hair to verify I don’t smell like a fryolator before giving it a shot or is this just completely off the table for you? Talk to me!
Update: This post was originally published February 15th, 2013. Because it has been more than two years since publication and because I am still going co-washing strong, I wanted to bring it back to the front for the benefit of those who may not have seen it yet. The number of people for whom this has made a huge difference -as evidenced by the comments below- is pretty awesome.
Reader's Thoughts...
Erika says
I tried this on my own for the past two days and was googling to see if conditioner only is a ‘thing’ because I’ve also had fantastic results. My hair is usually relatively greasy (as in to look fresh I need to wash every 1-1.5 days. 2 days is just a little too much) A few nights ago I was in my ‘in between phaser’ where I don’t need to wash, but know within a few hours I’ll look greasy. I thought, ‘what if I use just conditioner?’ Since then I did the same thing for a second day in a row. So it’s officially been 3.5 days since I’ve shampooed. My hair looks and feels fantastic. My scalp feels more relaxed, and not dry at all. Funny thing is I didn’t realize it was dry until I felt normal. My hair is also thicker than usual. It’s typically fine and dry at the ends, but looks more uniform. I’m already sold on this method!
Tricia says
I have tried not shampoo-ing before. It lasted for months, i just used conditioner so it will not get tangled. But when I went to live with my mom again, the shampoo went back in the habit, now I am having dry hair and dandruff. I have been using tresemme split repair. It has its good effects, but not for long. I have a tail bone length hair and shampoo and salon are expensive. I am definitely going back to no shampoo routine. Although mom said my scalp would be dirty. I guess i just need to rinse thoroughly in the shower. This post is really helpful in deciding how to care for this hair. I feel bad if i just have to cut it short so it will be healhty. Thanks for sharing the experience.
Becca says
Do you know if you have soft or hard water? I have hard water which has mineral deposits and such so water only did not work. If this works for hard water I might give it a go
Rebecca says
We had hard water when I started doing this and soft water now. It seemed to work equally well with both for me.
bruno says
I love methods that make sense, so I tried co-only yesterday and it worked pretty well. I’m a guy with a short thick hair (recently went to short) but working my way back to 2-2,5 inches again. I used garniers ultra doux avocado oil conditioner, will see how it works on my second hair wash…
p.s respect for replying people in 2016 , it’s been 3 years 😀
Rebecca says
Thanks for weighing in on this, Bruno. Let us know if the conditioner still does the job in subsequent washings, please!
bruno says
hi Rebecca,
my hair is 3,5 inch now and this method is working great for me, my hair is so much better (when I started firstly it was dry but then it got better as the time passed (about 2 weeks) ). I use john frieda frizz ease conditioner (very expensive one) but now I realised that the cheapest (that has less ingridents) does a better job for this method.
I just started college, and people are complimenting my hair looking so healthy..
My hair is straight/frizzy by nature and I just found way to rock it, wear it with smile 😀
Thank you Rebecca for this post, you helped me and some of my friends, hope you are happy haha 😀 .
Rebecca says
I am happy! So glad this is helping you out, Bruno!
Brittany says
Being a new ( I have no idea what I’m doing, hope I can wing this right) mother of a now 3 year old son, and at the time working a full time job as a manager of a convenience store with no days off except the day I went into labor with my son, you can imagine the stress I was under, not counting every other problem in the world that came with life in general. So of course post pregnancy + Stress = not so beautiful and healthy mom. I suffered a lot of health issues that I eventually fixed but the one thing that I thought would be the easiest was the most difficult and embarrassing thing I would have to hide and brought my self esteem below caring any more. Once I used to have LONG beautiful hair that had waves and was so thick I would have to cut it at least four times a year and donate 10-12 inches to the local beauty salon. Not any more. From work and stress and just point blank no time and don’t care, I wore my hair in a high pony tail for 5 years straight while working. (it was just that long and thick and I couldn’t do any thing with it in my way.) Well that was the recipe for death for my hair. having to dye it as well because the shame of a 25 yr old with grey hair’s was too much to bear. So I was left with a “thinning spot” but let’s be honest, I was going bald. YAY!! sadden by this I continued to wear it up and felt I had no power to do any thing about it. Until this past year, a friend of mine that cuts my hair (because I wouldn’t dare go in public with a bald spot to get it cut for every one to see!) she would give me tips and tricks and she told me to get “ion repair conditioner” and it would help my spot. (pssshhh yeah right) she also told me not to shampoo every day, and really don’t shampoo at all, just use the conditioner with some other favorite conditioner of mine and let it sit for a little while and wash it out. Well I did and the results were minimum for the most part and I went through that stage where your hair freaks out and goes on strike until you shampoo. I won the battle and continued the CO-Only treatment. I also purchased all the high end “hair treatment, repair, blah blah blah I’m going to go into debt now for no reason” shampoo’s and conditioner. NOTHING HAPPENED. So I purchased the whole blends by herbal and felt no need to use shampoo and vwal la! I washed it last night before bed and I always air dry because I’ve also fried my hair to a crisp with straightners and blow dryers, so I was trying not to kill it while I was trying to fix it. I usually towel dry and then brush dry so I don’t have the confused frizzy straight or wavy hair. And I think all my (not so hard any more) work has paid off! My Spot is filling in rather quickly, it’s not as noticeable as it was before, and my hair in general?! Silky smooth and ALIVE!! Its so manageable now more than ever, it does as I want it and the kicker, I don’t need to straighten it any more because just brushing it dry and using only conditioner has it falling naturally and straight. I cant believe it. So I am here to testify that the CO-ONLY works, and it works to help aid other things you might have going on in your body as well. It’s a miracle that my now Fiancé has finally seen me with my hair down for the first time ever. My self esteem is out the roof! I love my hair again, therefore I can love my self again! (p.s. because I loved the result so much I now use the whole blends coconut water & vanilla milk plus the ION Repair and if im running low on those I just throw what ever is handy really, that includes honey treasures, triple nutrition, and hello hydration all by Garnier. sorry gals I’m a Garnier girl lol) Hope I reach those in similar situations and provide hope & success!
