Black Hair Care Chronicles V (click images to enlarge)  Apparently I'm strange. Let me just start by penciling you folks in on some terminology. A lot of people are doing something referred to as "cowash" or "nopoo." This refers to the practice of washing your hair with conditioner, not shampoo. It's supposed to be better for your hair, especially if it's dry. This practice is catching on and people of all ethnic backgrounds are adopting it, especially those in colder regions of the planet.
As I've been doing my research on how to best serve my natural coils it seems everyone is having fabulous results with cowashing. The new wisdom is to abandon the comb and let your coils form their own pattern. Get in the shower, comb your hair only with your fingers and conditioner, rinse and do not manipulate. Once hair is partially dry or even dry you add your moisturizer and voila! Poppin curls. As you begin this practice curls will become much more defined and your hair will be tamed, condioned and looking great. I've heard and seen the results on everyone.  Here's where the disparity occurs. My natural hair snags and tangles when I put conditioner in. Yes it's true. Years ago I used to braid my hair in extensions. After two years I stopped braiding to find I woke up with 12 inches of natural hair. I loved the look of the afro so I decided to live with my hair in its natural state. Immediatley I discovered that everything everybody told me to do didn't work. I took my braids out for the final time and did my best to comb my hair out before letting water hit it. I raked out quite a bit of hair which is not unusual for having long term braids in. My hair was so soft and moist. Then I jumped in the shower and wet it up. It curled and shrunk on contact but it did not lock or tangle too much like people told me it would. Then I added shampoo. Ooooo. My hair just LOVED it. Coily waves for days. Ran a comb through it and my rough textured hair sang. I could get a comb through no problem. My fingers went through it too. Now mind you, it wasn't silky soft as I have AFFFRIKAN hair. 4a,b& even c in there. My hair is not only dense but very thick in diameter. Lovely!
 Okay so I rinsed it out and hair was a squeeky clean curly bush. Beautiful. Then I added conditioner and that's when the chaos started. I noticed right away that in applying the conditioner itself my fingers were getting stuck in snags in my hair. No fingers, no comb, my hair was sticking and LOCKING! It wasn't caused by the brand. I switched up and used other silkening brands, moisturizing brands, replenishers - the result was the same. When I rised the conditioner out I thought, "Maybe when I add the Nexxus botanic oil that will soften it out." In the past my hair loved the oil when it was permed so I was confident it would work. When I rinsed out the conditioner my hair was a bit stiff. When I added the oil it became as hard as a rock. I couldn't understand it. It was like putting oil on dead wet grass. By the end of the day my hair was so stiff I was fearful of touching it or the strands would break. To lightly slide my hand over the surface of my fro would yeild an oil slick so bad I coudn't touch anything.
It was clear to me that my hair did not like conditioners nor did it like oil. I would wash my hair every day because it was the only way I could get a comb through it. After the shower I went for thicker and thicker syrupy oils, finally oiling my hair with Castor oil, vitamin e oil and Baby oil gel. My hair held some moisture longer but still, once it dried it was a horror. After two weeks I could see the density of my hair was getting much more sparse. The daily washing and combing were taking a toll. Frustrated and overwhelmed I went back to perming.  Fast forward to today. As you already know I'm trying the natural route again and my hair is still quite short but growing. Because of its length I've been able to get away with things I probably won't once the hair gets longer. I'm trying to learn what's good for MY hair. I'm so afraid of doing the wrong things repeatedly only to discover too late that it was doing more harm than good. So I was looking at Youtube trying to learn some things from others going natural and quickly stumbled upon these videos that I LOVED. It was this woman with a gorgeous mane of hair "almost" like mine. She was having success with cowashing with Africa's Best Organics Olive Oil Deep Conditioner. She's used it for a month and it was great for her. She has quite a devout following and they were following her lead with fabulous results as well. It looked like a cult sensation and you know me and cult sensations. I was so excited I couldn't wait to try it myself.
As per the youtubers advice I cowashed my hair with the conditioner she recommended. The smell was pleasant but too strong. I have issues with fragrances anyway which excludes me from a lot of supposedly good products. My hair was frizzy and confused. It seemed each time I used it my hair became more so. Her videos looked so good though and I loved what it was doing for her hair. I gave it four days, really wanting this to work for me. I thought maybe my hair would start to fall into place. No deal. I cowashed with the conditioner, let it air dry for a couple of hours with no manipulation then put my Shea Butter and Vitamin E oil mixture in it. The Shea and Vitamin E are SPLENDID for my hair. Softens it right up and keeps it supple. My hair felt great but the cowashing was not working no matter what I tried. My hair was dull, lifeless.  On the fourth day, today, I put the conditioner in my hair and started to comb it through instead of fingering it through. What can I say, I was desperate to make this work. My hair had the same results. No direction, no definition, frizzy and confused. I finally got sick of it and immediatley grabbed some body soap. It was Kiss My Face 'Peaceful Patchouli' body wash. I wanted to wash that conditioner out and go back to what I knew before, SOAP. I lathered up and could feel my hair winding into curl patterns immediatley. I ran my fingers through it from front to back unimpeded. Then I dragged my fingers through from side to side, then up from the nape. Easy like Fonzi. I rinsed and my hair was a mass of tiny ringlets all over. All the pictures you see here today are the dry curly results. My. Hair. Likes. Soap.
I know some of you might be saying, "OMG, try 'shee shee froo frooo' conditioner from Carol's Daughter!" or whatever. No. I sent away for that Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding and it lay on top of my hair and did nothing while my hair stiffened and my skin broke out. I refuse to buy a product that costs $60 that says 'use generously' on the bottle. Science has proven time and time again that the origins of all mankind began in the womb of a black woman. Black women have been inhabiting this planet long before Carol had a daughter or Sally had a beauty supply store. There is no way I'm going to believe that in order to wear my hair natural I have to pay rediculous amounts of money or load up with products. The answer is probably much simpler than the industry makes it out to be and for me at least I'm discovering that's the truth.  So here is what we know:
- my hair likes water
- my hair likes soap
- my hair loves shea butter and vitamin e oil
- my hair does not like conditioner
- my hair does not like most oils, especially EVOO
- my hair does curl
- I'm going silver
 I'm content to accept this reality. I'm prepared to not be afraid of water or soap. I will use a leave-in like Infusium 23 in a spray bottle for conditioner. The only problem is will Shampoo dry my hair out? I won't shampoo every day obviously but will my hair look ok in between shampoos? Can I just jump in the shower and run my fingers through with just water and get good results? This is what I'm faced with. I did learn some valuable stuff however at that youtuber's site. I used to think I had to add moisturizer immediately after a shower while it was still wet. It always mussed up my curl pattern a little but I thought it was pretty much a life sentence. That youtuber convinced me to wait until my hair was completely dry to add product. I didn't believe her but I did it anyway. Not only did it work but it worked BETTER than it did when I applied it while still wet. My hair was soooo soft. Amazing. Also I'm going to see if I can get over my addiction to the afro comb and just use my fingers. We'll see, stay tuned! 
Black Hair Care Chronicles I Black Hair Care Chronicles II Black Hair Care Chronicles III Black Hair Care Chronicles IV Black Hair Care Chronicles VI Black Hair Care Chronicles VII | 
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