After 9 months, (and no hair cut!) here is my routine (it’s approximative, I don’t always have time or energy to follow it precisely)

 

-Cassia obovata treatment every 3 weeks. I get it out with CO (conditioner only wash). Follow with a mild vinegar rinse, then oil lengths with jojoba/coconut oil.

 

-CO wash about every week/week and a half. Before, I was working from home, so I didn’t mind my hair smelling like just hair or hay... Now I want my hair to smell sweet, so there you go, CO. (I’ll explain more about that below)

 

-Twice a week, mild vinegar rinse, sometimes preceded by a 50/50 white vinegar/water if I have some dead skin flakes. I oil every time I wet my hair.

 

Now about the CO wash:

 

CO means conditioner only.  A lot of people with long hair use that method. Conditioner contains mild cleansing agents that can clean your hair without stripping it from its oils like shampoo does. But BEWARE, if you use that method, you CANNOT just use any conditioner. It needs to be light, clarifying is a must, and it must contain NO SILICONES. It means nothing that ends in “one”, “xane”, or “conol”. Dimethicone is one you find in a lot of conditioner. This is no good for CO washes or for someone on a no shampoo regimen. Silicone coats your hair and makes it look shiny for a little while, but then it dries it out. You’ll need shampoo to get them out.

 

Conditioners without cones can be found in most pharmacies at a fairly cheap price. Suave has a line of it “Suave Naturals”, and VO5 as well. Alberto Balsam have some too. There is an extensive list of it that is constantly updated (because corporations modify their recipes from country to country, and from time to time, so a cone-free conditioner can become with cones at some point).

 

List is here:

 

 

To use conditioner as a “wash”, you need to use a lot of it. Like about half a cup. Or more sometimes. You slab it on your wet hair, and on your scalp too, until everything is slippery, and then let it sit there for a while. 15 to 20 minutes does a great job. Then, you need to rinse, rinse, rinse. Rinse a lot. Then I finish with a mild vinegar rinse, and cool water rinse.

 

This method is not for everyone either, some people shed lots of hair when they use CO, and some ones get pimples on their scalp. CO seems to be fine with me so far, I like it a lot. :)

 

Oh, here is the picture of my hair again, it’s cropped pretty badly above.

You can see the dyed part is looking more damaged, it’s much better than it was before, but still, it’s irreversible. The virgin hair is in much better shape! I’ll try to get the ends trimmed soon (they really need it), when I have time!