RZ says
Hi Rebecca,
With the Suave Conditioner is it best to have the “Natural” line or is the “Essentials” line the same?
Thank you for your time!!!
RZ
Rebecca says
Truth, RZ? I use whichever is cheapest! 😀
R says
How do you get to the most recent reply’s
Rebecca says
Each comment has a date on it, so scope those out and scroll in the direction you’d like to go!
RZ says
Hi Rebecca,
I hope this reply section is still active.
Could you please tell me how long with conditioning only that it took for your scalp to stop itching? I’ve been dealing with it for months & it drives you crazy.
Thank you
Rebecca says
All of my comments section are still active! It took me about a week for my scalp to stop itching!
Kayla says
I was just wondering, when you first started doing this, did it make your scalp itch? About a year or two ago I tried to do the no poo method with an all natural shampoo bar (that seems like it wouldn’t make sense but it somehow did lol) and my scalp itched all the time so I went back to shampooing and conditioning regularly. I am scared that if I try this, my scalp will start to itch!
Rebecca says
If it does start to itch, you can always switch back! My scalp itched when I did the baking soda/vinegar stuff, but not with the conditioner only.
Tomast says
I’ve been washing my hair daily with suave essentials conditioner, for over a week now, and my hair has been clean every day. Its softer and bouncy and my scalp doesn’t itch anymore.
After reading this, ill try switching to suave naturals, since this conditioner does have light silicone in it. I have to shampoo with suave daily clarifying every 4 days, and I hate how key hair breaks and gets frizzy on shampoo day.
I’ve tried all no boo methods, outside of baking soda and vinegar… I wouldn’t put acid and abrasives on my head… Ugh. Though chemical shampoos… Nvm.
This method has saved my hair a lot of trouble. And heck yes you do need to use several handfuls of conditioner for this to work. My hair is just past ear length too, and very fine.
I use two handfuls, maybe 3, after wetting my hair and scrubbing my scalp, preening my hair… I massage one into my lengths, then another handful into my scalp, turn my head upside down, and keep massaging until I feel like the conditioner has penetrated my scalp and hair well enough. Then I rinse it all out.
I stand back up and put another handful in my hair to detangle it, and work it through the mid to ends of my hair, and rub the rest on my roots, and rinse again.
Squeeze the water out, pile my hair on too of my head, then finish with washing my face.
When I get out of the shower I turn my head back upside down, and use a wide tooth shower comb to comb all my hair down and forward, squeeze the water out gently, comb again, and wrap it in a towel turban for about 5 to 15 minutes.
Comb my hair down gently and air dry. My hair is super clean every time and really soft.
I hope I can work out having to use a clarifying shampoo ever again. Because I go as long as I can without washing it with shampoo, curewntly 4 days is my limit, probably because of silicones. And this really hot humid weather making me sweat alot.
Rebecca says
I hope it works out for you, too!
Tomast says
It has been a month and my suave only conditioning is still working great. I even use less than at the start now. Same method but only 2 samll handfuls now. I also only use shampoo on sundays now. I could probably even cut shampoo out entirely.
My hair has also grown 1 inch (maybe a little over and inch) in one month. Used to grow only 1/4-1/2 and inch a month.
Its awesome 🙂
Rebecca says
That is fabulous!
Diana says
Hi Rebecca! I love your article! After reading, I immediately went searching for the Suave Naturals line. Oddly enough, after searching Walmart, Dollar General, and Kroger, I cannot find any of the Suave Naturals line! There were Suave Natural Infusions, and Suave Professional, but no Naturals. Have they discontinued this line? I also checked the Garnier Fructise along with the Herbal Essences lines, and they no longER have silicone free conditioners, crazy! I decided to still experiment with the Suave Juicy Green Apple and with V05 Strawberries and Cream. The V05 left my hair greasy, but the Suave Apple has given me beautiful hair! Can I continue to use this and the Suave Tropical Coconut, even though they no longer say Suave Naturals on them?
Rebecca says
Hey Diana! I’m a big fan of the “if it works for you, use it” school of thought! I’m so glad you found something that works great for you!
