After dealing with
my hair late the previous night, I had to turn right around and wash Z's hair this past Saturday. I am not a fan of dealing with two full wash days in a single weekend, but I have to do what I have to do. Since I pushed back Z's full wash day a week later due to her bronchitis, I wanted to make sure I gave her a nice cleansing plus a protein treatment. We did something totally different this wash day...we did it all at the kitchen sink! She is so long (a 5 year old 4+ footer) so I did not think this method would work, but it turned out much better than I initially thought. I used a pool noodle on top of a folded towel to give her some neck relief {sorry no pics but idea was
inspired by this pin}. Here was our process:
- Pre-Poo: Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deeper Moisture Conditioner, 30 minutes under Hot Head Heat Cap
- Shampoo: SheaMoisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Shampoo (diluted) + remainder of my SheaMoisture African Black Soap Shampoo (diluted, which I have not used in forever), rinsed and t-shirt dried
- Protein Treatment: Aphogee 2 (ahem 10 minute) Reconstructor, rinsed and t-shirt dried
- I was applying this stuff as fast I could on her hair
- Deep Condition: SheaMoiature African Black Soap Purification Masque (layer 1) + SheaMoisture Yucca and Boabab Anti-Breakage Masque (layer 2), 30 minutes under Hot Head Heat Cap
- Final Rinse: Rinsed DC out, section by section, followed by an aloe vera juice rinse and oil rinse to seal in moisture. Did a final rinse to get rid of excess oil
- Moisturize: SheaMoisture Jamaica Black Castor Oil leave-in
- Style: Took her hair by section, detangled it, and threaded the section starting from the back up. Applied flaxseed gel on each section and sprayed with my homemade spritz as needed. Left a section in the front middle for a side bang of twists.
- When a thread her hair for a bun, I don't cut the excess thread once I reach the end of a section. I just gather all her "Ghana Plaits" into a loose ponytail and wrap them into a bun. The loose strings help me secure her bun without using any pins.
- The style is Z approved with a thumbs up! I think she secretly likes buns as much I do. At least that's my hope...lol :-)
She told me she was not going to smile for any pictures on the blog. Yeah, THAT did not last long...
Overall, the whole wash and style process took about 4 hours. I really like the concept of washing her hair at the sink versus the tub because she is getting older plus having her sit in the tub for the entire wash process is daunting (oh, and she ends up as a human prune by the end). She did mention some neck discomfort despite using the noodle. I will tweak the noodle idea for next time to see if things feel better, or I might look into this
Shampoo Mate product I found on Pinterest (of course...lol!)
She will wear her hair like this until this weekend when I cornrow her hair. I have not done a full cornrow style in a while. Hopefully I still know how to cornrow...lol. #justkidding
Be blessed, and don't forget to smile and enjoy the simple things in life. Z reminds me of this often. :-)
Labels: African Threading, Ghana Plaits, Z Wash Day
