People often ask me about the products that I use to grow my hair long. Over the last 6 years, I’ve learned that the right tools and techniques are just as important as the right products when growing long and healthy 4c hair. One area where technique is often overlooked is during the wash day routine.
Wash Day Challenges
When it comes to retention, wash day tends to provide many 4c naturals with a host of problems:
- water tends to make our already fragile hair even more susceptible to breakage;
- our hair shrinks with increased moisture which can cause our hair to become a matted mess;
- and invigorated scrubbing can cause our hair to knot and tangle, resulting in trimming sessions that are too frequent.
Some naturals opt for loosely twisting and untwisting their hair through various parts of their hair washing routines. I find that my hair suffers unnecessary breakage when I wash my hair this way. I’ve learned to avoid over-manipulation by keeping my hair in two strand twists during my hair washing session. This reduces the amount of mechanical damage that my hair might be subjected to.
My Wash Day Routine
My wash day routine is super gentle. I sometimes refer to it as a spa day routine. While in twists, I apply product to my scalp and to the length of my hair. Once my scalp and hair are coated, I alternate between lightly scritching my scalp with my nails and gently scrubbing my scalp with the pads of my fingertips. This lightly exfoliates dead skin from my scalp and removes dirt that may have built up since my last wash. When I’m done, I gently work product into the length of my hair, taking time to squeeze it into my twists.
These simple steps allow me to avoid many of the setbacks that would otherwise occur with traditional hair washing methods. Washing in two strand twists works well when using all types of products from hair exfoliates, shampoos, conditioners, and even clay masks!
Have you tried washing in two strand twists? Has it worked for you?
