As you know, I’ve been (and still am) experimenting with different products this year. I guess for some women the search for the holy grail of products is ever continuous. With that, I’d also been trying to figure out what’s the best way to handle my hair. Last year my routine was kind of all over the place. I washed when I felt my hair needed to be washed or rather when I had the time to. When my hair was at the TWA length, my routine is very straight forward: wash/co-wash, apply leave-in, apply butter and go. Then it grew and it’s now at a point where my routine is quite different.
I’m sure many of you can relate to not having much time to do much else when you get older. Well, that’s become my life this year. I’ve had a couple of comments from people who only frequent my blog (and not my Instagram, Facebook etc.) saying they don’t hear from me as often (I’ve paraphrased that to not sound as accusatory as the comments did). What with a demanding full time job, running a house (which is now a significant way away from work), planning a wedding, running a blog (and all the other media platforms My Fro & I is on) and ummm, having a bit of a life in between – you’ve got to bear with me. And in and amongst all of this busyness, I’ve finally found a more or less regular way to do my hair so that it’s quite happy in winter. And it doesn’t take me as long as it had previously. I’m still flirting with some products so I won’t mention exactly what I’m using but I’ve returned to my old faithful Daily Spritz (after abandoning it for a couple of months). If anything, that’s been the product that has stuck with me from baby Fro to now teenage Fro.
Here’s what I’m currently doing:
Week 1 + 3
- Shampoo in four sections + Deep Condition (DC) using the baggy method. The number of sections will depend on your length. I separate the sections with some no metal hairbands.
- Detangle in sections with DC still on using shower comb. Twist the hair into smaller sections and tie plastic bag (yes, a normal grocery store plastic bag!)
- Rinse after at least 30 minutes. I usually do some sort of household chore in that half hour to make the time go faster. There’s always something to do.
- Wrap a t-shirt (instead of towel) to catch the first drippies. I had always used a towel before and microfibre towels have never worked for me – always snag on my hair! But now I use an old t-shirt – works amazingly.
- Apply leave-in conditioner and let air dry about 50%
- Spray Daily Spritz to each of the 10-12 sections of hair I divide for a longer stretch. By longer stretch I mean that on wash day, my hair shrinks to its maximum so I need to do something to stretch it to its maximum (minimising on heat). This usually entails putting hair into more twists or wooled up sections.
- Apply some butter to ends first, then to the rest of hair.
- Put sections into twists or wrap wool. I do this while catching up on TV or even Skyping with a friend or family (with the video off of course).
- Undo next morning
- Daily: re-twist in the evenings to keep detangled, spritz in the mornings before undoing sections to minimise shrinkage. Apply styling products if necessary. Always wrap in satin scarf before sleeping.
Week 2 + 4
I don’t always do this. It’s only when I feel my hair’s manky. In winter, I prefer to only wash it every other week as above. So if it needs a bit of a moisture spurt, I do the following:
- Co-wash in two – four sections
- Apply leave-in conditioner and let air dry about 50%
- Spray Daily Spritz to each of the 10-12 sections of hair I divide for a longer stretch
- Apply some butter to ends first, a bit on the rest of hair
- Put sections into twists or wrap wool
- Undo next day
I’m finding that this routine which I do between protective styling is working quite well for me and my current hectic schedule. If anything, something about watching TV while I stretch my hair relaxes me. All in all, it takes me about 2 hours to complete all of the above. The rare times I don’t have time to air dry etc., I’ll use my blow dryer on low-medium heat. But I usually consciously plan for my wash day and try and multi task while I’m doing it. Things still need to get done, life shouldn’t stop because you have to do your hair!
That’s it! I’ll probably do a video about my current routine and show you the tools I’m using to do it.
What’s currently working for you?
