This post has been copied and pasted here from a couple of conversations I've had today with fellow curl artists and a curl advocate. I will not call them out out of respect but they encouraged me to share this with the public. So--Without them, this post wouldn't be possible--so, thank you. 

Here’s what we said: (forgive the casual FB comment tone. lol!)

Question:
what is the importance of conditioner? Can you skip it like the CurlNinja is promoting?

Me:
So this is partially true. (And long) Here’s the deal—in old days shampoo used to be high pH and conditioners used to be low pH but these days they are both relatively pH balanced. After a high pH service, like any chemical service, a low pH conditioner is necessary to balance the moisture levels and readjust the pH so acid conditioners are typically used.
*but the whole reason we started using conditioners in the first place is that shampoo WAS so high pH and the surfactants were so drying that hair was so...