Today, I want to give you 5 keys to mastering your wash and go. Despite what you may have heard, natural hair isn’t hard. Natural hair only seems hard when you don’t have the right information to care for your hair. Washday doesn’t have to last all day. Washday really can be wash hour (Thank you @iamblackgirlcurls). If you’re a natural, the only thing separating you from a successful wash and go routine is information and resources. As a born again natural, I’m here to help point you in the right direction to those who have helped me along my journey. So, without any further delay, here are 5 keys to mastering your wash and go:
Education
The number one key to mastering your wash and go routine is education. In a previous post, I told you all about my natural hair mis-education, courtesy of YouTube University. The ladies from @iamblackgirlcurls truly have been a Godsend to the natural hair community. Just about everything I know about properly caring for my natural hair I learned from these two ladies. When it comes to natural hair education, you need to learn from someone who knows what he or she is talking about. You want someone who has invested the time and money into learning his or her craft. Find someone who has logged hundreds of hours at the shampoo bowl, caring for hundreds of heads of hair. Don’t let anybody fool you – a tight curl professional is worth his or her weight in gold. Take it from me, you need professional guidance because you don’t know what you don’t know.
When I joined @iamblackgirlcurls’ 30-day hair detox challenge back in 2021, I had no idea I had been making so many terrible mistakes with my hair, from product choices to application to trying to trim my own hair (yikes)! Proper education is key to mastering your wash and go. Aside from @iamblackgirlcurls, @protectedbylisahh_ and @yesherstudio are two more stylists that provide great natural hair education.
Product
Product is another key to mastering your wash and go. When @iamblackgirlcurls took us through the 30-day hair detox challenge, they told us to avoid products with shea butter, coconut oil and castor oil in the first five ingredients of our products. As I combed through the products in my bathroom, everything was poorly formulated and laced with these ingredients.
A lot of Black women have lamented the idea of returning to their natural roots due to the cost of natural hair care products. How many of us have heard women say, “Being natural is too expensive.” That statement is only true when you’re dealing with poorly formulated products. When you start using salon quality products, it changes everything. You’ll see the difference in how your hair behaves, how long your product lasts and how much money you’re saving on high quality products. If you truly want to master your wash and go, you have to commit to using quality products. If you don’t know where to start, please do yourself a favor and head on over to @iamblackgirlcurls so they can help you.
Technique
Sis, let me tell you something. You can have the best product in the world, but if your technique is trash, your wash and go will be too. Technically technique could fall under the education category, but I’m breaking it out unto itself so just go with it.
Technique covers things such as, emulsifying your product before putting it onto your hair (i.e. rubbing it together), making sure you’re using enough water in your hair during your styling process, also, making sure you’re conditioning your hair properly. Yes, there’s a right and a wrong way to condition your hair. A couple of weeks ago @iamblackgirlcurls posted a reel on how to properly condition your hair. Did you know you should apply conditioner from the tips of your hair towards the roots and that you shouldn’t get conditioner on your scalp? Me either! Until @iamblackgirlcurls got ahold of me, I also didn’t know I needed to set my wash and go with heat by either sitting under a hooded dryer or using a diffuser.
Technique also covers how you choose to protect your hair at night, when you go to bed. Some women wear nothing and sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase and call it a night. Personally, I’m not brave enough, nor do I trust myself or my sleep habits enough to try that one. I had been wearing a sleep turban, but it was causing me to sweat, thus disrupting my style. I switched back to a scarf and that seemed to work better. Properly preserving your hair at night is all part of the technique you use to get the best out of your natural tresses.
Partnering With a Professional
Partnering with a professional is a huge key to mastering your wash and go. Trust me when I tell you, you need a professional to shape your hair so you’re not out here looking crazy. You can have the education, product and technique down, but without a defined shape, your hair is going to look messy. I also noticed once I partnered with a professional, I stopped getting fairy knots at the end of my hair.
YouTube University had many of us thinking we could trim and style our hair at home. You can’t see the back of your own head and if you think you can cut hair better than a professional, think again. Most professionals don’t even cut their own hair – they go to other stylists for that.
A professional also understands hair health, something we as non-stylists don’t. When I went to my last appointment in January 2023, my stylist said something so profound, I’m not sure she even realized it. We were talking about split ends and regular hair trims and she said, “When you have split ends and you don’t cut them off, your hair is eating itself.” I had never thought of split ends that way. Normally, we try to hold on to length for appearances, but a stylist brings the proper perspective when it comes to hair health and maintenance. If education is the main key to mastering your wash and go, pairing with a professional is definitely the second biggest key.
Time
The final key to mastering your wash and go is time. Give yourself time to learn and master product application and technique. Give your hair time to get healthy. Don’t compare your hair growth results to anyone else’s. You have to remember that you’ve probably spent years, if not decades, slathering the wrong products on your hair, not getting regular trims, etc. It will take time for your hair to adjust to a new regiment, so be patient. Don’t throw in the towel because your hair hasn’t grown down your back in a year. Commit to regular maintenance, a regular hair care routine and watch your hair flourish.
Are you team wash and go? If not, would you try it? Drop a comment below. Please share this post if you found it to be useful.
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