How to Wash Your Hair

How I Wash My Hair

It is strange to have people ask me if I actually wash my hair myself. YES, I do. I NEVER go to the Hair Salon. NEVER. I don’t need to. Everything they can do, I can do better. Better because unlike them, I know what’s best for my hair. It’s my hair after all, I spend the most time with it and so that makes ME the best person to take care of it.

So how do I go about washing my hair?

I am not advocating this as the best way to wash hair, it is simply how I do it and it is the best method for me.

On average, I wash my hair every 5-7 days. I do sometimes wash multiple times per week but at other times, I go a full 7 days before washing. I try not to go past 7 days because my hair hates being dirty. It just doesn’t cooperate with any style when dirty.

Condition Wash

If I am washing my hair multiple times per week, only one of those washes will be a shampoo wash, i.e. washing with shampoo and then conditioning. The rest of the time I will only use conditioner to wash.
What do I mean?
Simply, I wash my hair with conditioner. I rinse my hair with water, apply conditioner, massage throughout, detangle and then rinse out the conditioner. It is important to note that the point of my condition washes are not to get my hair clean/clarified. It is more like, my hair is thirsty and it needs a midweek moisture boost.

Shampoo Wash

1. Once I get in the shower, I saturate and rinse my hair with water
2. I then apply conditioner and lightly detangle. The reason for doing this is, if my hair is tangled prior to getting in the shower, shampooing will only exasperate this issue. Therefore, I try to detangle first before I start shampooing. I am only using the conditioner here to help me detangle.
3. Afterwards, I shampoo my hair by massaging the shampoo into my scalp to cleanse. I never pile my hair on top of my head neither do I focus on rubbing the shampoo throughout the length of my hair.
4. The less I manipulate my hair while shampooing the better. I try to keep my hair hanging down in the process. (again trying to avoid tangles)
5. I shampoo a couple of times to make sure my hair is clean
6. I then condition with A LOT of conditioner. The more the better and the easier to detangle.
7. I leave the conditioner in and cover with a shower cap while I finish showering.
8. Afterwards, I remove the shower cap and do a final detangle under the flow of the running water. And I am DONE.

• It doesn’t take me long (about 15 minutes) unless I have a lot of tangles to comb through.

After the shower

• When I get out of the shower, I wrap a towel around my head to soak up the excess water.
• I remove the towel, apply some leave in conditioner, and my favorite – Silk Remedy. (Makes hair really silky when dry)
• I try not to comb my hair while it’s in this wet state. From my experience my hair just seems weaker like this. Only when absolutely necessary I comb thru a bit to detangle more- remember I detangled in the shower.

Smoothing – You know my hair does not dry straight

• Next, I pull my hair back into a single ponytail.
• I grab my Motions foaming wrap lotion and a fine tooth comb – its time to get those edges smooth.
• I apply some puffs of foaming lotion to my edges and use the fine tooth comb to smooth down the edges. ( I don’t use a hair brush)
• When my hair is satisfactorily smooth/tamed. I cover with a satin scarf and tie securely.
• The scarf covers my edges and most of my head but the length of my hair hangs loose in the back.

See:  How To get a Smooth Hairline

Drying /Styling

With the satin scarf still on my head, I let my hair air dry. Other times, I may blow dry. I don’t do roller sets.

Once my hair is dry, I may do any of the following:

• Do a braid out.
• Secure 1-3 large foam rollers the length of my hair that’s hanging out the back of the scarf. This gives me some nice curls in the morning
• Curl with a curling iron
• Flat iron for silky smooth straight hair

Washing my hair at night

If it’s night time and I don’t have time to do any further styling such as flat ironing or curling, I will either :

• Go to bed with my wet hair – Not the most pleasant thing to do. Also, I don’t do a braidouts on soaking wet hair. Besides, it will never dry by morning.
• blow dry 60-90% dry and then do some braids for a braidout and go to bed
• Blow dry 90% and then put a couple foam rollers in and go to bed
• Blow dry completely. And then leave the length of my hair hanging out the scarf.

Whatever the styling method I chose, I always finish up by covering my head with a satin bonnet before going to bed and as always, I have a satin pillowcase in case I lose my scarf and bonnet during the night.

TIPS:

• If your hair is fragile like mine, skip the barrel /paddle  brush when blow-drying. You are only putting undue stress on your hair. Instead, blow your hair out using your fingers to finger comb thru the tangles. Occasionally stop and comb through your hair with a wide tooth comb.
• Don’t blow dry soaking wet hair, I am told it is like boiling your hair strands. That cannot be good for it.

Why all the steps in washing my hair, well, my hair needs “special” attention to detangle and tame.