Hallelujah! I’ve found my wash day routine. After weeks of trying slightly different steps and methods, I’m pretty sure I’ve found my happy place.
- Pre-poo: I pre-poo my hair in sections with oil spray and braid each section. In total, I’d have about 5-7 braids.
- I tie my plastic bag on and leave the mix to marinate for at least 30 minutes. I undo the braids and put my hair into 4-6 sections, using non-metallic hair bands that I bought especially for wash day (R15 at Clicks)
- Wash: I shampoo a section, rinse and repeat once before securing it in the hair band. Once a section is done, I move on to the next.
- Deep condition & detangle: I towel dab the excess water before applying deep conditioner & oil spray to a section. I finger detangle a section before using my wide tooth shower comb to complete the detangling. I start from the ends and work my way up to the roots. I don’t overcomb, I just pull the comb through twice or thrice to make sure they’re no snags.
- I put the section in one or two fat twists and make sure the DC is applied to my ends. I then move on to the next section and repeat the deep conditioner application and detangling process. I tie my plastic bag and let it sit.
- Rinse: After an hour, I rinse my entire head before releasing each twist to thoroughly rinse the DC off. Once rinsed, I secure the section with a hairband and repeat this step for each section.
- Dry: I gently dab my hair with a towel and loosely wrap the towel on my head for about 15 minutes before air drying it in the loose ‘ponytails’.
- Seal: I spritz my Daily Spritz throughout, apply my butter to the ends first and follow with lotion to the entire section before it completely dries.
- Stretch: I then put each section into about 3 twists and let it completely air dry before wrapping it to sleep.
I wash my hair once a week, usually on Sundays. I alternate between using shampoo and using conditioner (co-wash). I follow the same steps regardless of what I’m using to wash my hair.
Results:
Hair’s clean, happy, fresh and experience much less breakage than before. I can’t lie though, the detangling process is my least favourite as my back hurts from standing up and by the end of it my fingers are all wrinkly. The first couple of weeks took forever but last week it only took me less than half an hour to wash and detangle. So it’s getting easier 🙂 I’m considering adding apple cider vinegar into my routine as I’ve heard nothing but great things about it. But for now, Fro & I are happy!
