Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Seriously, I don’t like winter. Not even a bit. What can we do? It’s part of life this side of the world. I honestly wish I lived in some tropical island where it’s warm to hot all year round and the air has moisture for both my skin and my hair. My only problem will be shrinkage of my afro which to me is not a problem at all.
Simple protective styles
So, when Johannesburg dry, cold winter takes over, my hair and skin routine kind of has to change as well. I rely on more heavier products like Shea butter to seal moisture on my hair and skin. On my hair, I really go product heavy on Shea butter also because I do a lot of protective styling and go at least a week without washing my hair. As much as I still spray my hair, I’ve noticed a lot of dryness when I go light on the sealing, which is the final product I apply on my hair before styling.
There are products I try and avoid applying to my hair in winter as well. As much as my hair loves these products, rather, ingredients in summer, in winter it’s a complete no no. If you track how your hair is behaving through out the year, you may also notice the need to change products during different seasons. Will go more in detail in another post on that.
This year’s routine is a little bit different because I am not doing any braids or twists using fibre. So, the protective styling that I will be doing is different. I’m kind of figuring it out as I go along, because, sometime I feel like wigs and then at some point I just want to do simple protective styles with my ends tucked away. So, I cannot say for now what I will be doing mostly with my hair.
So, the routine I will be following is more like this.
Day 1 ~ Wash day. Wash hair at the salon (yes, I have become lazy like that.) or at home. Detangle and do chunky twists/braids/yarn plaits to stretch my hair.
Day 2 ~ Take out the stretching phase hairstyle and do a more presentable protective style. Most times, my hairstyles turn out better on stretched hair, especially the parts. I struggle to keep clean parts on wet hair.
Day 3 to 7 ~ Spray my hair with a water based spray daily and cover my hair when going to sleep. If I have access to my scalp more, apply Nashe Organics Hair Grow Scalp balm to my scalp. It helps me to go at least 2 weeks without having to wash the hair or at least not to use shampoo when I wash it because my scalp will be somewhat clean. No dandruff, no itching and no buildup. Because it is Shea butter based, I can even go for a month with no dandruff bothering me.
Day 8 ~ More like day 1 if my hair was in a short term protective hairstyle. Wash day again. If in a longer term protective hairstyle, the day 3 to 7 activities will continue until I take it out and it’s wash day. Sometimes, when I’m in twists or braids, I wash my hair in them. Yes they become awfully old and very unsightly to wear in public. Then, I grab one of my wigs or maybe 2 or 3 and switch them around daily to cover my hair until I remove the unsightly hairstyle. Reader take note, I’m not loyal to a wig for a full day. Because I work from home most of the times, I can actually change a wig if I am no feeling it mid day.
Afro textured wig.
That’s all. Simple right? Simplifying my hair care routine is something I have horned over the 10 years I’ve been natural. I know there’s a lot of room for improvement. So, I would like to read your thoughts. How have you simplified your hair care routine to allow you not to be ruled(read controlled) by your hair?
Here are some tutorials for simple hairstyles that you can watch and if up to it, do the hairstyle on your hair. Please subscribe, leave a comment and share my content if you enjoy it. There maybe someone in your contacts list who may enjoy it as well.