Hi people, what's been on!

So, wash day has come and gone....drama-free! As you already know, I wash my hair once in 3- 4 weeks. 

My wash days focus on cleansing my scalp and thoroughly infusing moisture into my hair.

My hair texture is of the 'fine' variety. Not fine as in pretty, but fine as in my strands are not thick. 

The older and longer my hair gets, the more fragile they become. So my wash day is not only trying to have a clean hair and scalp but also trying to avoid as much damage as I can while strengthening my hair.

For this reason, the oiling method I've adopted stays in my life forever!

 I've also kind of phased out the use of shampoos in my regimen by making several changes.

- I try to avoid ingredients that will require me to use a shampoo to remove them.

 This means no insoluble silicones, no heavy waxes, no petrolatum, no mineral oils...in fact anything that is insoluble in water! 

I'm really careful about this so read my ingredient list thoroughly.

- I try not to be heavy handed with products. This is so as to prevent my hair from being a dust and dirt magnet! I favour products that give me at least two days moisturizing, can be refreshed by spraying clean water and of course can easily be rinsed off with water.

- I try to keep my hair covered especially when I'm on the road.

A cowash cleanser is my staple cleansing product. I occasionally use bentonite or rhassoul clay as natural hair cleansers but since they can be messy, I only use them when I have a very free weekend. A cowash cleanser works better for me. I've tried several co-wash cleansers but the best cowash cleansers for me so far are:

 I always have one or the other in my stash. What makes these cowashes stand out are:

- They clean my hair thoroughly without residue. 

No moisturizing coat of anything. This is why I also avoid all those body washes with "ribbons of moisturiser". No thanks. I'm looking for clean.

- They don't dry out my hair. Not at all! My hair feels squeaky clean but supple. My coils boing like never before! I can't explain it! Clean but boingy.

- They have amazing slip! If you have tightly curled hair, you'll know that a product with good slip is everything! With a good slip, you can rule the world!!! Okay, you can detangle like a dream!

I may finally bump into other products that may give me results but these three are lit!

I usually detangle with my fingers first and then a wide tooth comb like the Hercules Sagemann pictured above. It's a seamless comb with rounded teeth so there's less likelihood of your hair snagging on rough surfaces. It's worth investing in.

After I cowash my hair, I deep condition. Depending on how long or short I can afford my wash day to be, I'll deep condition using heat (longer washday) or just use a deep conditioner I can leave in (short). 

While I really do miss my Shea Moisture African Black Purification Masque (reviewed here), the replacement - Sheamoisture African Black Soap Dandruff Control Masque works well enough as a deep conditioner and thick leave-in conditioner for me. 

That's just where I think it has one up on the former.

I rinse out the deep conditioner using a conditioner or cowash cleanser. In this case, I used Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10 in 1 Renewal System Conditioner. I think it's a pointless effort shampooing off a deep conditioner.

 It just leaves my hair feeling dry.

After the deep conditioning step and before the leave in conditioning step, I blot my hair dry using the Cantu Microfibre Towel I was gifted at their meetup and then apply NappyGirl Growth Enhancing Oil to my hair and scalp.

This stuff is amazing!

I can't ever not talk about this!!!! It strengthens my fine hair and also helps it retain moisture better. A little goes a long way too. (Here's how I used it to grow my hair waist length!!!)

I transferred some into the darker bottle to make it easier to apply. It came originally in a spray bottle but I'm thinking spray bottles and wet hands don't work well for me.

Right now, I'm using SheaMoisture Curl Memory Leave-In Conditioner.

My first impressions are it works very well with Ecostyler gel for wash and gos and it softens it up so my hair doesn't dry crunchy.

If I'm not doing a wash and go, I stretch my hair with twists. Thanks to wigs, I can make 6-8 twists and allow them to dry gradually under the wig and still look good.

After a week when my twists are completely dry, I would rock a curly well-defined twist out or my hair will be stretched enough for any updo I like.

(Here's my favourite updo)

I use the Aphogee Tea Tree Reconstructor as a refresher spray to hydrate my hair in between washes. It contains hydrolysed keratin and green tea extracts so does double duty as a mild protein treatment and prevent excessive shedding.

Thus ends my wash day!