Wendy says
I have thick, very straight hair (with a longer a-line cut) and have been conditioner only for 2 years. I first saw something on pinterest about the vinegar and soda solution…yuck. didn’t work for me at all. Then I came across your post and the rest is history. I love my hair and I get compliments all the time! I work retail and I’ve had customers come up and ask me if they can feel my hair! (For real, this really happens!) I almost exclusively use Trader Joes tea tree oil conditioner. It’s a bit thicker and I don’t need to use as much as the Suave or V05
Anna says
This sounds very interesting and your hair looks amazing! May I ask how you decided on 4 palms-full? That sounds like a lot! Have you tried using less?
I’m asking because I live in Sweden and the selection of good, affordable hair products is limited; we have all the big, expensive labels but no Suave… Maybe I could use only half a palm of my ridiculously expensive conditioner?
Also, do you have any problems with product build-up because you don’t use shampoo? Do you rince your hair with anything to get rid of it?
Rebecca says
Hi Anna- That is a good question. I arrived at that quantity because I have VERY long hair that is fairly thick and I wanted enough conditioner to saturate my hair to the scalp. That is how much it takes on my head. I would say use however much you need to use to accomplish the same thing. I don’t have any product build-up issues, mainly because I don’t use much product at all. The extent of my product use is the occasional hair spray or pomade (1 to 2 times per month) when I get dressed up.
Jolene says
Thanks for this post. I just tried this co washing thing and I lost a lot of hair I the shower when I did it, can you tell me, is that normal?
Rebecca says
I honestly only know it has worked for me and I would advise you to seek out whether this is normal from your dermatologist or from someone who specializes in co-washing! I hope it all works out for you!
pranit shetty says
Thank you 🙂
tina Frazee says
thank you so much for sharing i have a sensitive scalp i cant use noting ive tried everytihng even free an clear shampoo which has nothing in it,i am defiantly going to try this conditioner only method 🙂
Goldenhorse says
Thanks for this wonderful, informative post. I came across it a couple of months ago and decided to give it a try but it still took me awhile to do it!!! I kept having so many things going on that I couldn’t risk an experiment on my hair and not having time to rewash. Shouldn’t have been concerned…….my hair turned out the best ever!!!! Shiny and lots of volume. Now I don’t have to buy those expensive volumizing shampoos. Plus it saves time in the shower…..one less step to do!!! Can’t thank you enough!!!
Angie says
I too am a fair skinned gal with obviously overly sensitive skin. I’ve been a co-only gal for about 2 years, and I love it! It’s the absolute best thing I’ve ever done for my hair! I grew up washing my hair daily, but after my mid-30s, began losing lots of my hair. After suffering with thinning hair for years, and experimenting unsuccessfully with several remedies, I found the no-poo option and decided ‘what the heck’ and gave it a shot. After a few different methods, I landed on the co-only approach and have regrown much of my lost hair! I have been using Pantene Pro-V sheer volume weightless conditioner which has very little fragrance, and is also silicone free. I didn’t know it was the lack of silicone that made it work so well, but now that I do, it will give me more options for fragrance. Thank you!
Rebecca says
Oooooh! I love having another conditioner to try. Thank you for telling me which one worked for you, Angie! I’m not in the least bit paranoid, but I sometimes wonder why so many people use shampoo when so many people have hair trouble!
Angie says
Rebecca, I think we’ve been ‘sold’ on the idea that no shampooing makes us dirty … we don’t realize the shampoo is stripping all the good things from our scalp & hair. I just had a friend tell me that she’s been advised not to put conditioner directly on her scalp. I’m sure some of the issue is that every conditioner formulation is different and many of them really don’t do us any favors. I gave up on conditioning for years after using silicone based heavier conditioners and had them weigh down my hair and make it oily fast.
I switched to the Pantene for the volumizing benefits. So it was kinda by accident that I was using silicone free conditioner. When I first started using the co-only method, I would still get some sebum buildup after roughly a week, so I would shampoo to get rid of that. The time between needing to shampoo became greater and greater until I eventually didn’t need to shampoo at all as my poor, abused scalp was eventually healed and rebalanced. After I completely stopped shampooing is when I began to see lots of regrowth! I’m still shocked at how much more hair I have now than even a year ago! 🙂
clickob says
Yeah sure I will. I actually forgot about trying this trick. Plus I haven’t decided the conditioner brand till yet. Actually, I never used any conditioners before as they get me hair fall issue. I started once then I left using conditioner. But I’ll try this one.
clickob says
I have dandruff issue like crazy and have almost tried everything ! I hope this would help. Any specific conditioner or recommended one ?
Rebecca says
I don’t actually know, clickob. As a non-hairdresser, I really am only sharing what worked for me. I’d try it, though! And please come back and fill us in if you do try it! I’d love to know how it works for you!
Kat M says
clickob–Try the Aveeno Nourish and Dandruff Control Conditioner on your scalp, scrubbing firmly; use other conditioner on the rest of your hair. However, if your dandruff is related to seborrheic dermatitis, you might need more treatment than that. One thing to try: Omega-3 supplements.