Conditioner Only

Popular for individuals with short, short hair, shampooing without conditioning is a hair care method that is something of a rarity for those with longer hair types.

I currently have bra-length hair and I tried living without (in-shower) conditioner for two weeks.

Yes, it is possible!

For starters, I was helped by the fact that my hair, heavily color-damaged as it is, is on the wavy-straight side and not too fussy. I don't think this method would work for curlier or super-frizzy hair types.

I also used a wooden comb to more evenly distribute oils from my scalp to my tips. There were days when I wouldn’t use anything, but I generally used a serum or oil afterwards because my hair felt a lot dryer and looked a lot more unhealthy without..

Generally, however, my hair looked fine after a bit of oil or serum: comparable to how it would look like with a mild conditioner. I liked that I didn’t have to waste time or water trying to rinse of the extra slip that comes with the heavier, more silicone-y ones.

What I didn’t like was having to wait until my hair was dry enough to apply the serum or oil – because while I can wait at night, morning showers meant having to go through a bad hair day since I just couldn't get myself to wake up early enough to dry it properly. On a minor note, I became a better judge of how much my hair needed to look good without looking like an oil slick!

So what brought this on? Well, I’d been thinking about whether or not conditioners were actually necessary, and wether or not they needed to be silicone-based. I’ve answered the former and am now going through the latter.

Conclusion: My current hair doesn’t need an in-shower conditioner. But it definitely needs more than shampoo.