Wash Day Blues - Wash Day Rules

Call me crazy, but I don't think it's cool that it literally takes me an entire day to wash my hair. This cannot be my life, a lot of the things I get up to are planned no more than 3 - 5 hours prior. I find it so difficult to get my life, when half of it is spent trying to get knots out of my semi-dreaded hair - my 4C girls know what I'm talking about.

Wash day chronicles are a common topic in the natural hair community, because we all want to know how to wash our hair without getting it tackled and knotted, in the least amount of time. The truth is there is no quick trick that I have found yet to cut down my wash day into a half day. All hope has not been lost tough.

Some tips I can offer to make wash day a little less of a mission, is do it all in the shower; soak your hair with a conditioner before you detangle and work in sections.

Minimising the Tangles

By simply sectioning off your hair, like I did in the picture to the right, this will be CRITICAL to your natural hair journey. At first it may seem like an unnecessary step to take when washing your hair, but the benefits are endless. You will limit the tangling and knots; detangle your hair more effectively, which will help you get more definition in your twist-outs.

This technique involves you washing each individual section of your hair at a time, which means you aren't dealing with a bush of confusion that can get very annoying and lead to scissor-happy tendencies.

Minimal Manipulation

Another important thing to remember is to stop playing with your hair, I know it's tempting. Not to come off wrong, but Solange said it best - Don't touch my hair.

Finger detangling - gently using your fingers to detangle the knots in your hair from the ends to the roots, in order to limit breakage. Something anyone trying to grow their natural hair and keep as much length as possible needs to learn to love. It is a patience game and can become a calming exercise, once you get into the groove of things.

Protective Styling

Protective styling has become a debate in the natural hair community, especially when regular hair routines are forgotten in the process.

Firstly, you NEVER want your protective style to pull on your scalp so much you look like you got some botox done. Secondly, please trying keep up with your normal moisturising process (LOC/LCO method), especially when using fibers because they tend to dry up your own hair. I have gone just over a year of protective styling without fiber and it has made the journey a lot more interesting, a story for another blog post. Thirdly, I prefer to wash my hair in protective styles, especially if I plan on keeping them on for long (6 - 8 weeks).

Lastly, you should rotate your protective styles regularly and give your hair a chance to breathe in-between. Do not be fooled, excessive product build up and molding are real things and they will lead to damage.

This may seem very high maintenance in the beginning, but just remember that you need a clean and healthy scalp to grow healthy hair. This also helps your hair get a fresh blast of water to maintain moisture.

Well, this is just my 2cents. Some of the methods and rules I've learnt along the way and they have helped me grow my hair. Comment below and share some of the rules and methods that have helped you grow your hair.

Love.Hair.Live

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