Routine Tweaks!

For the past few months, I have been trying some new things with my hair routine and thought I'd share. Now, I don't measure my hair but when I last straightened it about a month ago, the back was slightly below my bra strap and the front stretched to about the collar bone. It seems that as my hair gets longer, it gets harder to deal with and I was beginning to dread wash days.

While it was straight, I took the time to cut out some single strand knots. It seemed that for a while, they had become the bane of my existence! I was getting more and more of the little buggers and did not know what to do. On top of that, my scalp was not reacting well to the cold weather. I felt like a hot mess!

So, I decided it was silly to continue doing the same things to my hair and expecting different results. But the last thing I wanted was to devote more time to doing my hair. I abhor sitting under the dryer for long periods of time and the thought of spending my entire Saturday walking around deep conditioning seemed out of the question. (I guess you just get lazy and lose enthusiasm after a decade?) So I decided to try some other tweaks to see if they made a difference.

Here's what I've been trying lately:

1. Wash in two halves. Simple I know. But for some reason I have resisted the wash/condish in sections mantra that seems to be so useful for other naturals. Well, it has made all the difference in the world. When my hair was shorter, washing my whole head with all my hair loose was no big deal. But as my hair gets longer and longer, washing one half at a time really cuts down on the tangling and knotting. This is a must for naturals once hair gets past sholder-length for sure!

2. Detangling in the shower. Well, after I wash each half I apply a slippery conditioner and run a bit of water over the section to make everything even more slippery. I take a wide toothed comb and detangle one half at a time. I used to be obsessed with using my denman or a detangling comb to go over every inch but now as long as I get the big tangles out, the rest I can work through as I twist. My detangling time went from 30 minutes to about 3. And yes, that is without me ripping or breaking a bunch of hairs.

3. Apply oil to my scalp after I apply the conditioner in the shower. Well, once I have detangled and both sections are secured with a ponytail holder, I just take one down, take a bottle of oil (olive, almond, grapeseed, whatever) and apply oil to my scalp. I section off portions of my hair with my fingers to expose the scalp and simply add the oil. Once I have gone through one half of my head, I massage with the pads of my fingers then twist the section up, securing with an elastic. I repeat this on the other side then proceed to finish the showering process. Finally, when I rinse I am left with super conditioned hair as well as a lubricated scalp which eliminates me having to add oil when I get out and style. This step has really helped with my dry scalp issues over time. I read on one site that too much added oil could actually feed the bacteria that cause some scalp problems, resulting in even more flakes. I feared I was excessively oiling my scalp and exacerbating the issue. Now, my scalp is lubricated and flake free without being overly oily.

4. Stretching the hair. Again, when my hair was shorter, this was a step that felt very optional. Now it is required to keep me from losing hair and my sanity. I don't bother anymore with doing small twists while my hair is wet. I do about 12 total, working on one half of my head at a time. Again working in halves has saved my hair and my ends. I lose far less hair and styling is done in about 30 minutes versus the 1-1.5 hrs I spent in the past. I was over detangling and over twisting. Now, once the 12 large twists dry, I can twist in smaller sections if I choose. Also, drying hair in larger sections means less coils to get tangled on each other. Bigger equals looser and that equals retention for me.

5. Shea butter for my ends when wet/damp. I'll admit it. I got lazy with this one step and my ends have screamed at me in protest. They were splitting and knotting like crazy! I kept wondering what the heck was going on and now I know I was not taking the time to seal them after each wash. Now, I make sure I apply a pea sized amount, melted between my fingers, to the end of each big twist as I prepare the stretched style. When my ends dry, they are smooth and less likely to tangle on each other or knot up. I cannot neglect to do this or it's back to splitsville.

So, long story short, these few tweaks have totally changed my hair. Less time spent, less energy wasted, healthier scalp, and better ends and length retention. I feel like I'm back in control of this mane and it no longer controls me....or my weekends!

What if any routine tweaks have you recently made that you can share for the good of the group?