The Simple Way to Co-wash coily curly 4b hair

Sodium laurel sulfate & my hair never got along. I just didn’t know it. I switched to co-washing (using As I Am co-wash) several years ago. Here’s the simple way I do it on my fine, high-density coily 4b hair. I have a couple of energy draining autoimmune disorders, so my way is designed to not take all day. It doesn’t have to be hard. Don’t let anyone tell you that your hair is hard to deal with.

Preparing the hair

First, to avoid “having to” use sudsing cleansers on my hair, I don’t use silicone products. I don’t need shiny hair. I avoid sudsing ingredients (like sodium lauryl sulfate & sodium laureth sulfate – SLS) because they really dry out my hair. That’s one reason people use shine products with silicone: to restore the damage caused by SLS.

If I do use silicone (I used to), I make sure that it is a water soluble silicone. When I researched this years ago, I found they are generally label “PEG”. Water soluble silicones do not need surfactants like SLS to be able to remove them from the hair.

Next: I untwist my hair. I keep my hair in two-strand twists most of the time to protect it from the wind, dust, etc. If you wear braids, take them down. I have fine strands and have found that if I try to wash my scalp with the twists intact, it makes the twisted hair into a “untwistable”. It’s a mess.

Prepare the Co-wash

The co-wash has to be diluted to get down to the scalp. The scalp is the most important to get clean. This would be a different story if I used a lot of (non-water-soluble) product on my hair, but I don’t.

The As I Am co-wash comes in a tub. Other co-washes I’ve used come in shampoo type bottles. They are usually a thick consistency. This means that if I reach in the tub or squeeze out of the bottle and try to put the product straight on my hair, it will not reach my scalp. The product has to be diluted.

I transfer some of the product., an imprecise amount that I call a “glob” (I’d say about 2 tablespoons full), to a squeeze bottle with an applicator top. I add enough water so that the co-wash is free flowing, but not too thin. Shake it up to mix!

The applicator bottle I use (about 16 ounces) is like one you would use to apply dye to your roots or like the refillable ketchup bottles that you use at picnics. The top comes off, so the bottle can be filled. The top comes to a point, so you can direct the product where you need it. I probably bought mine from the hair care section at WalMart or from the craft section at some big box craft store.

Co-washing the hair

Divide the hair into 2 or 4 sections. I just use 2 because my hair is very thick, but isn’t that long. If your hair is long, you may need to divide your hair in sections and use clips to keep the section out of the way while you’re not working on it.

The most important thing is to get your scalp clean. You don’t want to scratch or otherwise abuse your scalp. Your goal is to use the water + co-wash + agitation to get build-up (product, dead skin, sweat, etc.) off your scalp.

Wet a section of your hair with water all the way to the scalp. This is why I use just 2 sections: I turn one way in the shower to wet one half & the other way for the other half. I have very thick (high-density) hair, so this takes a few minutes.

Use the applicator bottle to apply diluted co-wash to the scalp in the section you’re working on.

Now use the pad of your fingertips to agitate the co-wash on the skin of your scalp. You don’t want to hurt your scalp nor do you want to break the skin. You’re using the water & co-wash to loosen the build-up of oil, dead skin, etc. from your scalp. Feel free to add more co-wash dilution to any part of the scalp you feel didn’t get enough product.

My hack: In case your fingernails are prone to breakage, you may want to wear nitrile gloves while doing this. This will keep your nails from getting snagged in your hair & breaking.

Repeat this for each section of hair.

Rinse the hair. I rinse each section of hair after I’ve cleansed the section, but you can wait until the end to rinse all of your hair at once.

Energy saving tip: By the way, you can do this either standing in the shower or leaning over the tub. My mother used to always have us lean over the tub. Now, as an almost 50 year old I still wash my hairs on my knees beside the tub as often as I do it in the shower. Sometimes, having chronic illness, I do not have energy to do both shower & a hair session at the same time.

Condition & Detangle the hair

When I co-wash my hair I don’t follow with a rinse out conditioner. I rinse my hair & skip straight to the leave-in conditioner. I use SheaMoisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil or Coconut Hibiscus leave-ins. I like to use a very viscous, thick leave-in because my hair tends to be dry.

Follow the instructions on the label, but feel free to add more conditioner if you have a lot of hair. It’s an experiment to find out what works best for your hair.

I use a wide tooth shower comb to detangle my hair after I’ve applied the leave-in. I two-strand twist each section after I detangle it. I don’t detangle when I’m co-washing, though some loose hairs will come out during that step.

I’ve found that if I detangle during co-washing & while applying conditioner, I lose an excessive amount of hair to breakage. Combing through my hair twice is too much manipulation for my fine strands.

You may wish to do what’s called “finger detangling”: you use only use your fingers, no comb or brush, to detangle your hair. You painstakingly go through your hair separating the strands to prevent tangles. It’s saves a lot of strands, but takes a lot longer.

I don’t finger detangle have a couple of autoimmune disorders. I’m doing a lot just washing my hair & don’t have the energy to finger detangle. If that’s you, too, don’t feel like you’re lazy for not being extra.

Style your hair & you’re finished!

As I’m applying the leave-in to each section, I two-strand twist my hair back up. Divide the hair into small sections, comb through starting at the ends. Then, two strand twist. Move to the next section.

When I finish twisting all my strands, I either let my hair airdry, wrap it in a microfiber (or otherwise safe) towel – one that is not going to rough up my hair like terry cloth, or sit under a dryer & dry the twists.

I almost never dry my hair, but if I do, I use a bonnet dryer. Never a hand held.

Other ways to style your hair include braiding, blow-drying straight, leaving it loose (my hair would absolutely gnarl up in knots if I did this, but you do you). I never wrap a terry towel around my head & let it dry. That would cause my hair to shrink & tangle up.