#BackToBasics 4 - This Is What Your Washday Should Look like

If you have read my last post, by now you know that you can't just get into the shower, wash your hair with any shampoo-like thing, vigorously dry your hair with a towel and slap on whatever greasy cream you have on hand.

This week's post is going to breakdown what a proper wash day should look like once you embark on a healthy hair journey.

A proper wash day will consist of:

• Pre-poo
• Detangling
• Shampoo/co wash
• Protein treatment (optional)
• Deep moisture treatment
• Leave-In treatment
• Style

THE PRE-POO

The pre-poo simply refers to any treatment done before you shampoo your hair.

A pre-poo is meant to prepare the hair for the process of shampooing, conditioning and all such that is meant to come after. It prevents hygral fatigue on your hair strands. [Hygral Fatigue is when the hair shaft swells excessively in the presence of water. This causes the cuticle of the hair to lift which can change the uniformity of that layer and lead to splits in the hair shaft during the drying process]. 

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An ideal, regular pre-poo treatment consists of a combination of oils. The most recommended oil is heated extra virgin coconut oil. Coconut oil acts like protein to the hair strands. It penetrates each hair strand, fortifying and strengthening it to prepare it for the manipulation and handling of wash day.

If you would like to mix oils, extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil, castor oil and an optionally an essential oil is a perfect combination to boost your hair strands right before you wash.

Some people use conditioners or homemade treatments as a pre-poo. Well, that is also okay however if that is too stressful for you, oils still get the job done.

The pre-poo treatment should be left in for at least 30 minutes or better still overnight.

DETANGLING

Yes its okay to drool over all that hair. lol!

Detangling your hair is a very very necessary step. Detangling your hair means that you get rid of tangles and snags section by section, curl by curl until your whole head is totally free of tangles. detangling makes handling your hair a loooooootttt easier through the wash process.

Detangling is best done on semi-dry hair. By the time you have done a pre-poo, your hair should be moist enough to detangle. If your hair is too dry or too wet you risk breakage.

You are also to use your fingers and a wide tooth comb. Never use a fine tooth comb. In fact, throw away all you fine tooth combs as you read this.

Improper detangling causes a lot of breakage. If you don't do it right it will do more harm than good.

                                                  

SHAMPOOING / COWASH 

Shampooing hair (like i said in my last post) should be done only once a month or at most once in two weeks if necessary

We need to understand the purpose of washing hair. Washing the hair is not always to remove dirt. Sometimes you need to wash your hair just to replenish the moisture level, keep the hair soft and pliable and achieve moisture balance.

A shampoo is meant to be used to remove product build up only and not always to clean the hair

let me explain product build up for a minute.

If you moisturize and seal your hair every day or every two days as required. you use a minimum of two products.

Over the week or two weeks or more these product tend to build up in your hair, attracting dust from the environment and resulting in you hair feeling gunky and possibly heavy. After some time this acts as a barrier against the effectiveness of your hair products. Your hair will begin to look dull, feel limp and will loose moisture faster. You could also have itchy scalp.

Depending on the level of build up and when last you shampooed your hair, a shampoo might be necessary for washing your hair. At this stage it is best to use a clarifying shampoo A clarifying shampoo effectively removes build up from your scalp and is more effective for this than a normal sulphate-free shampoo. However using a shampoo too frequently will cause your hair to become dry because of the stripping effect. It will strip your hair of sebum. Sebum is the natural oil that is produced by the skin. this oil is produced by the scalp as well and travels down your hair shaft keeping it healthy and shiny.

If your hair is stripped too frequently it can result in dryness or breakage.

Shampooing your hair once a month doesn't mean that you will only wash your hair once a month. Your are to co-wash in between shampoo washes. Co-wash simply means washing the hair with a conditioner just like you use a shampoo. This should be done weekly or at least once in two weeks. This keeps your moisture levels balanced and does a light cleansing of your scalp and strands.

*Stay away form shampoos that have sulphates

PROTEIN TREATMENT

Hair is made up of keratin. Keratin is a type of protein. The hair requires regular protein boosts using treatments.

A protein treatment could be made in your kitchen or bought off a store shelf but whichever one you choose to use, make sure it is effective enough to get the job done.

this step was labelled optional because it should be done only once a month to keep the hair balanced. If done too frequently or incorrectly your hair tends to get hard and become difficult to handle and breaks off.

Importantly, when doing a protein treatment be sure to read the instructions of use before applying to your hair.

Notice how i'm always referring to breakage? well that is because breakage is the problem most people deal with and that is the most common bane of healthy natural hair. In short, that is why your hair is not long

DEEP CONDITIONING

You must follow up every protein treatment with a deep moisture conditioner to balance out your protein-moisture level.

A deep conditioner as opposed to a moisture conditioner is to be left in for a longer period of time. At least 30 minutes is the recommended time and your treatment will work better if you apply heat while still in your hair.

LEAVE-IN TREATMENT 

A leave-in treatment is a conditioning treatment left in your hair as a final step of your wash day. This is usually labelled "leave in treatment" or "leave in conditioner". It helps to retain the moisture you have acquired from your wash day. It comes in form of a cream or spray.

After applying your leave-in treatment it is advisable to seal in lightly with an oil or a butter. This seals in all the moisture you just did all that hard work for. By sealing in, you create a barrier that prevents the moisture from escaping from your hair into the environment. This means your hair stays moisturized for longer. 

STYLING

How you style your hair post-wash is important. You are to let your hair air-dry in a stretched state. You could employ styles like 

 - Chunky braids

 - Chunky twists

 - Chunky threading

This steps keeps your hair stretched and prevents it from shrinking up and tangling again.

Other important tips:

You are to keep in mind that blow drying or flat ironing your hair is not advisable. Frequent use of heat will damage your curls. Direct heat is not a friend of healthy hair.

Find ways to keep your hair stretched without use of heat.

After rinsing between each step do not use a towel to clean your hair. Use a microfiber towel if you must use one or a cotton t shirt. Bend over back ward or forward and wrap your hair with your preferable tool. Do not rub vigorously or scrunch up. If you must squeeze your hair in sections at a time to remove excess water.

Go through each steps in sections. Working with your hair in sections for every thing makes it less overwhelming especially if your hair is long.

You are able to reach every area of your head when applying you treatments and you also use less products than if you were trying to saturate your whole hair at once.

However if you are rocking a little fro, its okay to deal with your whole hair as one.

In my next few posts I will handle each of these steps in-depth one after the other. Teaching you methods and how-tos' possibly with videos and pictures to help.

I know you have questions. use the comment section as a platform to air them out. I will answer each one as much as I can. Others could learn from your questions too.

I am working on self-help videos. In a few weeks I will be uploading a few these videos so that you can watch and learn from how I handle my hair.

until my next post.......

Peace. Love. Healthy fro'