Hi people, what's been on? Happy New month guys!

Natural haircare shouldn't be stressful

It's getting busier and busier so I may not post as often as I'd like this month. Before I disappear, I'd like to share my little wash routine that gets my hands out of my hair in less than an hour.
Yep...I said it....less than an hour.

I really don't get it when people complain about the long hours it takes to wash natural hair.     When I say it isn't supposed to be so complicated it's like I'm 'forming natural hair veteran/guru'.....but that's not it.
 I'm a lazy impatient natural that really don't want to spend more than 30 mins wet. Not only that, I get cold very easily and the sooner I'm warm and dry the better.

The popular reasons for a long wash day are very thick hair, very kinky hair and very long hair.
Well, my hair is full, long, kinky and prone to tangling and yet my wash day doesn't take a day and a half. If it does, it's probably because I'm doing too much.



Before I start, here are 'pre wash day' tips to help you save time.

- Purchase a shampoo and conditioner with slip (feels slippery). It makes combing your hair easier and faster.

- Reduce the amount of DIY products you use. They can be quite messy and hard to rinse off. Save them for when you have time. As much as I love my DIY mixes, I have store bought products that offer similar benefits.

- Always braid or twist hair before bed. Even if it's in a protective style like kinky braids or twists. This helps prevent bedtime tangling. Extra points it you sleep with your satin scarf, bonnet or pillow.

- Prior to wash day, increase your moisturising game. Make your daily leave in conditioner your friend. This not only reduces dryness and unnecessary breakage on wash day, it also makes it easier to detangle.

- Gradually stretch and detangle your hair. My hair is in a bun most of the time and the middle of the bun can mesh and get tangled. So before wash day, I up my moisturising game using my LOC mix and then gradually detangle and put my hair in loose twists and pack up in a ponytail. This helps keep my hair stretched.  If you aren't so neat with twists or braids, you can do them and hide them under a wig or scarf.

- The night before wash day, I'll either apply manshanu (adds an extra 10mins to my wash day) or a slippery conditioner mixed with coconut oil to my hair. Then fingerdetangle, put my hair in 'washing' twists and cover overnight.

WASH DAY PROPER..

- I apply shampoo to my scalp alone. Then work into a lather (or something like it when I'm using a cleansing pudding). I smooth in the direction of hair growth to reduce tangles especially now I have more hair to deal with.  Then I rinse allowing the run off to wash my ends. All this while my hair is in four or six twists.

- Then I apply a deep conditioner to each twist.
I'll untwist, apply a glob of deep conditioner,  smooth through hair and loosely twist away. I'm currently loving SheaMoisture African Black Soap Purification Masque. I increase the slip by mixing with a conditioner like VO5 Conditioner, Trader Joe's Nourish Spa, Tresemme or Kinky Curly. I'll cover with a shower cap while I shower. The heat of the shower (verry hot) is enough to get the D.C. flowing.

- When I'm done showering, I rinse off the D.C. with very cold water.....my head only. My body safely out of reach.

- I use VO5 conditioner to cowash the D.C. away if it's oily.

- Then I blot my hair dry. Since it's still in twists, rinsing doesn't completely remove the conditioner which suits my highly porous hair just fine and the reason I buy natural/light conditioners.

This takes me less than 45mins because I don't like being wet and cold.

STYLING

I don't like styling my hair on wash day because my hair is very very fragile when it's wet so the less I do to it the better.

If I wash early in the morning, I make loose twists and style my hair like this:



If I wash at night, I make loose twists and style my hair like this:



If I have an outing that day, my hair is most likely going to be styled like this:




I get creative about two days after wash day. My hair is much stronger then.

Before styling, I apply castor/palmkernel oil mix to my scalp and coconut oil to my hair. I currently add Kinky Curly Knot Today on top to give me some slip during styling.

So that's it for wash day....about an hour from start to finish.

Hope this helps someone.

Till I spill again,
Live Beautifully. Naturally.
Hadassah.



What's your wash day like and how do you keep it short?