Monday, June 9, 2014

Trying Again

My Third Wash and Go

My natural hair before my wash and go trial.I tried this wash and go style for the third time in my natural life. I'm not a fan of SHRINKAGE!! Summer's coming and I know I'll have to battle very hot weather and humidity. I wanted to jump out in front of the ball by figuring out some styles now that I can wear to combat with the elements!

Since this is a wash and go there aren't too many products or steps to achieving this style, but I'll reveal what I did to get the look along with how I preserved the look overnight.

Products: I finally got around to using my Carol's Daughter products from the March curlBOX! What are my thoughts about these products? Well, my cosmetologist and I had a conversation about Carol's Daughter back in the day. She told me she didn't really like their products because they dried out the hair. Sadly to say, she was right. As I washed my hair with the shampoo, it gave me the same feel as a sulfate shampoo wash. When I say this I mean I could tell the shampoo was stripping every last thing from my hair! My hair needs so much moisture already so using shampoo that dries it out is a not a positive for me. Secondly, I like a conditioner that helps me detangle. I had a harder time detangling with the CD conditioner. I also didn't get a soft and moisturized feeling after washing, conditioning, and using the leave-in. Overall, I feel the Carol's Daughter products didn't nourish my hair like other products I've used. I can at least say the products smelled nice. This is just my experience...I'm nothing but honest here!

My natural hair right after I finished styling it for the wash and go.
To get the look to stay I used Design Essentials Natural Curl Enhancing Mousse. I used the mousse as a stretch and hold agent. I'd tried Smooth 'N Shine Polishing Ultra Style Mousse before and it didn't work at all! I only used a small amount so I figured my hair did it's regular amount of shrinking because I didn't use enough! This time I used more than a little bit and I distributed it evenly. My hair is apparently very stubborn because it STILL had shrinkage BUT the Design Essentials mousse seemed to work better than the previous mousse. My hair wasn't crunchy or hard and it still had some bounce to it.

My wash and go natural hairstyles.My night time routine was simple...I put a bonnet on! There were some nights when I would choose to moisturize my hair rather than doing it in the morning, but most nights I was just slapping that bonnet on. In the morning I would spray my hair with water to loosen it; add some moisture and/or oil (depending on what I thought it needed) and more mousse to style it for the day.

As I said, my hair is very stubborn and regardless of how much product I use, it's going to shrink up. I used the mousse AND I eventually tried throwing gel in the mix, neither helped all that much.

I ended up wearing my hair in a mid to high pony tail, which looked pretty good on some days and rather meh on other days. The left side of my hair won't show my curl pattern as well as the right side so this was another reason why I chose to wear it in a pony tail most days.

I wore my hair like this for 3 weeks and after having done that I viewed the wash and go as more of a protective style. I wasn't manipulating my hair nightly (by twisting it or finger combing it) so it wasn't shedding that much. It was also a very low maintenance style. I kept it moisturized and I feel like my hair was at a very healthy point during these weeks.

I'll probably be doing another wash and go soon, so I want to experiment with as many different products and tricks to try and prevent shrinkage. I heard that drying the hair with a diffuser after applying the mousse and/or gel helps with shrinkage. My curl pattern is very tight, so anything that will stop it from curling up all the way would be great! I'm not saying that I'm not comfortable with the tighter curl patter, I just prefer for my hair to hang. So, it looks like I'll be adding a diffuser onto my list of things to get!

Do any of you natural ladies have tips on how you get your best wash and go?
I'm curious to know!

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2 comments

  1. There are so many products out there now and some cost a mint. So, anytime you find one that works you have to stick to it. I must say that your hair looks very healthy to me and I want that. BTW there is nothing wrong with a pony when you wear it so very well.

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  2. You're hair looks great! I have curly hair so I know about shrinkage but I think because my hair is so long it isn't that much of an issue. I like your hair in the first pic, looks really pretty :)

    -Erica

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