Shampoo & conditioner or cowash?

Hi ladies!

Read through this whole thread last night, and it’s got me wondering if anyone has a formula or idea for formulating a cleansing conditioner, or perhaps suggestions of ingredients for a conditioner to use for CO? I’d like to make my own, but I’m not really sure how.
I’ve got between 2b/2c regularly, more of 3a in humidity, porous hair, slightly dry at the ends, but roots that get oily within 30 hours of washing. I wash about 2x a week right now, with KinkyCurly Come Clean, followed by Knot Today as a rinse out. Since it’s winter, I’ve been round brush drying my hair, but I’d really like to transition to CO and back to curly hair with no heat. (I’d also love to get my scalp back to a regular level of oil production!)

I’m trying to kick all store-bought products, so I’d love to make my own, if anyone has recommendations for oils or formulation ideas that would work for either a cleansing conditioner or a conditioner for CO.

Thanks! 🙂

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Tahira.

Ooh, I will check out all those resources! Thank you, Belinda! 🙂

I’m super excited to give my hair some extra curly lovin’!
Going to go check my nearest pharmacy for Curl Junkie, see how it goes with that before I start the formulation process. 🙂

Thanks again!

Here’s what the Curly gIrl method did for my hair…

Before Jan 2015

CG journey Jan 2015

Dec 2015

CG journey Dec 2015

Aug 2016

CG journey Aug 2016

Jan 2017

CG journey Jan 2017 back view

Feb 2017

CGM left side 2-15-17

My hair just seems to get better and better the longer I do this. I have friends that sort of blew me off in the beginning when I talked about going CG now starting to ask me questions about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. The change in my hair speaks for itself!

Why did it melt down over the hair pudding? What did your hair do? I thought the hair pudding was more of a conditioner or deep conditioner type recipe, not a styler? I can’t seem to remember. Geez, I’m stuck at my desk doing tax stuff today and my head is fuzzy from all the thinking I’m having to do, so my brain is pretty much shot on anything else. ~insert picture of head with holes in it like Swiss cheese….~

When I’m done with all the stuff I’ve been ignoring at my desk for about three weeks now (bills, checkbook, various other non-fun, mundane activities😫), I’m going to do a little research on low porosity hair and see if I can help you out with some suggestions, Connie. Your hair is proving to be most ornery!! Joyful needs to chime in with some more suggestions too since she has low porosity hair.

Have you tried Deva Curl light hold gel? Or a spray gel? Spray gels would be lighter and you wouldn’t have to touch anything snotty feeling. I have a spray gel made by Jane Carter Naturals. They sell that brand at some Target stores and I’ve seen it at Whole Foods. Or their online shop. That’s where I got mine.

mmm spray gel 😀 eyes light up at the idea, curls that stay?? Its a thing? My hair went limp and scraggly, fritzed out on the ends and oily at the roots again for a couple weeks without a curl in sight. The pudding is a deep conditioner, I used it once :O!!! My hair doesn’t like heavy conditioning, methinks. I need to find something light (like a spray gel)that will hold the curl that develops when I wash it. After I wash and plop(no product at this point) My hair is almost at the stage yours is at, but it cannot hold that curl on its own. The best control I have found is curl keeperby jonathan torch or ag haircares recoil curl activator, but they leave my hair a little greasy by day two.

Connie, does it look greasy or feel greasy? If someone touched my hair, they might think it felt oily, but it doesn’t look that way. I’ve been caring for my daughter’s hair with the same method simplified, no sulfates/silicones, and washing every four to five days. Her hair is not oily, but I can now feel the oils in her hair, if that makes any sense. Before starting this method, I was stripping both our heads of hair from any of its natural oils with all the shampooing I was doing. Now, the natural oils are there, and you can feel it, but our hair doesn’t look greasy or dirty. Does that make any sense? It’s really a complete turn around from the mindset of having “squeaky-clean” hair. I’m getting farther and farther away from shampooing the longer I do this method. I was shampooing once a week and now I’m moving that point out even farther, because my hair just feels awful when I shampoo it. So stripped and straw-like. I don’t know if what I’m describing helps you out or not, but its OK to feel oil in your hair. If it looks oily and dirty, though, that’s a different problem. Have I helped you any?

I know you’ve tried the one curl cream by AG, but have you tried any others? I have tried throughout my curl journey AG Recoil, Briogio’s curl cream, a Shea Moisture styling milk, Jane Carters Beautiful Curls curl cream, Camille Rose Curl Maker, Shea Moisture Curl enhancing smoothie, Deva Curls B’Leave In, Jessicurl’s Rockin’ Ringlets…..and most of these I have given away. My best curls come from the combo of Jessicurl’s Rockin’ Ringlets and Spiralicious gel or SM smoothie and Camille Rose Curl Maker combined with a medium-to-hard hold gel. My hair hates polyquaterniums in styling products too. They make my hair more stringy or frizzy or something. And a lot of them have polyquaterniums!