Conditioner only washing
Posted by Fia on January 26, 2004 at 06:54:25:
In reply to: Question for Fia... posted by Deborah on January 25, 2004 at 13:30:33:
I've used this in periods - although not exclusively for the time being.The basic theory behind this is that using strong detergents on skin will in the long
run cause either dryness, because the skin is stripped of its natural oils; or excessive
oiliness, because the skin will work overtime to produce oils to replace what has been
washed away by detergents. The scalp is nothing more than skin, although much
more heavily coated with hair than other skin on our bodies.
Shampoo and soap are detergents - dissolving oil and grime on skin, scalp and hair,
allowing it to be washed away with water. In this process you're also removing much
of the natural sebum produced by your skin. The sebum acts as a natural moisture
barrier and lubricant.
An oily scalp is quite often produced by overwashing, you're constantly stripping away
the scalp's natural sebum, causing to to produce more sebum to replace what's been
lost. Overwashing is also not good for your hair - especially if it's longer - as the ends
of the hair will get dried out over time. If you're really unlucky (like myself) you'll end
up with a scalp that's dry and itchy beneath an oily layer, and the length of the hair
feeling rough and dry.
Conditioner contains what's known as surfactants (surfactants of different types are
also found in fabric softener with the purpose of making the fabric fiber soft) -
originally compunds used to smooth out the surface of the hair and make it slick for
easier combing. Surfactants also have some slight cleaning abilities - especially if
used in larger quantities - you'll notice this when you use lots of conditioner on your
hair and it's almost producing a slight "foam".
This action of the surfactants is what allows you to use conditioner as a very mild
cleanser for hair. It takes quite a lot of it - at least a couple of tablespoons for my hair
- and you have to leave it on for a while to let the surfactants to their job of dissolving
oil and grime from the hair. Generally - the cheaper and more basic the conditioner is
- the better it will work for conditioner only washing. Richer conditioners for dry hair
or for deep conditioning are too heavy to be used in this way.
The way I use it is that I wet down my hair, slather on lots of conditioner (until the hair
feels like wet seaweed - or totally slick) from roots to ends, twist it on top of my head
and leave it for about five-ten minutes (or as long as it takes to do the rest of the
morning procedure in the shower). Then use pads of fingers to massage the scalp as
if you were having shampoo in there - a bit of water, just ducking under the shower
spray - may help to get the conditioner a bit more liquid and workable. Then rinse,
rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse until it's all out (it takes quite a long time).
What you'll notice if you start doing this instead of shampoo is that your hair and
scalp will look and feel greasy to start out - this is because your scalp has not yet
adjusted to a milder cleanser, thinking you're still stripping away most of the sebum,
and overproducing oil to compensate for this. Over a period of a couple of weeks
(faster for some, slower for some) this will lessen as your body adjusts.
As I started out saying - I'm not using this exclusively any longer as I find my hair
gets a bit too limp with only conditioner washings. I alternate regular shampoo with
conditioner only - anywhere from using shampoo two times a week to every two
weeks - depending on how the hair looks and behaves.
/Fia
Follow Ups
- Re: Conditioner only washing
Pierre 09:48:24 1/26/2004
(0)
