Hair Wash Day pt. I

I decided to blog today about how to wash African hair (unaltered or relaxed) because I think it is extremely to know how to wash our hair and keep it in tip-top condition.

As a lot of us already know, this matter is one of great controversy and most times confusion. Over the years a lot of wash theories and methods have been bandied – wash once a week, wash every fortnight, co-wash (shampoo-less ‘washing’, done only with a conditioner), pre-poo (pre-shampoo), and dry washing (washing without water – don’t know how this was achieved, but I reckon it’ll be fun to watch!),  to name a few.

While I understand that everyone has different hair needs and that there will always be exceptions, what I intend to do today is give you an idea of what I do and how it works for me and for other people I help out.

Because of the wealth of information available, I’ll split this into 2 sections starting with how to wash natural hair.

Washing Miss Boo’s hair

My beautiful niece is 5 years old and has natural 4B type hair that's grown past her shoulders (check out your hair type here.) Thankfully, her parents intend to keep it that way – natural.

I got to spend a couple of days with them, and was asked by her mom to help with her hair. Here are the steps we took:

• The first thing we did was release the hair from the afro-puffs she had. I did not comb her hair at this stage because it was very dry.
• To start the wash, I made sure the water was tepid, and not too hot, as too hot water could further dry out the hair. I ran the water over her hair several times to remove the residue and dregs.
• Then I conditioned gently using Revlon Flex Conditioner. I applied this in sections allowing it to permeate the hair, while lightly massaging the scalp.
• After rinsing out the conditioner, I shampooed the hair with Crème of Nature Kiwi & Citrus Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo once. I worked it through the hair from the roots up, starting with a light scalp massage.
• I rinsed out the shampoo, gently squeezing out excess water. Then I applied Elvive Smooth Intense Anti- Frizz conditioner. I mixed this with a light/mild protein treatment  - I used Xheken Capilar, but any ol’ mild protein treatment will do. I divided her hair into four sections and worked the conditioner and protein treatment into her hair gently. When a section was fully saturated, I used a wide tooth comb starting from the roots and working my way up to the ends. After combing through each section, the hair was held with section clips.
• After the conditioning/protein treatment process, her hair was rinsed generously with tepid water.
• Subsequent to the final rinse, I applied several water based moisturisers generously to her hair, starting from the roots and working my way upwards.
• Then, I applied sweet almond oil to her hair, to seal in moisture.
• Her hair was then left to air dry a little bit.

She had her hair plaited after that and it was very easy to manage because it was fully moisturised. Half way through when it started to dry out, I applied JOHNSONS® BUDDIES™ Easy-comb Detangler, which kept it adequately moisturised and without tangles.

...part 1 of 2