Washday: Relaxed Hair Edition

My hair has been in twists for a week, and I am putting off Washday for at least one more week. With washing, frizz is inevitable and I really have not evolved to the point of liking frizzy twists (but more about this later)

My sister’s friend K asked me to install crochet braids for her. Her hair is relaxed, and she had been wearing a closed weave for one month. She did nothing to her hair the entire time she wore the weave so there was a lot of dandruff, and the hair was really dry and quite brittle. I was not supposed to do the hair prep initially, but I decided to because I figured (and I was right) that her hair would be in bad shape. Plus, I have a bunch of products I’m trying out, and as I no longer have a roommate to co-opt as a fellow guinea pig, I was happy to try them out on her hair. Here’s what happened:

1. I took down her weave and loosened the cornrows.
2. I finger detangled with coconut oil, so you could say this doubled as a pre-poo. As I did this, I sectioned her hair into loose bantu knots.
3. Her hair was really dirty, especially at the scalp, so I shampooed twice with a sulfatey shampoo (Nature’s Gentle Touch Herbal Blend, it has Sodium Laureth Sulphate), focusing on the scalp, and rinsed with warm water.
4. By the time I was done shampooing, I did not have any of the sections I started with, so her hair was tangled again.
5. To detangle and deep condition, I used a generous amount of the accompanying Deep Cholesterol Treatment on her hair. I detangled with a wide tooth comb, and securing each section in a loose bantu knot, I covered her hair with a plastic cap. The plan was to have her wear it for 20 minutes, but she ended up wearing it for 45.
6. I rinsed the Cholesterol treatment off with cool water, and wrapped her hair with an old cotton tee, to soak up the excess.
7. When the hair was damp, I separated it into 4 sections, moisturised generously with the African Naturalistas Moisturising and Detangling Leave-In Conditioner, and sealed with a dab of the Carol’s Daughter Mimosa Hair Honey, giving extra attention to her ends. Her hair absorbed the products really fast.
8. To blow dry, I used a comb attachment, and medium heat. To protect her hair, I applied a small squirt of the Carol’s Daughter Chocolat Smoothing Blow Dry Cream to each section. I also oiled her scalp with coconut oil before giving a final blast of air with the blow dryer.

I loved how her hair felt when I was done, and so did she! It was nice and soft. According to her, her hair had never felt so good. We thank the Lord! ^_^ When I knew nothing about hair care, I only remember the ONE salon visit after which my hair felt amazing. They treated me to a typical Healthy Hair Journey washday but to me it was so brand new. Sadly, it was expensive (cost 5 to 8 times as much as a regular wash and set) and as a student I could not make it a routine. Knowledge is power y’all.

She needs a trim, but I do not feel qualified to give her one. It was my first time using the blow dry cream and the outcome now has me looking forward to the day I will use it on my own hair. I blow dried with ease, her roots were not bone straight, but they were stretched nicely.

I can’t cornrow (yet) so she had to go to a salon to get that done. The next day, I installed kinky extensions for her, crochet braid style. She had used them previously for Kinky twists, so they had some curl definition to them like a twist out. I used a latch hook for this (Available in our blog shop) and it took me 90 minutes.

This post is dedicated to all the unbelievers out there who say caring for natural hair is too much work. I treated her hair to pretty much the same regimen that I treat mine. You should put in this much work (which isn’t a lot really) to your relaxed hair. Read relaxed hair blogs too, and you’ll see that as I did with K, Wash day is a similar process for us all. Just teach yourself to be patient and give your hair a little more attention! I never handled my own hair when it was relaxed, so I was actually surprised by the amount of detangling I had to do with hers.

I considered using an egg for a stronger protein treatment, but I wasn’t sure how her hair would react to it, and I figured the Cholesterol treatment would be okay, as it has Keratin in it. If I get to do her hair again, I will definitely take my chances with more protein.

Tell me about your last Wash day?

Love,

AB,

xx