Thank u so much Aisha, I looovveeee ur blog! Its a life saver!! Am still at my twa stage and currently I have braids on. I hope to try something similar when I take down my braids. Thanks
Hi, im currently obsessed with castor oil and for me it works very well (new found friend), i use Hercules brand ( buy it from shoprite and many other Spaza shops) and Sunny Isle JBCO (thanks to AISHA (Fro & I) for informing me about TLH online store i buy it there) i have already finished 1×118 ml bottle and awaiting my second order. i only use hercules brand to pre-poo every friday (coz its cheap, i can waste it all i want) and now that i finished my JBCO i use Hercules to my scalp and hair as well every night or when necessary.
my routine:
Every friday evenings i pre-poo with Hercules castor oil i buy it from shoprite ( i buy only the original with no flavour), MPL Coconut oil (do not buy this if your hair dislike mineral oil / petrolatum or if you want coconut oil because it is not coconut oil it is just infused with a bit of coconut oil), amla oil and almond oil. basically i use any oil that i have i just happen to have the ones mentioned. [i used to be a product junkie so on my pre-poo i try to utilize the oils i bought then and decided not to include in my daily routine for different reasons, mainly they were weighing my hair down].
– i mix all these oils in a cup and put them in a microwave to warm a bit (not boil them just warm).
– i apply the mixture to my hair and scalp making sure all my hair is covered with the oil
– i masage my scalp for about 5 minutes and wear a plastic shower cap. I continue to watch TV and chat with hubby and off i go to bed. on Saturday i wake up and do the house chores as usual. if i need to go out to a shopping mall maybe, i just style my hair as is, wear a cap or put a cute scarf and go. [NO, my afro doesn't look dirty at all coz my pre-poo is just oils (more oils than my daily routine) no nasty stuff. all i have to watch is that it doesnt come to my face while at the mall.
– on Sunday i wake up, prepare breakfast, bath , style my FRO and off to church.
– come back from church i prepare lunch and do my normal stuff, prepare for the week ahead and later in the evening after dinner i co-wash my hair with a detangling conditioner , i love "AQuamarine detangling conditioner, green apple from Revlon (R15 , Pick n Pay). it is indeed detangling and it leaves my hair really soft.
– after this i apply castor oil to my scalp and to the rest of my hair ( my hair is really thick and coarse, so castor oil doesnt really stick infact my hair seems to absorb all of this oil within hours, hence i prefer heavy oils) and i wear my satin bonet and off to bed. *i wear satin bonnet everyday, even on my pre-poo days i would wear a plastic and put on my satin bonnet on top.
– Monday to friday (morning), i will be just spraying with my filtered spring water + glycerin mixture ,applying castor oil and doing chunky twist before bed. my hair is now soft, black, thick and growing.
– some days my hair may feel thirsty before my pre-poo fridays (thanks to winter) , i will spray with my daily spray mixture of filtered spring water and glycerin and then feed it with a leave-in conditioner and seal with castor oil. my hair just SMILES and says Thank you darling. Thats it. Thanks Aisha that Sunny Isle JBCastor oil works wonders.
Hi Aisha, great timing with this post, just today, a friend asked me what I have been doing to my hair because it looked healthy, she did not say it looked good, the word she used was healthy. I beamed with a big smile across my face. Here is what I have been doing. I do not like sitting with a deep conditioner and going back in the shower to rinse so I pre-poo with coconut oil or olive oil. I put on a grocery store bag and do chores, then I shampoo in 4 sections followed with a hair mask, that needs to sit for two minutes, rinse and dry with a tshirt, moisture and twist, I wear my hair in twist outs all week. I alternate between shampooing and cowashing, so cowash for two weeks in a month and shampoo twice a month as well. Our routines are similar.
you've coloured your hair black? 🙁
OhMyGod I love your blog! it literally gives me life 😀
I was about to give up and relax or shave my head bald before I stumbled upon your blog 😀
its perfect!! keep it up and what Uu do seriously helps and stuff
thank Uu Aisha ♡
love you and your blog :3
xo
-nompumelelo 🙂