Wash and go has certainly become one of my favorite natural hair style. Though pretty new to me, I have learnt quite a lot about it in my short time of being natural. This is all thanks to my ever first attempt which turned out a mess!
You know the saying though, it is always rewarding to learn from your mistakes. One bad attempt can’t stop my shine lol! After a world of research, I finally discovered what went wrong.
Now I have to make it clear though, it wasn’t that I didn’t achieve the perfect wash and go on my first attempt. Oh, it was super beautiful and coily, even with my short hair at the time. So much so, that I got compliments from church members after the beautiful church service that sunday. You can find my step by step guide to achieving the perfect wash and go via the link below
How to do a wash and go on 4c hair
Back to my story, the real issue here was maintaining and taking down my coils “you could call them tiny finger coils because they were super tight”
I have to emphasize how tight the coils were to tickle your fancy on the world of knots and tangles that followed the style during take down. My lack of proper knowledge and poor detangling techniques did me dirty. It was a pain! I unknowingly gave myself massive split ends, which I totally regret, but never again.
So, we would take this in strides, let’s commence with tips for maintaining/refreshing your perfect wash and go, before delving into how to successful take it down.
Tips for maintaining your wash and go coils.
Depending on your technique, a wash and go could last anytime from about 2 days to 7 days. Longevity boils down to how you care for them coils during the day time, and while u sleep.
The following five tips would come in quite handy in helping to keep your wash and go fresh and rejuvenated.
- First off, make sure to layer your products ; Leave in conditioner and styling gels of your choice on damp hair, and then opt for air drying if possible (a standing fan) or very minimal heat. With extreme heat, all you would succeed in doing is, setting yourself up for knots, tangles and hair frizz.
- Another important thing to ensure is that you prep your wash and go well before going do bed. If you are blessed with long coils, you could tie your hair pineapple style before going in with a silk bonnet. If your coils are however short, going to sleep with a silk bonnet alone, is just as fine. The important thing here is to ensure that you don’t leave your coils scattered and unprotected over the night. Back up with a silk pillow case if possible, if you ask me illd say it isn’t doing too much. We all know that these bonnets be flying off our crowns sometimes while we sleep.
- Avoid over manipulating/ touching your coils at every given opportunity as this might cause them to stretch out faster than you want them to. Minimal fluffing with the right products is all you need darling.
- Now, when you wake up early in the morning, them coils are definetely gonna be dry, so it is necessary to infuse life and moisture back into them. You could do this by spraying your hair with some water (just to get it damp, don’t make it soaking wet please this usually defeats the purpose) then go in with your leave in conditioner and finish by sealing in moisture with oil and minimal hair fluffing with your hands. Your coils would be good as new.
- Finally, to rejuvenate say a 3/4 days old wash and go that may have lost its coils, a coil activator would work well to bring those coils back to life. The downside to coil activators however is that they could dry out your hair if your strands are not properly moisturized before use. Always start out hydrating/moisturizing your hair with water and leave in conditioner before going in with a coil activator. Examples of great coil activators out there include; Creme of Nature with Argan Moisture & Shine Curl Activator Crème, Smooth ‘N Shine Polishing Curl Activator Gel, and Cantù’s curl activator cream. These creams would work great to define coils.
With the above tips, you are sure to get your wash and go popping for up to 7 days and beyond guys. Knowing how to successfully detangle a wash and go, and minimize breakage is a whole new ball game. Kindly check my next hair post to guide and inform you on how to go about it. Ciao
