No More Wash Day Dread: Here’s A Simple Hair Reset
While wash day can be a great time for relaxation and self-care, your hair wash day routine can sometimes feel daunting. The very idea of spending hours on your hair can cause you to push it off. And that’s neither advantageous nor supportive of your hair.
Well, there’s no need to dread wash day because of the hours you think may be sucked out of your day.
Below you’ll find a simple hair wash day routine that you can do in under 2 hours.
Benefits of a Simple Hair Wash Day Reset
There’s more than one reason you may want to do a simple (or abbreviated) wash day. You could be tired, lazy, not used to the routine, or just short on time. Regardless of your reason, there are benefits to a simple routine for washing your hair. These include:
- Keeping you on track to care for your hair, since you know the routine will be simple
- Making room for other priorities without sacrificing the health of your hair
- Developing consistency
- Being able to do less since less manipulation, means less risk of hair breakage
- Making your hair care feel more like self-care since you’ll stress less about wash day
- Building good hair care habits since the steps aren’t overwhelming
- Being able to more easily adjust or troubleshoot concerns since you’re doing the bare minimum
- Simply, saving time
Must-Have Products for a Streamlined Routine
When it comes to doing a simplified routine for washing your hair, there are certain products you just need for it to go off without a hitch.
Here’s a simple list of essentials (the holy grail bare minimum hair products) that work well for fine natural hair without weighing it down or overwhelming your strands:
- cleansing conditioner
- lightweight conditioner that can double as a detangler or leave-in
- jojoba oil or argan oil (both lightweight… jojoba being less expensive)
That’s it. Remember, this is about getting it done quickly.
Read this: for a full wash day checklist
Quick Pre-Wash Prep That Makes All the Difference
A little prepping goes a long way. These two steps before you wash your natural hair can help reduce breakage and speed up your routine.
- The night before you wash your hair, work a bit of conditioner throughout your hair to help loosen up tangles.
- Lightly finger detangle and secure hair in 1-2 large twists or a bun. You can alternatively do 2 large braids, but they require more manipulation to do. It depends on how tangled your hair is.
The 7-Step Simple Hair Wash Day Blueprint
The purpose of this simple hair wash day is for it to be fast. So, there will be some steps you won’t do that you should normally do.
This isn’t to take the place of a full wash day where you need to deep condition with heat or do a protein treatment. This routine is for when you either don’t have time or you just don’t feel like doing your hair.
It will help you to at least maintain the health of your hair until you can invest more time in it. Please don’t make this take the place of a normal weekly routine.
If you’ve done the prep work, these simple wash day steps should be easy:
- In the shower, rinse your hair with warm water.
- Using your fingers, section your hair into two sections (4 if you have a lot of density).
- Cleanse each section with a cleansing conditioner.
- Allow the cleansing conditioner to sit in your hair for a few minutes before rinsing, while you are doing your shower routine, which will make detangling much easier.
- Mix (in advance) a lightweight oil with your leave-in conditioner and apply it throughout your hair
- Quickly run your hair under the shower to remove about 80% of the conditioner/oil mix
- Style
Step 6 not only saves you time. It also helps keep your natural hair moisturized and manageable.
Simple Styling Options That Save Time
Styling your natural hair also doesn’t have to take hours. These go-to styles are low-manipulation, protective, and perfect for keeping your coils cute and cared for all week.
You can do your hairstyles on damp hair, but preferably on blown-out hair. I use the RevAir to blow dry quickly and will use the cool setting to retain some of my curl pattern. I also sometimes work gel throughout my hair to “hold” the style longer and create a bit of texture.
Here are some simple styles that are so easy to do while maintaining the health of your hair. These make for great everyday hairstyles:
A Prayer + Affirmation to Ground You on Wash Day
Lastly, why not invite God into your hair wash day process? The time you spend in the shower washing your hair is a great time to pray and make confessions about the health of your hair.
This short prayer of affirmation will help you shift your mindset, find peace, and remember that even wash day can be worship.
“Father, I thank you for your grace and mercy on this day. As I take time to care for the hair you’ve lovingly blessed me with, I acknowledge that the process can sometimes feel stressful. But, I’m committed to honoring my body as your temple. So, thank you for the wisdom I need and helping me to do so. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
