Greetings my Crowned Tribe! I know it has been a couple of months since my last post. I promised myself that I will improve how often I share some goodies with you guys! So, I started my BASICS series where I'll bring you all the basics you need to know when it comes to improving the health of your hair. I will share everything from improving moisture, reducing shedding, product knowledge and more! Also, stay tuned for more informative tutorial videos coming soon! If you've missed the first "How To" video, click on the "Detangle Tutorial" to your right and remember to share with friends and family! Don't keep all the goodies for yourself ;-)
So here we go!
"How Often Should I Shampoo vs. Co-Wash ?"
This is a question I’m asked a lot, “how often should I shampoo my hair?” or " should I co-wash instead of using shampoo"? The answer can vary depending on your physical activity, hair texture, product use, and the nature of your scalp.
SHAMPOO
The typical reason for using shampoo is to remove the unwanted build-up of sebum in the hair without stripping out so much as to make hair unmanageable. Shampoo is generally made by combining a surfactant, most often sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate, with a co-surfactant, most often cocamidopropyl betaine in water.
Many feel shampooing weekly or biweekly removes too much moisture from their hair. Perfectly normal concern. So how often you ask? The moment your hair and scalp has accumulated build up, an odor, or excessive itching it’s time. If you're physically active several days a week and you sweat a lot, you may want to consider shampooing weekly or biweekly at the least especially if your outdoors. The environment has lots of pollutants and particles in the air that's harmful to the healthiness of your scalp and your hair so you want to ensure your scalp is clean and able to breath.
CO-WASH
A Co-Wash is a conditioner formulated to cleanse the hair from products and build up without stripping the hair. Primarily for natural and/or curly textures. Co-Wash's may consist of ingredients such as Water, Sodium Lauroamphoacetate, Cetearyl Alcohol, and Behentrimonium Chloride.
(image via internet, no rights owned)
Your texture may be highly coarse and coily so co-washing may be best yet it doesn't replace shampoo. Co-Washing is a way to gently cleanse the hair and scalp from some product use over time and build up from sweat, dirt and oil(sebum). For coarse textures, shampooing weekly may be too often. Once again it refers back to your activity. Build up is what you want to prevent. You shouldn't continue to pile on product after product to the point were your hair feels gritty and grimy. These products will accumulate on the scalp casing irritation and lack of overall cleanliness for the hair and scalp.
With shampoos, co wash's or any hair products, you want to stay away from silicone's. Many of these ingredients end in "cone". Many silicone's are synthetic additives that are not water soluble, making them harder to wash out without harsh detergents. If you have oily hair, shampoo is needed to remove excess oil, preferable a cleansing shampoo as the first shampoo used. In some cases, Co-washing can add extra oil to the hair and scalp which will result in more build up!
Remember, clean hair and a clean scalp helps promote a healthy growing head of hair!
I hope as always this will bring you good vibes and great information to add to your healthy hair journey! Don't forget to hit "share" :-)