When I decided to buy my first co-wash I had no idea what I was doing. In the UK, you can’t just walk into your local supermarket and buy hair products specifically for black hair/ kinky hair. You might find curly hair products if you’re lucky and if you do, the selection is small. My usual place to buy products for hair, skin or beauty is Boots and they had none. My next choice was Superdrug and in store they had nothing.
However, when I searched on the Superdrug website they had the Palmer’s Co-Washes. I was surprised about it as I only knew Palmer’s as that cocoa butter company. The price was fairly reasonable at £5.99 each but more expensive than a decent shampoo or conditioner for “normal” hair, considering the size. But now, less than a year later, both Boots and Superdrug stock the behemoth of natural hair care that is Shea Moisture and Superdrug has a Black and Asian Hair Care category which I somehow missed (or it didn’t exist) the last time I looked.
Once I started my journey, I not only learnt that there are loads of places to buy the brands I need/wanted at decent prices, there are a plethora of British brands that I can try too such as the amazing Flora & Curl!
Anyway, the reason I thought that these co-washes would be a good idea is because of the list of things they DON’T have in them. No “Sulfates, Detergents, Lather, Phthalates, Petrolatum, Mineral Oil or Harsh Chemicals.” Almost begs the question of what is left in there? These are the ingredients that have been added to hair care for years that no one batted an eyelid at. Now they can create effective products without them? It was worth a try. As things turned out, this became the kids co-wash while I ended up using the Palmer’s Olive Oil Formula Replenishing Conditioner instead.
It gives an amount that you should use and I have to say I can get on board with this. No dime sized amount here and by the way dime sized means nothing to most of us on this side of the Atlantic. Here we have a product junkies dream – 20-40 pumps of product. Yes you heard me right, up to 40 pumps for longer and thicker hair. This was a great opportunity to play counting games with the kids. They even started arguing over who should have more!
The product claims to cleanse, condition, deep condition AND detangle. It definitely had their hair feeling clean and moisturised, I never had an issue with it feeling soft after use. I would leave it on as long as I could before washing out. I suppose it was deep conditioning, even if only a little and then there’s the detangling. When I finally built up the courage to try to detangle with a wide tooth comb, it felt like it had a lot of slip. Bear in mind though, I was using a lot of product. Twenty to forty pumps!
The Coconut Oil version lasted just over a month. Somehow I was able to drag the Olive Oil version out for almost 4 months. I did find that the Olive Oil seemed to have more slip than its counterpart but the Coconut Oil version just smells so damn delicious. It’s like getting smacked in the head with an actual coconut. My main negative with the Coconut version was that it seemed to leave some white bits in their hair. I did not like that at all!
So overall, the hair seemed clean and more manageable and their curls looked pretty good too. I would recommend it but I would choose the Olive Oil over the Coconut. Even though that makes me sad because it smells sooooooooooooo good! My Mum said she’s tried them out too after hearing me saying I was using it. And she actually mixes the two together. Best of both worlds, I guess.
I say, give it a try.
Let’s keep growing together!
xx Lee xx
Comments welcome below.
Please note all comments are my own and I have not been paid/ sponsored /gifted with products for this review.
??? I was going to try the Coconut one this time around. I need to get a co wash
I think me and coconut oil just aren’t going to be friends anymore…
I have coconut oil everything for my hair?? I should just try the Olive oil one first time. Do you know any other co-washes? Can I use regular conditioner to wash my hair? Help?
I use normal conditioner as a cowash, carols daughter black vanilla is really good but as I am coconut cowash is amazing!