The Washday Experience: Making the Best of What You Have

Hey guys!

It’s Monday, it’s a new week, a new month, and I’m excited. I have a very good feeling about the month of March, and I’m extra extra excited for Naturals in The City 10, happening on Saturday! I hope I’ll be seeing you! ^.^

The theme for this meet-up is Making The Best of What You Have and this morning, I realised with gladness that I successfully did quite a bit of improvising last week, with my hair and in the kitchen.

I washed my hair last Monday, intending to twist it when I had more time, at the end of the week. I didn’t want to manipulate my hair in any way, so I spent the week in my mother’s pashminas. I wrapped as my spirit led me and it led me to tie two new styles that I quite liked. My regular Turban style doesn’t look so good when my hair is flattened.

Fake-Serious. I was going to a meeting.

Sunny Saturday & I was feeling bright!

By Saturday, I was ready to twist but I could not. My hair smelled a little stale (EWWW lol) From going out into the hot sun with my head wrapped tight, and being indoors with a satin bonnet on and no AC (thank you, PHCN!), my hair had not had much space to breathe. I am determined to carry these twists for at least 4 weeks, so twisting slightly unclean hair just doesn’t sound right even though I’d still wash my hair while wearing the twists.

So. What To Do??

I didn’t want to shampoo, or cowash. My hair wasn’t dirty, I just needed it to feel fresh. I needed something that would be good for my hair as well as my scalp. I thought- mudwash? And then- nahhhh. I had no Aloe Vera Juice or honey to mix my bentonite clay with as I normally do. Mudwashes can be drying if not mixed with the right ingredients, and that was the only way I knew how. Coincidentally, Dumsy of Grow! Growing! Grown! tweeted me at that moment about mudwashing. After talking about it for a bit with her, I thought, why not? Afterall, I had the most important element, bentonite clay itself.

I poured some clay into a small bathroom bowl, and added my oils: JBCO and olive oil. My Thayer’s Rose Petal  Witch Hazel Astringent has some Aloe Vera Juice and glycerine in it lol so I started pouring that too, but stopped myself after like 30 seconds because pleeeease! I’m not ready to buy another bottle for 3000 naira. ( ._.)

So I went to the fridge and I found a bottle of Forever Aloe Living Orange Flavoured Aloe Vera Juice. Lord knows I would have used it, but again, thank you NEPA, it looked like it had gone bad, so I trashed it. I took one last look and found a miserable looking bottle of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar in the fridge pocket lol and decided to risk it, despite my not great experience with ACV in the past.

Winning!

Clay + Oils + ACV (+ like a tablespoon of Thayers Astringent) went into the bowl. I had no plastic spoon, so I mixed it with my hands. It was really lumpy but I did not care. No photos because I was too busy struggling to make it work!

I wet my chunky twists a bit, and twist by twist, I smoothed the mudwash into my hair, and rubbed it onto my scalp. I covered with a shower cap and went to finish with dinner. By the time I was done, about forty minutes later, I stepped into the shower to rinse. I don’t have a shower mirror, so I took my time with the showerhead, rinsing until the water leaving my hair was clear.

Scalp clean now, my coils were happy, hydrated, and poppin! My hair was BUTTER SOFT, touching it felt like eating white chocolate, I’m not even playing!

When I try a Wash N’ Go again, it’s definitely going to be after a mudwash!

I barely needed any detangling because it was stretched in twists all week, but I’d like you to know that mudwashes always leave me with tangle free hair.

I finished off with chunky twists after applying Cantu Leave-In Conditioning Repair Cream and Carol’s Daughter Mimosa Hair Honey. You can say that I did the L.O.C method- Liquid Oil Cream, using the sealant before my creamy leave-in, but it wasn’t intentional. I usually go with the leave-in first, and then seal, but my hair didn’t feel any different. *shrug*

Since I got my trim, it has been hard to hold my hair in chunky twists because I don’t have any thin ends to secure them. Again, I improvised. After chunky twisting, I pinned the twists down like so:

Not the best picture but you get the idea?

I oiled the spaces between sections with the Wild Growth Hair Oil. I should commit to using this oil consistently for a while and see what happens. I do not have any expectations though. 🙂

Currently wearing my hair like this, about to put on another headwrap and head out to drop off an order (yes, you can now shop our favourite things here)  but I shall twist my hair tonight, or tomorrow!

I hope you have a great week! To leave you with a quote like my favourite fake journalist Mary Jane Paul:

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. (Arthur Ashe)

Love,

AB,

xx

P.S. You really should consider trying a mud wash! I wrote about my First Mudwash in detail here.