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Li avevo lavati senza usare il balsamo.

Li avevo lavati senza usare il balsamo.
I had washed them without using the conditioner.
From Lesson 373:Polite imperfect (volevo, cercavo)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Li avevo lavati senza usare il balsamo.

Why does the past participle end in "-i" (lavati) instead of "-o" (lavato)?
When a direct object pronoun (lo, la, li, le) comes before a compound tense that uses the auxiliary verb avere, the past participle must agree with that pronoun in gender and number. Here, li (masculine plural) forces lavato to become lavati.
Why use the trapassato prossimo (avevo lavati) here instead of the passato prossimo (li ho lavati)?
Avevo lavati translates specifically to "I had washed them", not just "I washed them". You use this tense (the past perfect) to emphasize that this action was already completed before another event happened in the past (e.g., "My hair was frizzy yesterday because I had washed it without conditioner").
Why is the English "-ing" form ("using") translated with the infinitive usare?
In Italian, verbs that directly follow a preposition (such as senza, per, di, or a) must be in the infinitive. While English naturally uses the gerund after prepositions ("without using"), Italian requires the infinitive: senza usare.
The English translation says "them", but what does "li" usually refer to in this specific context?
Given the mention of washing and using conditioner (il balsamo), li almost certainly refers to i capelli (hair). Remember that "hair" on your head is a plural noun in Italian, which is why an Italian speaker literally says "I had washed them" rather than "I had washed it".

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