Hey Ladies,
Ok I’ll be giving details about my hair
regime, specifically my Wash Day.
Until recently, I washed once a week. But considering how much my hair is manipulated during the process, I've cut it down to every 2 weeks. I plan my washday a few days in advance,
because it’s a long process and I’ve to make sure I have no plans to leave the
house for the rest of the day.
Pre-poo
I start off my prepping my hair with a
pre-poo (pre-shampoo) treatment. I dampen my hair slightly with a water +
conditioner mix to soften it. I then twist my hair into about ten 2-strand
twists and seal the moisture in with coconut
oil. I wrap my hair with a plastic shower cap/cling film/polythene nylon
bag (whichever of these I have available) and leave my hair in this state for
about an hour.
Shampoo + Condition
Once the hour is up, I take the wrap off and
rinse my hair with warm water. I shampoo my hair, while still in the twists,
with TRESemmé
Naturals Nourishing Moisture Shampoo. I then finger-detangle with either of
2 inexpensive conditioners: Herbal
Essences Hello Hydration Conditioner or TRESemmé Naturals Nourishing Moisture
Conditioner. Both are great, but each has its stronger points. Herbal Essences has more slip, so it’s
easier to run my fingers through my hair and find the knots. TRESemmé is more
moisturizing, so my hair comes out softer
and more manageable after. So I usually rotate use of the two.
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| L-R: Shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner |
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| Conditioner |
Detangling
I finger-detangle my hair after its shampooed
and I don’t use any combs or brushes during the process. I use the conditioner
to detangle each of the 10 twists, one at a time. I’m very heavy-handed with
the conditioner; I use A LOT so my hair is as easy to detangle as possible. So
I untwist one of the twists (sorry for the clumsiness of the words), squeeze a
generous amount of conditioner into my hands and run the conditioner through
that section of hair with my fingers. I remove shed hair, sort out tangles and
get rid of the knots in that section. Once I’m done, I twist it back up and
move on to the next twist. I do this for all 10 twists until my whole head of
hair is detangled. This usually takes about 1 hr.
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| My hair saturated with conditioner, after detangling. |
Deep-Condition
Afterwards, I rinse the conditioner out with
cold water and apply my deep conditioner. I’m currently using Organics by Africa’s Best Hair Mayonnaise.
I apply the deep conditioner to each twist by unraveling it, squeezing and
smoothing it into my hair, and twisting it back up. I do this for all the
twists, and apply some extra to my edges. I then cover my hair with my plastic
wrap and leave the conditioner in for 2 – 3 hrs.
 |
| Deep conditioning |
Leave-In
After rinsing the deep conditioner out with
cold water, I dry my hair with a cotton shirt till it turns from dripping wet
to damp. I then apply (in this order) my leave-in conditioner - Curl
Junkie Smoothing Lotion - my curling custard – Komaza Care Califia Styling Pudding – and seal with Emily Millionaire Coconut Oil & Herbs, to
each section of hair. I use my Denman
Brush after applying my leave-in to remove any leftover tangles. I also
find that it makes my twist-outs lighter and fluffier. This process takes 1
hour as well. By this time, it’s usually late at night so I leave my hair to
air-dry and I fall asleep with my silk scarf placed over my pillow.
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| My Denman brush |
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| My leave-in conditioner |
And that’s it! My entire hair is never left
untwisted at any point during the wash. From start to finish, the whole process
takes about 6 - 7 hours.
I’ve tried many different methods to washing
my hair, and this is what I’ve found works best for me. I may change a product
here and there, but the general technique remains the same.
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| Washed, detangled and moisturized. |
Tips:
- It can be a messy process – wear old & comfy clothes.
- Make sure you’re not tired when you start. And don’t start too late in the day. You’ll rush through the detangling and end up losing a lot of hair.
- Listen to music – it makes the whole thing less tedious.
- Don’t be stingy with the detangling conditioner. Smack it on! Honestly, the more the better.
Hope this was helpful to someone!
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| All done. Phew! :) |
Knotty by nature,
Faridah
