We were pretty sceptical about the trend for washing one’s hair using just a conditioner, or co-washing, as it’s called. Haunted by memories of Wash & Go, we never imagined we would join the ranks of those taking just one bottle of hair product into the shower. The product that kick-started the trend, Purely Perfect Cleansing Creme, has changed all of that, though. It has also basically changed our hair, for the better.
It’s an aloe vera-rich conditioner that you apply to your hair at the beginning of your shower and rinse out at the end. It doesn’t foam because it doesn’t contain any detergents but nor does it strip your hair of its natural oils so there’s no need to apply conditioner post-shampoo to smooth down the hair shaft again. It feels like quite a counter-intuitive process, particularly, if like us, you have been using a separate shampoo and conditioner for over twenty years. It really does work, though. After a week of using it we noticed that our hair didn’t veer between its usual condition of being quite frizzy the day we washed it and lank pretty soon thereafter – it looked clean and glossy throughout the week.
Co-washing does take a bit of adjusting to and you’ll need to work out how exactly how much product your hair needs. You also need to make sure you massage it in well and don’t rinse it out for about five minutes. We still need to use a styling product post-shower – a Bumble & Bumble spray in our case – but you may not. Purely Perfect Cleansing Creme isn’t cheap – it’s £35 for 237ml but you need to use very little of it; we’ve barely made a dent in the bottle we’ve been using for the past two months, for example. You also need to bear in mind the amount of money you will save on conditioners, masques and maybe even styling products too. Oh, and you’ll probably be spending less time in the shower from now on and you’re also less likely to trip over bottles of conditioner whilst you’re there. We won’t be looking back.
