I Committed To Co-Washing My Hair For A Month — Here's What I Wish I'd Known

Here's the deal: Most shampoos—yes, even the natural ones—contain detergents that strip the scalp of its natural oils to give you that "squeaky clean" feeling. Not all detergents are bad, by the way! But too much of a good thing can disrupt your skin, your scalp, and your hair's natural rhythms. Once oil is removed from a scalp, it sends a signal that it needs to produce more oils! Albeit logical, your scalp's response to frequent washing begets a greasy mop.

Co-washing takes this no-washing idea to the next level. Also often called "no-poo," it keeps your hair and scalp from being exposed to sudsy detergents at all, cleansing them without stripping the natural oils away. I wanted to try co-washing for a few reasons. First and foremost, I was interested to see how it would change my scalp. I tend to have a problematic scalp (details on that below) and am always attempting new, gentle ways to break through the buildup.

I used New Wash Hairstory's co-washing starter kit and unexpectedly loved the scalp tool that came with it. In fact, I use that every time I condition my hair now, whether it's with New Wash or not! There are also options available on Amazon.

From Day 1 of co-washing, I noticed a huge difference in how my hair felt, specifically its texture and the movement. I have fine hair—a lot of it—that's wavy and typically pretty frizzy. Instead of the unpredictability that always seemed to take over when drying my hair naturally, co-washing made it predictable! It solved the biggest problem I had after giving up heat styling. On the same day as a wash, I have curly waves that didn't look overly styled or frizzy from natural drying—they fall somewhere in the middle. My favorite hair days are Day 2 and beyond because the "hold" of the curl never actually left my hair. I don't brush it daily, only after the shower, but would run through it with my fingers and style loosely with a salt spray, texturizing spray, or dry shampoo as needed in the morning. My hair maintained a hold, volume, and shape that it never had before! This was revolutionary.

The downside was how consecutive co-washing made my scalp feel. As I mentioned, I have scalp issues, but my deep dives into internet chat rooms, reviews, and experiments highlighting co-washing lead me to believe that it would be beneficial for my problem scalp. For me, this was unfortunately not the case. I stuck it out, but with each passing co-wash, the buildup on my scalp became a little thicker and flakier. I have a condition called seborrheic dermatitis, which, according to Alan Dattner, M.D.’s book on skin and natural health and beauty, is a sign of systemic candida overgrowth. So take this feedback with a grain of salt! If you don't have seborrheic dermatitis, your scalp very well may hold up to co-washing, and it's quite possible you'll benefit.