I’ve spent much of the summer trying to figure out what was the best way for me to care for my curls with the least amount of effort, a.k.a looking good while being lazy.  I’ve been asked about sharing an update, so here it is.  There are two things about caring for my curls that have stuck with me from the summer.

The first is that I am hands down a wash and go girl.  I know that braid outs or twist outs help to keep curls organized with fewer tangles, but I still prefer my wash and gos.  I love the look of my natural curl pattern so much better, plus I’m not interested in spending even more time styling my hair.  Once my hair’s sufficiently detangled and moisturized I’m good.  (Of course this changes a little bit later on for reasons explained here!)

The second is that not spending hours on my hair makes me the happiest girl alive.  The days of long hair care sessions for the sake of pampering are just not as exciting for me as they used to be.  I love self care, but in this case I’d rather be taking a nap, and not with a deep conditioning cap on my head in the process.

For much of the summer I’d rinse my hair daily in the shower, finger detangle under running water, and let my curls dry product-free.  I very seldomly added any oils or butters to my hair.  I did try a different shampoo bar which I didn’t really like, and otherwise I stuck with my previous zero waste curly hair care regimen.

The daily rinses kept my hair moisturized, and not using any products, oils, or butters gave me extreme volume which I loved.

Now that the seasons are changing I’ve decided to use a leave-in of some form instead of water only.  I’ve been playing around with making a conditioning moisturizer.  The simplest recipe is just blending 1-2 tablespoons of shea butter to every cup of flaxseed gel.  I use this conditioning moisturizer to detangle and as a leave-in.  Throughout the week I am only using this one product.

I can go a week without even needing to redo my hair if I define and smooth each curl individually by using the shingling technique.

This process takes me 1 1/2 hours to complete on top of the detangling process.  Or I can take the simpler route with a basic wash and go every two days.  I spend only the time it takes to detangle plus 15-20 minutes of styling.  I’m still deciding which way is better in terms of the amount of effort, yet I know my hair thrives best the more that it is fully saturated in water.  In general the more I detangle my hair the shorter the detangling process is.

The only other change is that I’ve started cleansing my hair once a month instead of bi-weekly.  I use the same olive oil soap bar followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse.  I’ve also been consistent with my bi-monthly henna/coconut milk treatments.  Otherwise not much else has changed with my hair regimen.  For more details you can see my zero waste curly hair regimen as well as see how inexpensive these zero waste hair care products used really are.

I’m curious, if you’re a curly girl do you prefer to set your hair once during the week, or wash and style frequently throughout the week?

(Image by Dawn Michelle)

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