ATTENTION ALL NATURALS: Its wash day

Wash Day

At the beginning of my journey I was very confused. I did a lot of search and ended up buying a bunch of products that didn’t necessarily work for my hair. Your regimen will most likely be different than mine. Everyone’s hair is different therefore everyone’s hair reacts differently to products. No one can give you a list of products to buy or a specific regimen. You have to figure out for yourself what works for your hair and what doesn’t. But I have some pointers to share with you to hopefully make this search less stressful. I will also share my regimen.

•  First step: Shampoo or co-wash

Pick a method. Are you going to use shampoo to clean your hair or will you stick to co-washing?

1. For those unfamiliar with the term co-wash it simply means washing your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. Conditioner cleans your hair just as good as shampoo but it doesn’t strip your hair from it’s natural oils. I would recommend if you have dry or low porosity hair to stick to co-washing to avoid losing any more moisture and help hydrate your hair.
2. If you decided to use shampoo make sure it is free of parabens, mineral oil, sulfates and chloride.

My regimen: I co-wash my hair three weeks of the month. And once a month I use a shampoo just to clear out any excess product and avoid buildup. I try different conditioners constantly. But I have been using Shea Moisture coconut & hibiscus curl& shine conditioner for a couple of weeks now. My hair seems to love it. It is very moisturizing and makes my hair manageable.

*Beware of product build up. It will clog your cuticle making your hair flat and unable to take in any moisture.

• Second step: Find a good rinse conditioner.

This is the conditioner you will leave in your hair for 5 minutes max and either rinse it out or keep in as a leave in.

My Regimen: For my rinse I do not like using the same conditioner I use for co-washing. I am currently using the smooth as silk deeper moisture conditioner by Giovanni.

• Third Step: Decided how often you will deep condition.

For low porosity and high porosity hair I would recommend weekly.

You can purchase a deep conditioner or a mask or make your own deep conditioner from ingredients in your kitchen. Some good ingredients are honey it is great for moisture, avocado great for shine and hydration and eggs for protein. The list goes on but we will get into that in a later post.

My regimen: I deep condition weekly. At the moment my favorite mix is a small portion of Giovanni conditioner and a generous amount of renewing argan oil of morocco by organix. Once I have applied my conditioner I put on a plastic cap and sit under my hooded drier for 30 minutes or I might leave it overnight depending on my schedule.

• Pre-poo: This step prepares your hair for washing.

It prevents your hair from being stripped while washing and also it adds extra hydration. (Not everyone does this but I like to do it, for extra conditioning)

My Regimen: I usually pre-poo a day before I wash (You don’t have to do it this way you can just pre-poo 30 minutes before you wash.) I have three different methods.

1. First I start by applying warm castrol oil to my scalp for all three methods. Once I have applied it I massage my scalp for about 5 minutes.
2. Then in a bowl I mix olive oil, castrol oil, coconut oil and jojoba oil. I massage some of the mix into my scalp but I use most of it on my hair from roots to end. I saturate it well to make sure every section is covered in the mix. I then put on a plastic cap and leave it overnight or sit under the hooded dryer.
3. Option B is to only use one oil to saturate on my hair.
4. And the last option is to mix in a bowl conditioner with honey and any oil (usually coconut oil) and saturate it onto my hair.

• The Fourth step is a leave in. (You can use your rinse conditioner as a leave in)

Some of my favorites are:
• The Giovanni conditioner I mentioned above
• Kera Care leave-in conditioner
• Shea Moisture- yucca & baobab thickening growth milk
• Kinky Curly- Knot today

For the low porosity hair dolls make sure to heat up all your treatments before applying. Also wash your hair with warm water. DO NOT use the cold rinse as many recommend, that method doesn’t work for low porosity hair. But if you have high porosity hair the cold rinse at the end will probably do you well.

My last recommendation is to start with inexpensive products like the Shea Moisture line. Then work your way up. When you find a product and regimen that works for you stick to it.

This post was a bit long I hope it wasn’t a hassle to read.

Until next time dolls =)