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BN Beauty: What you Need to Know About Co-Washing your Hair

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20130720-113753There are so many terms you have to understand when it comes to knowing how to take care of your hair. From “The Big chop” to “Co-washing”, you have to get down with the lingo to get to the real root of caring for your hair.

Speaking of co-washing, it wasn’t until late last year that I even knew that co-washing hair is gentler on hair than regular shampooing. Apparently co-washing, which means conditioner washing, helps your hair in ways that even you may not know.

Here are a couple of things you need to know about co-washing your hair.

1. Condition washing your hair simply means replacing your shampoo with conditioner and it can be done as regularly as you wash your hair. This is called a no-poo regime. However, a shampoo is needed every now and then to give your hair a good cleanse.

2. Conditioner washing is more gentle than regular shampooing. It minimizes colour damage and cuts down frizz with its hydrating formulas.

3. If you decide to make co-washing a regular part of your hair care regime, stay away from silicone. Most of the time, the ingredients that end in -cone are sublets of silicone and are very difficult to wash out of hair. They are usually synthetic additives and are not water-soluble which makes them difficult to dissolve and rinse out of your hair. This eventually ends up leaving build up in your hair.

4. You can over wash your hair when condition washing. If your hair starts to feel mushy or spongy, then step away from the conditioner.

5. You have to take the reaction of your scalp to the conditioner into consideration. If you have dermatitis (skin inflammation) it is best you stay away from constant conditioning as this could worsen your condition.

6. If you have oily hair, the conditioner could add more grease and oil to your hair leading to unnecessary build up. You can use the shampoo instead to remove some of that oil. The opposite applies to people with dry hair.

7. Take your environment into consideration. If you live, work or move around areas with a lot of dust and air pollution you may want to stay away from the conditioner. Conditioners tend to add to the dirt because they are oil based and attract and bind particles. A shampoo would help cleanse all the dirt out and then you can condition as a supplement.

8. If your hair is extra dry, then when you co-wash, seal in all that moisture with virgin oil, castor oil or coconut oil and leave it in to dry. This way you seal in the moisture in your hair strands and your hair slowly but surely starts to get all its moisture back.

Now, I know some of you may be wondering about how to co-wash your hair, so I found two videos on how you can get that done.

Watch beauty blogger and natural hair enthusiast Michelle B as she talks about co-washing and gives tips on how to co-wash your hair.

Our second video is from Nigerian beauty blogger Ropo Ogundemuren. She is using a different method of mixing the conditioner and virgin oil before applying to her hair.

If you have any tips on co-washing, do not forget to share them with us. Have a beautiful day.

Video Credit: Michelle B | Ropo Ogundemuren

Photo Credit: Naturalhairlovers.wordppress

Jennifer is the Beauty Editor & Style Representative of BellaNaija.com. Get in touch - Send an email to: beauty(at)bellanaija.com or style(at)bellanaija.com | Follow us on Instagram: @bellanaijabeauty OR @bellanaijastyle | Follow us on Twitter: @bellanaijastyle

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