How I Prep My Hair For A Long Term Protective Style

Welcome back to my blog 🙋 🙋

So I decided to document my last washday and share how I prepare my hair to make sure it’s in a good condition to be put away for weeks. It’s very important to make sure your hair is in proper shape to be put away for weeks or you’ll be defeating the purpose of the protective style.

Step 1: Prepoo

When I’m prepping my hair for protective style, the goal is to get my hair as moisturized as possible so the first step I take is to prepoo my hair. I used my good ole mixture of Shea butter, palm kernel oil, honey and a rinse out conditioner but it had been a while since I used this so I decided to do so and I remembered why I loved it so much. I spritzed my hair lightly with water and applied the prepoo mixture to my hair and worked it thoroughly into my strands and my hair was very easy to detangle and comb through. I twisted the section after combing it then moved to the next one till I had applied it all over my hair then I covered my hair with a plastic bag and used my steaming cap over it for about 30 minutes. I’ll normally sleep with the prepoo and carry it overnight but I didn’t do it the previous night so I had to use external heat.

Step 2: Shampoo

After 30 minutes I took out the twists and divided my hair into 4 sections. I’ll normally work with 2 sections but I was feeling extra and wanted to be really thorough. I used my handy black soap shampoo by we naturals from their hemp oil range and this was my best product from the entire range of products (imagine liking a shampoo more than a conditioner as a natural hair girl.) I’m not very picky about shampoos, as long as it doesn’t strip my hair and leave it dry then I’m okay. Anyway, I shampooed my hair twice after rinsing out the prepoo mixture from my hair.

Step 3: Deep Conditioning

I was going to try a new diy deep conditioner using rice but the rice got burnt(don’t judge me😂😂 I was busy and forgot that I had something cooking) so I couldn’t use it anymore. I had to resort to using my rinse out conditioner mixed with honey and I applied that to my hair and my curls were just popping without respect 😂, especially at the back. I covered my hair with a plastic bag again after I had applied the deep conditioner all over my hair. NEPA had taken light so I couldn’t use my steaming cap anymore and I had to improvise so I soaked 2 t-shirts in hot water then used them to wrap the plastic bag on my head then wrapped everything up with a towel. Sometimes I use just a towel that had been soaked in hot water to wrap over the plastic bag. After about an hour, I took out the plastic bag and my hair had soaked up the conditioner and it was very easy to detangle I rinsed off with cold water.

Moisturizing/Stretching

I left my hair in four buns for a few hours cause I was busy. By the time I was ready to moisturize my hair, it was still quite damp so I applied leave in conditioner, cream and whipped Shea butter to keep my hair moisturized. I was really generous when applying these products because I’m putting my hair away for a while. I detangled my hair with a wide tooth comb then threaded it to give me a stretched look when it dries because I didn’t want to use a blow-dryer.

When I took down the thread the next day, my hair was dry but it still didn’t stay stretched. The stretch from the threading method lasted for about 20 minutes before it puffed up when I was about taking pictures because I wanted to use it for my one year length check with a blown out look. I still did the length check anyway, and I’ll be doing a different post for that.

Semi blown out hair

I miss writing washday posts because they’re so easy to get done but I’ve been so busy this week trying to get my hair and my sister’s hair done before tomorrow. I washed my hair on Monday, started braiding my hair on Tuesday night and finished on Wednesday night. I did the finishing touches of trimming and curling today but I wasn’t able to get any picture yet. I’m excited to show you guys my hair, it’s so pretty😩