Blogmas Day 17|My Updated Washday Routine.

Welcome to blogmas day 17.

Let me first say that I can finally comfortably wash my hair in twists now!! I mean, they’ll unravel at the end, but I use a scrunchie to hold it in place.

So as my hair is getting longer, I’m looking for ways to make managing it easier and make washdays easier. I wash my hair weekly or biweekly depending on how I wear my hair and how my hair feels. There’s no much difference or newly added steps, just a different technique.

Prepoo/Detangling

I prepoo my hair 80% of the time. The remaining 20% is when I do a clay mask or I’m lazy. I don’t know how some people just hop in the shower and drench their hair in water then proceed to shampooing. My hair would be a tangled mess.

So I’ve moved from using an oil to prepoo, to using conditioners cause it’s faster, to using Shea butter and conditioner, to using an oil and conditioner. I’m back to my old gee palm kernel oil which I used to use when I was transitioning. It really does work amazingly on my hair and I remember why I used to love it. My hair does this weird thing we’re it stops responding to a product like it used to, so I’m forced to stop using it or take a break.

Palm kernel oil is a penetrative oil and is a good alternative to coconut oil if your hair doesn’t like coconut oil like me. I use olive oil sometimes, but like I said, conditioners just make things easier cause the slip is better even though ideally, oils should be used to prepoo.

Excuse my mini rant here, I just wanted to explain myself and share somethings that might be helpful. So for my prepoo, I divide my hair into 4 sections and spritz my hair with some water to make it pliable then take a smaller section and apply some palm kernel oil, working it in with my fingers, then I go over it with a conditioner. When my hair is feeling very dry, I go over the conditioner with Shea butter. After applying everything, I finger detangle as much as I can to get the products in and lightly remove any shed/tangled hair then twist up that section.

When I’m through with the 4 sections, I cover my hair with a plastic cap and let it sit for 30 minutes to overnight, depending on how dry my hair is, my schedule, and how energetic I feel.

Shampooing

This is the part that has the new technique. I wash my hair in twists now. So instead of unraveling the twists and pack into sections like I used to do, I’ll just use scrunchies to tie the twists into 4 sections.

I use very lukewarm water. Somewhere between cold and lukewarm. I don’t like using hot water cause I feel it just strips excess moisture from my hair. And cold water won’t easily remove the oils I slathered on my hair like lukewarm would.

I shampoo my hair twice if It’s really dirty or when I do an oil prepoo. I take down each scrunchie to shampoo the section, focusing on my scalp then running the suds through the twists then tie it back with the scrunchie when I’m through. After shampooing, I rinse off the shampoo then squeeze out the excess water and wrap my hair with a cotton t-shirt.

Deep Conditioning

By this time, the twists would be looking raggedy and hanging on to their dear lives, but I’ll take down each twist and apply my deep conditioner then twist it back. I don’t attempt to use any tool to detangle my hair until I’ve deep conditioned with heat or just wrappingng a warm towel over my head. By then, my hair would have absorbed the conditioner better and it would be softer. So I go ahead and take down each twist then use my tangle teezer to gently detangle my hair from tips to root then twist it back up.

When I’ve detangled everything, I rinse off the conditioner with my hair still in the twists. And yes, I’m able to get all the conditioner out.

Moisturizing/Styling

I usually let my hair to air-dry to about 80% or I’ll leave it wrapped in the tshirt for a while before I go ahead to moisturize it. I don’t like working on soaking wet hair.

So I take down each twist and apply my leave in conditioner then seal it with my whipped shea butter then twist or braid it back to air-dry. When I’m done with that, I oil my scalp and massage it in for a few minutes and I’m done.

Everything usually takes about 2 hours including the deep conditioning time but most times I take breaks in between. I can shampoo my hair and leave it for a few hours to do other things before I proceed to deep condition.

The new method of washing my hair in twists has made it a whole lot easier. It keeps my hair somewhat stretched and prevents tangling. I’m through with everything relating to washing my hair for the year and I’m happy. It’s prepped and ready to be put away before aunty harmattan comes.

P.S- A little digressing, my hair goal for this year was to reach chin length and armpit length by the end of the year, but I didn’t quite get there. I’m not so far from it though. All things being equal, by the time I’m taking down my protective style next year, my hair should have grown to that extent.

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Thanks for reading.

Did you reach your hair goal this year? How long does your washday take?

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