Wash Day & Moisturizing Routine
So from start to finish, a regular wash day for me takes about 1-1.5 hours. If my mum is helping me out with detangling & braiding, or I need to do a specific condition treatment, it can go to 2-2.5 hours total. I've learned to modify my routine to not have it last the whole day. I wash my hair about once a week. That's usually a Natural No No 😂 but it works for me. My hair doesn't like going even two weeks without a wash—one month is a death sentence. I definitely don't wash it every day. Now that's too much. Find your balance!
Planning when to have your wash day can help! You'll have less stress while doing your hair and can take the time to give proper care and going through your techniques.
Here, I'm just going to go over the most normal routine. There are days I may do bentonite clay treatments or protein conditioning that I set up different recipes for, but putting all those here would make this long post take forever to scroll through lol. If you'd like, use my routine as an example for your own regimen!
1) Prep
For my hair, I use Eden BodyWorks products. I keep my shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom to make this easier. I bring along a wide tooth comb and section my hair into 4 big pieces. You can do this with clips or braids! I use braids and really only make them tight at the ends so they don't unravel but still allow water to touch my roots.
2) Wash
I wet my hair thoroughly with hot water (not too hot!). While in braids, I apply shampoo to my roots/scalp, making sure I scratch out buildup. If I know it won't take just one lather of shampoo to wash it off—like if there's gel stuck to the majority of hair stands—I'll take the braids out by section and scrub those as well.
I apply conditioner to each section by unbraiding them, comb through while there is a generous amount of conditioner, then I'd braid them up again. You can leave this in for about 3-5 mins.
While you wait, you can do other things: wash yourself, shave, etc. If you're doing a deep conditioning, you could also throw on a plastic cap and go about your business since these ask for 30 mins to an hour. If you're in the shower for wash day, it may be harder to jump out and right back in; for longer times, it's totally better to get out than stand in your shower for an hour. That's self torture.
When it's time to rinse, you'd want to use cooler water. Hot water "opens" your hair strands, allowing the water to move in and out more freely. The cooler water would "close" your strands, locking in more water and nutrients from the conditioner. Ideally, your final rinse should be cold water. It would also help cut down on frizz (usually... Unless your hair is like mine and has its own laws).
And that's the "wash" part! I undid my braids before rinsing off the conditioner to see where my shrinkage was when my hair is wet. Parting is easier when my hair is wet as well, so putting it back into sections after a mini photoshoot was no problem. You can even see my array of curl patterns and frizz starting to set in.
3) Lock In Moisture
The less-fun-but-important part is moisturizing. Yes, I did do that in the wash, but this is more about keeping the moisture as well as making sure my hair is all packed with moisture and nutrients.
If I'm planning a style for work or something, I would do new parts so my hair can fall how I want it to. If I'm not going anywhere where I need to really dress up, but I'm still going out, I do about 8 braids so their manageable. Otherwise, I stick to 4 big braids just to keep them safe and tucked away until I remoisturize in about 2-3 days. This part will vary largely on how you want it. While I work on one section, I keep the others braided so they don't go messing me up.
I use the LCO method for each section: leave-in (or liquid), cream, and oil. Something about the oil going last just really works on my hair. I used to do cream last and it would spike up the frizz. I apply my leave-in conditioner, my curl defining cream, finger detangle to make sure everything all in my hair and at every strand and end. I use my mixture of Haitian castor oil and peppermint oil to seal it all in (I believe black castor oil is the same if you see it in stores. I just make my own mix). When I'm done, I braid my hair and move on.
Note: natural castor oil doesn't smell the best. So in addition to stimulating the scalp/follicles, the peppermint obscures the scent. Win-win.
By the end, my hair is fresh and braided. And that's it! If my ends are frayed, I just do a quick trim while they're still braided. By the next day, my hair is dry and ready for a braidout—or it'll stay in braids for a couple days more.
To remoisturize: after a few days, I would unbraid the hair, spray water on it (I have those spray things. Target, beauty supply stores, and similar places have them for cheap), and use leave-in conditioner and oil. The curl defining cream can get too heavy for my hair if I apply it too often. With a lighter cream, it may be possible to use!
