Sayounara Sucker - 5 reasons I Said Good-bye to (Multiple) Mid-week Co-washing

Co-washing - using only conditioner to cleanse your hair - is a very useful technique in the milieu that is our hair regimen. In addition to cleansing, it can be used to replenish the hair with much-needed moisture. It can replace the shampoo wash altogether. It is done anywhere from every day to weekly, fortnightly or at even greater intervals. I personally happen to like co-washing as I like to wash once per week, but don't think I need to shampoo that often, so co-washing is a great alternative.

What I am speaking of in this post is the multiple-times-per-week cowashing. Last week I performed the inversion method. Rinsing every day of the seven days was a requirement, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. For right now once a week is my max, why?

1. Manipulation - wash days cause a great deal of manipulation to my hair particularly during detangling. The hair lost through manipulation on wash day makes up about 80 - 90% of my total hair loss each week. I have no desire to double my hair loss by washing my hair twice instead of once each week. When I was protective styling with wigs, under which my hair was braided, I co-washed a lot. That was because my hair didn't need to be detangled. But now that my hair is loose, I see where it could be more detrimental than beneficial.

2.  It's cold - I know that in winter when it's super sold, your hair needs more moisture. With that said, I prefer alternate ways of hydrating my hair such as steaming it in my shower/sauna (without rinsing) or using the LOC method.

3. The third reason comes from the fact that (relaxed) hair doesn't benefit from being in a wet state for too long, and in my opinion, too often. When the hair is air-drying it's wet for quite a while. This is said to cause damage to the inner parts of the shaft. Additionally, if you neglect the pre-poo step, you could be a victim of hydral fatigue and the subsequent cuticle damage which may accompany it. Also, relaxed hair is most vulnerable when wet. So having the hair wet multiple times per week, inherently exposes one to more breakage potential than if the hair were dry. So in my opinion maintaining a balance between clean hair and the potential for breakage means washing only once per week rather than 2 or more times.

4. While my hair is a moisture-whore and this has never happened to me, we must remember that there is such a thing as over-conditioning or moisture-overload. Co-washing too regularly can lead to this.

5. Finally, I am currently doing week-long protective styles and I refuse to unravel a perfectly wearable style solely for the sake of co-washing and then having to re-do that style. There are other ways of maintaining the moisture-levels of my hair without co-washing mid-week, which can both save time and your strands.

So it's once per week for this gal! No more than that for now.

How often do you co-wash?