Making It Work : My Wash Day Routine

How often are you washing your hair?

To me, wash day has always been a necessity. When my hair was relaxed, I had the luxury of getting my hair done weekly by a professional. The regularity of my routine allowed me to maintain the health of my hair with very little thought. Now that my hair is natural weekly sessions with a stylist are not necessary or feasible, but the regularity of caring for my hair and maintaining my wash day routine is still paramount.

I try to be as intentional as possible when it comes to what I do to and for my hair. It is essential to know the unique characteristics of my hair. These characteristics drive my decisions on how I care for my hair, so I’ll share the details of my hair below.

The unique characteristics of my hair

Density: medium to low
Porosity: low to normal
Texture: fine to medium strands
Surface texture: coarse and

To learn more about the unique characteristics of your hair and how to determine what they are, click here

What I’m doing for my hair right now

Total time required: 1hr- 1hr 15 min once a week

My hair care routine is pretty straight forward. Although simple, it meets my hair’s needs, doesn’t require a lot of time, and keeps my hair healthy and hydrated. I guess you’re probably wondering what exactly I’m doing, so here you go.

Cleanse – I wash my hair weekly with shampoo. Shampooing helps to promote the health of my scalp and allows it to flourish. To learn more about shampoo and its benefits click here
Condition – I condition weekly. My conditioners of choice are deep conditioners by Alikay Naturals and Trepadora Curl Therapy. Not one to hop in and out of the shower, I choose to deep condition while showering, allowing the steam of the shower to work in my favor.
Detangle – My tightly coiled curls can tangle easily. As part of my in-shower deep conditioning sessions, it is necessary to detangle my hair while the conditioner is in it. I typically only manipulate my hair once a week, so thorough detangling is a must. The use of a detangling brush helps to make the process faster and easier
Style – Freshly cleansed and detangled hair is a lot easier to style and manipulate. I like to complete my styling process in the shower. This process, to me, is faster than doing it out of the shower and ensures that I use an appropriate amount of water. Once I’m satisfied that my strands have are thoroughly coated with the product I will either air dry or use a diffuser to set my style

To get a closer look at my wash day routine and how I style and manage my hair click here

Things I let go

I gave up on morning routines and nighttime routines. Now I literally shake, fluff, and go! The need to twist my hair at night and restyle my hair in the morning were indications that I wasn’t using the appropriate stylers for my hair. It was also creating stress around having perfect curls and requiring entirely too much of my time, so I let it go.

I alos gave up oiling my scalp and co-washing. These were unnecessary steps in my routine that weren’t improving the health of my hair. The theory that oils penetrating the hair strand to seal in moisture ins a good thing is faulty. It ultimately caused severe dryness for my hair. To learn more about why I gave up theses practices, click here

What I’ve learned by doing this

Hair is hair; the steps I would take to manage my relaxed hair are not different than my natural hair care requirements. We tend to complicate the process because we don’t have a proper understanding or expectation for how our hair should look, feel, and behave. Release your requirements for perfection, release your unrealistic expectations, and learn what it takes to get the healthy hair you desire.

To get more intentional about natural hair experience, learn simplified techniques for healthy hair care, and explore a curated selection of high-quality products that are right for you, visit Bold Kulture Beauty!

Need a more guided approach to wash day? There’s a course for that!