5 Quick Hacks for the Lazy Natural

Over the years, I’ve been all types of natural – the newbie, the style guru, the big chopper. But only recently can I admit, without any fear of retribution, that I’ve been pretty lazy the past couple of months. I’ve been there, done a lot and have managed to keep my hair on my head. Lazy, busy, time-strapped, whatever you want to call it, it all amounts to the same thing: our hair isn’t our number one priority and that’s ok. It doesn’t mean we should completely abandon it though either – obviously.

Let me first get this out of the way: you can’t be completely lazy. You need to choose something that you’re going to put a little more effort into, otherwise, you really will end up with no hair on your head – or a very unhealthy mess sitting on it. So that’s my number one tip: choose a struggle. If you’re on a growth journey, you’re going to have to put in 100% work. But, if you just want to keep it looking cute and healthy, there are certain things you can do to get by.

Here are some of my hacks to making your hair routine a little quicker.

Wash Day

Shampoo quick tip: Divide your hair into sections (even two is fine if your hair is long enough) it’ll help with your detangling as it lessens knots. The longer your hair, the fewer sections you need to put your hair into. On a lazy day when my hair was longer, I’d wash my hair in two sections, but since I cut it again in December, I’m washing in three to four sections again.

Detangling quick tip: Use a conditioner or mask with good slip. There are some conditioners I’m convinced have been purposefully designed to make our detangling life easier. Almost as if, as soon as you put them on, they get to work. Deep condition, cover your hair with your cap (I use a plastic bag. Yes, I really do), then carry on showering to save a few minutes. Then continue with your normal steps. What helps me to keep my hair detangled is how I set it afterward. I make sure my hair is tied in a way that helps it stretch on its own, so I like to put it into pigtails using the banding method, so my hair dries stretched and isn’t coiled on itself.

After Wash Day

If your lazy time is during the week, or between wash days, make sure you prep your hair well on wash day.

Styling quick tip: Put it into a style that you don’t have to restyle your hair throughout the week or you can do slight variations of the style on your hair during the week. The puff with the fluff in front is my fave lazy hairstyle. If your hair doesn’t reach this length, you can do a puff – it’s simple and you don’t have to do much to refresh it during the week.

Here are some of my fave lazy hairstyles, and check out my videos for more.

Product quick tip: You can also save time by reducing the number of products you put into your hair. The only way to do this is by doing some work upfront. Do research on what works on your hair, what results they give, so by the time it comes to daily styling or wash day, you’re no longer thinking ‘does this work?’ or ‘does that work to get me this style’. You might be lucky on your first try, but if you’re like many naturals, you may need to go through a few frogs before finding your holy grail. Once you found it, here’s where the time saving comes in: you have to stick to it. Knowing which batch of products works for you cuts down a lot of time because you know what the end hair results will be.

Sleeping quick tip: At the beginning of my journey, I used to re-twist my hair religiously every single evening. I don’t do that anymore. I don’t have that time every day. Even though it’s only 5-10 minutes or so, I also don’t have that energy with my current lifestyle – running after a toddler following a full day of work is no joke. So on the days where I don’t have to have a defined twist outlook the next day, I use little hairbands (that I make from cut up old stockings) to loosely tie my hair at night – in a way that it goes upwards. Then I wrap my hair around the base of my head. The next day, I just take out the hairbands, fluff with my fingers and go – done. If it’s looking a bit shabby, I put some gel on my hairline – done.

That’s it. Tricks to being lazy and still have healthy hair: keep everything simple. Got any tips of your own? Drop them below!

Main photo by Robyn Davie.