Written by Daniela
Image by @Theouai
It’s that dreaded time of the week again – wash day, ugh! From pre-shampooing & shampooing to deep conditioning and detangling, wash day can be so time consuming and exhausting. I know the natural hair girlies are going through it!
Even though more effort is required to wash natural hair, your technique in each step will determine how long your wash day takes. Here are 5 easy wash day tips to improve your wash day experience and massively cut down on the time spent focussed on your tresses…
1) Prepoo after protective styling
Let’s be honest, prepooing adds an extra step to the wash day that most naturals would rather not take, myself included. However, they come in handy after taking down a protective style or when your hair is matted. Using a prepoo before washing helps to detangle the hair and get rid of all that hair you shed while its in your protective style. Skipping this step causes the detangling process when deep conditioning to be more time consuming as shampooing without removing shed hair first causes more matting. My favourite prepoo is by African Pride, a MUST get!
2) Work in sections
Spending all that effort to detangle beforehand just to ball it all in one is almost a waste in time. Natural hair tangles easily so doing this will have you spending just as much time as you did detangling the first time. To avoid this, I recommend working in sections throughout your wash day. The number of sections depend on the density and length of your hair, but the key is each section should be easily manageable.
3) Shampoo hair downwards
We grew up seeing our mothers scrunching our hair while shampooing, some salons still shampoo that way to this date. This method causes so much unnecessary tangling, leading to a longer detangling session. Instead, try holding the length of the hair and massage the scalp with shampoo then work the shampoo down your hair. Your hair will be elongated giving it less time to wrap around itself hence less detangling needed and less time spent on wash day.
4) Use a deep conditioner with slip
A deep conditioner with lots of slip is music to a natural’s ears! The task of detangling can be a challenging one, especially if your hair was extremely tangled before. A deep conditioner with slip galore can help to melt those knots and tangles away quicker, leaving your hair not only manageable but moisturised and ready for the week ahead. A few of my faves are the Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Mask, Palmer’s Length Retention Deep Conditioner and Beautyfest by AF Bring Me Back to Life 3 in 1 Hydrating Hair Deep Conditioner.
5) Apply leave-in conditioner in the shower
You’ve rinsed out your deep conditioner and ready to step out of the shower – but wait, not so quick. My last tip for an easier wash day is to apply your leave in conditioner in the shower. I recently added this to my wash day routine and it has been a game changer! It not only allows you to use less product, but it leaves your hair way more moisturized. It also saves time as applying it outside of the shower which might have you needing to rehydrate your hair with water (my high porosity naturals can relate). This tip is slept on but definitely worth the try.
Hair care is not a one size fits all. Everyone’s hair is different and ultimately the onus is on you to find what works best. These tips are general so you can tweak it as you like to move from dreading to loving wash days!
