I wear wash and goes religiously but it wasn’t always like this. I mostly wore twist and twist outs and the occasional Bantu knot sets not to mention that I was still wearing my hair straight and blow dried during the cooler seasons ( fall and winter). It wasn’t untill I was eighteen that I began my journey  in how best to go about a wash and go. 

I would literally condition my hair with carrot conditioner or cholesterol conditioner and rinse it our every day. The problem is constant wet hair and 30 degrees don’t mix. I remember someone I was close to at the time told me that my hair looked great but maybe wet hair wasn’t the best option. Of course I didn’t listen I kept at it and good thing because now  I wear wash and goes all year around.

The first problem that I needed to fix was finding out what products worked well for me.    Finding out the right products was ground zero, or should I say finding out what kind of products worked best for me. So here is the thing pink lotion wasn’t going to work for me. Pink lotion  just didn’t hold my curls and some of the other gels I was using would flake so that was out.

Every hair type is different but for me leave in conditioner is what did the trick. I was completely clueless until I tried Cantu for the first time. I mean I used grease once but it didn’t hold of course like duh well in hindsight. I would use oil or Shea butter but the missing element was the leave in. That was over five years ago.

My second problem was that I couldn’t walk around with wet hair everyday. So the answer to that was how could I get next day hair third day hair and so on. The key was in how I was sleeping. I started sleeping cute. If you don’t know what sleeping cute is it’s putting your hands under your chin and sleeping on your stomach so that you don’t smash your hair and you wake up real cute aka sleeping cute. Well the crane in my neck said that wasn’t going to last long.

I tried pushing my hair out of the way and sleeping on my arm or  using a  small pillow but we all know that didn’t work. I tried just putting a scarf on with my hair loose underneath  and trying to savage it in the morning after it was all smashed(insert side eye here). I would even twist it every night. It just seemed like a lot of work until I tried the pineapple. At first I didn’t like it so much, but then I added a silk scarf and pillow case and it was a game changer. I just kept my edges moisturised and I was able to get to day five and at times day six and seven hair (with a little touching up here and there).

Maintaining my wash and goes in the winter require a little more time management. If I just can’t bare going out with wet hair I just style the night before or in enough time that it is mostly dry before I leave out. I still have a bad habit of  walking out with wet or damp hair at times  but its no longer on the daily. I know that none of the things that I stated to do are new and you probably already do them. Here is the point I’m making  I didn’t always have it all figured out and its okay if you don’t either.

I walked around with more frizz then curls at times and honestly I would say it was worth it. Learning to value myself whether my hair was how I planned or not was important.  Starting my day with a head full of curls and having someone compliment me on my afro once I got to my destination taught my how to be humble. My experiences made me appreciative of my natural hair no matter what state it’s in. Confidence is key and you must have a lot of it to love your self just as God has made you. Remember, be happy, be curly, and you will never fail!