Suave and Pantene Shampoo/Conditioner Update

After having so much trouble with tangled hair while I was doing the conditioner only experiment, I decided to try the Suave Naturals Juicy Green Apple Conditioner with my regular shampoo, which at the moment is Pantene Pro-V Restoratives Time Renewal, just to see if it could have been the cause of the tangled hair/split ends fiasco that became of my conditioner only experiment.

Even when I used it with shampoo, the green Apple still caused me to have extremely tangled hair, and I believe that it was responsible for the split ends I experienced while I was doing CO. Maybe I would have had trouble with split ends even if I hadn’t used the Juicy Green Apple, but I can’t be sure, and I’m not willing to try again.

I do have to say that I like the Pantene Pro-V Restoratives. It’s a great shampoo and conditioner, I don’t have excessive tangles when I use it…but I haven’t noticed an improvement in the sheen or the silky feel of my hair as promised on the tube.

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Conditioner Only Washing

Well my hair is flatter than it has been for the last week, and it’s because I’m back to using shampoo again.

I looked at my ends on Friday, and realized that they had a lot more split ends than usual.

Even though I’ve had compliments on how my hair looked and smelled with CO washing, I decided that I’d rather have flat hair than permanent damage.

I’m not exactly sure what is causing the split ends, and right now I don’t want to spend time trying to figure it out.

I did notice that with CO washing my hair was fuller, and had more body at the crown - and that says a lot for someone with classic length hair.

In addition to that, on Thursday I noticed that after I took off my knit cap there weren’t as many flyaways, or staticky bits of hair as there usually were after I took off my hat.

Of course I can achieve that effect by running a little coconut oil through my hair, so I’m not worried about that.

All in all I really loved what CO washing did for my hair, with the exceptions of increasing the amount of split ends, and tangles. If it hadn’t been for that I would have kept it up indefinitely.

I did try this experiment once before, and noticed more splits than usual, but I figured something else was going on, but now I believe that it was just the conditioners that I was using.

There are many people who use the CO method, and I’m sure that they don’t have problems with more split ends, or they wouldn’t keep doing it.

Although I have seen several people recommend that you alternate washing your hair with shampoo and conditioner, and conditioner only, I don’t think that this method would work for me because my roots are so oily. It might work for people with normal or dry hair.

I’d also like to add that although my hair seemed a little oiler than usual for the first few days of the experiment, it quickly evened out so that it looked just as clean as it does when I use shampoo - only it had more body.

At no time did I get strange looks from people wondering why my hair was so dirty, or questions about what was going on with my hair. I know this is something most people are worried about, and it’s also something that I worried about as well.

DH didn’t even really notice anything was going on, until I asked him if my hair looked different so that I could tell you what he thought

As always I’d love to hear your comments.

Thanks!

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Conditioner only washing take 2 and 3 and 4

I’ve been slack on updating you Shame on me.

Anyways, I washed my hair for the 4th time today, and I noticed that it looks normal, and it also has more volume than usual at the roots. My hair is normally very flat, and I don’t like to use styling products, so I’m really happy with the added volume.

Unfortunately my hair looks more like a dark blonde color, than blonde - it doesn’t look dirty, just darker.

I do have to admit that I have a teeny fringe of bangs, and since I’m only CO’ing my hair every other day, I wash the bangs with real shampoo on the day’s I don’t CO.

The second time (Saturday) I washed my hair nothing out of the ordinary happened…I used about two palms full of VO5 Moisture Milks Conditioner in Strawberries & Cream on my scalp, and the length of my hair, rinsed, then followed that with Suave Naturals Conditioner in Juicy Green Apple, followed by a through rinsing.

The third time (Monday) I decided to use the Suave Naturals Conditioner in Juicy Green Apple first, followed by the VO5 Moisture Milks Conditioner in Strawberries & Cream. I also tried to clean my scalp with both conditioners, instead of just the first one, and even after a very through rinsing, my hair still felt oily….I just couldn’t bear going around with a greasy head, so I cheated and used shampoo.

While I was out and about Tuesday I noticed that I had a ton of flyaways. I’m not sure if it’s the dry MN weather, the below 0 temperatures, or the constant wearing of knitted hats, but I never had flyaways like this in GA!

I’ve also noticed that my hair is a little harder to detangle after I use the CO method. I am going to try to remember to take the comb in the shower with me, so that I can try to detangle it in while the conditioner is still in the hair, and see if that helps.

I was surprised this morning, to notice that when I was wringing my hair out it actually squeaked…so the conditioners must be cleaning something :-).

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Conditioner Only Washing Experiement, Take 1

We’ll I’ve decided to see what the fuss about conditioner only washing is all about, and of course I thought I should share my experience with you.

I have slightly longer than waist length, straight blonde hair, and when it’s dirty it looks brown, so I’ve been really hesitant to try this experiment, since it is so obvious when my hair is dirty.

My hair is flat, it has some damaged ends, and it can get pretty flyaway in the wind and cold so common in MN in January.

This morning Istarted the conditioner only experiment, and I “washed” my hair with a palm full of VO5 Moisture Milks Conditioner in Strawberries & Cream. I didn’t have enough at first to throughly wash my scalp, so I added a little bit more conditioner, to make sure that I got the scalp covered.

After rinsing that out I washed the length of my hair with Suave Naturals Conditioner in Juicy Green Apple.

Apparently the conditioners have enough surfectants, that if you use a lot you can actually clean your hair with them…and apparently VO5 and Suave are two of the brands that usually work well with conditioner only (aka CO) washing.

The main thing everyone says when they are talking about CO’ing is to make sure you rinse all of the conditioner out of your hair. Rinse, rinse, rinse…and then rinse some more.

Of course if you’re like me you’ll relish being able to stay in the shower a few extra minutes each morning, without feeling guilty for wasting water.

Today my hair dried in about the same time it always dries…isn’t that helpful?

I always air dry my hair, so I don’t usually notice when it’s dry.

My hair was a little flatter than usual, and it looks more brown than blonde.

Of course most people say that it takes a while to see the benefits of conditioner only washing, so I’ll keep up the experiment, and let you know how it goes.

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Cold Weather Hazards!

It’s finally getting cold here.

It’s -1 with 32 mph winds, and with the wind chill it’s -26.

DH went outside with wet hair earlier today, and his hair froze!

I’d never seen that happen before, so of course I called my mom and told her about it.

That’s just not something that happens in Georgia!

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Dressing Long Hair

I finally got the Dressing Long Hair books by Patrick Cameron.

I’ve heard for years that these books were must haves for long hair enthusiasts, so I was so excited when I was able to get them.

I love the books - but I didn’t do my homework - while most hairstyling books have written directions, these books show pictures of the hairstyles, and you can follow along with them to see how to create the styles. DressingLong Hair also has written directions under the pictures, while Dressing Long Hair 2 does not.

The pictures of the hair styles are absolutely gorgeous, and I can’t wait to try some of the styles out. As soon as I got the book I called DH and told him he was in trouble, because he’s going to have to help me make some of them.

The books show pictures of hairstyles with lengths ranging from slightly below the shoulders, and longer.

You can find an example from Dressing Long Hair 2 here.

Both books can be purchased from Amazon.

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