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How I Maintain Bomb Natural Hair on a Lazy Regimen, Part 1: Tori

Avatar • Jul 23, 2015

There is a common misconception that in order to have beautiful natural hair, you have to do a lot. But the natural gurus on our writing staff know better than that. Over the next several days we will share how our writers maintain incredible natural hair on very simple and basic regimens. First up is Tori.

My lazy natural hair regimen was created over the years to save time on my hair routine and maintenance. The more my hair grew, the more I realized that it was taking a significant amount of time to care for my hair. So, now my current hair regimen would contain only a few basic steps.

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Wash day every one to two weeks
I typically wash my hair every one to two weeks. On wash days, I start off by deep conditioning for about 30 minutes on dry hair that has been lightly spritzed with water. I typically do this before washing to eliminate getting in and out of the shower repeatedly. Next, I go on to shampoo my hair (lathering once or twice) and use a regular conditioner to lightly condition my hair. After getting out of the shower, I add my leave-ins, moisturizer, and oil, and then twist in about 8โ€“12 large twists.

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Pulled back twists during the week
Usually I keep these twists pulled into a bun throughout my workweek for ease of maintenance and to make wearing hats for work less of a challenge. Sometimes, I may also wear my hair in a loose ponytail. I typically re-moisturize once per week using water, my moisturizer, and oil. My routine throughout the week will take no more than five to ten minutes to complete.

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Braidouts when Iโ€™m feeling fancy
When I am feeling fancy, I remove my jumbo twists and prepare my hair for a braidout, which I will typically wear when not protective styling. After moisturizing and braiding, I let the style set for a few hours or overnight. Removing the braids the next day will reveal a โ€˜fancierโ€™ hairdo that I can dress up or down.

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Clay and protein treatments from time to time
Also, for days when I have more time and want to get fancy, my wash days may also include a special treatment, such as a clay or protein treatment. These special treatments will usually be done on damp hair prior to washing and will stay in my hair for a couple hours, followed by my regular wash routine.

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As stated previously, I arrived at this lazy hair regimen because I realized that my hair maintenance routine was taking a big chunk of time. When I started doing my lazy hair regimen, I cut back on time significantly, without affecting the quality of maintenance my hair received.

Ladies, what are your thoughts on my regimen? How is it similar to or different from yours?

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Free Tea
Free Tea
5 years ago

Why is there zero mention of her detangling routine? And Iโ€™m not sure how this is lazy.โ€ฆI feel like most of us naturals have a routine like this when weโ€™re not doing something fancy to our hair for an event. This is almost exactly my regimenโ€ฆ

Tiffiny
Tiffiny
5 years ago
Reply to  Free Tea

Exactlyโ€ฆthatโ€™s what I was also wondering. Cause de tangling is necessaryโ€ฆisnโ€™t it? I thought that maybe she doesnโ€™t detangle, but how in the world can she get away with that. I think she forgot to mention it. But it would be nice to know at what part of this routine does she detangle. There are two options. At the beginning before washing out the deep conditioner and or afterward during the twisting.

Me
Me
5 years ago
Reply to  Free Tea

Iโ€™m guessing she detangles during the conditioning or twisting phase. Itโ€™s what I do and unless Iโ€™m going days sleeping on loose hair, it only takes about 15โ€“30 minutes on wet/saturated hair.

FreeTea
FreeTea
5 years ago
Reply to  Me

Lucky youโ€“ whatโ€™s your hair like? Iโ€™ve never heard of detangling only taking 15โ€“30 minutes on fine, type 4 hair like mine. But I finger detangle exclusively because my hair canโ€™t handle tools, and I have to be thorough at every wash to avoid matting, so thereโ€™s that.

Me
Me
5 years ago
Reply to  FreeTea

I have very fine 4C hair through 90% of my head and a little 4B in the back. I donโ€™t use tools unless I need a straight part for a hairstyle (which is rare). I detangle on wet, oiled hair once a week before I shampoo. The only time it takes me more than 30 minutes to detangle is when Iโ€™ve gone several days of sleeping on loose hair, which I rarely do. As long as I put my hair in 4โ€“10 braids to go to bed every night (and that only takes 10 minutes depending on how many braids… Read more »

Free Tea
Free Tea
5 years ago
Reply to  Me

Nice! My 4C hair is actually much easier to detangle than my 4A/B hair because its pattern makes it less resistant to stretching for me, and it doesnโ€™t tangle as much in a stretched style. Also, I canโ€™t work with less than 12 braids in my hair as a minimum, and thereโ€™s no way in hell fewer would work for me. Iโ€™ve tried, and itโ€™s not thorough enough detangling for me. But I donโ€™t sleep with my hair outโ€“itโ€™s almost always in twists or a protective style. I could probably only use 4โ€“10 braids if my hair was longer, but… Read more »

Keda
Keda
5 years ago

I love this article! As a natural who recently big chopped again. .n more importantly a busy wife and mother I do not have the time for the 2+ hour hair regimen I read many naturals have n i do sometimes wonder can I achieve healthy hair with less active time investment. Your hair is gorgeous thank you for this.

del
del
5 years ago

Iโ€™m a lazy natural and my regimen is very similar. For me, keeping it simple seems to lead to longer hair. Too much manipulation leads to breakage on my hair so I usually wear braids or twists and itโ€™s growing great. Plus, I donโ€™t feel like spending more than 10โ€“20 minutes on my hair most days.

Cheri
Cheri
5 years ago

Her hair is beautiful. If I washed my hair every 1 or 2 weeks, my scalp would be a dry itchy mess and my hair would feel like straw. My hair is still pretty short so I can still wash and go every 2 days. Iโ€™m just worried about what Iโ€™m going to so once it starts getting significantly longer, though. I guess Iโ€™ll figure it out when that time comes.

Phoxxie
Phoxxie
5 years ago
Reply to  Cheri

You will oil your scalp and keep it moving until the 2 week mark lol. Trust me, its way easier to wash your hair often when its shorter. Once it gets longer, youโ€™re going to feel like, โ€œaint nobody got time for thatโ€ Just watch.

Disa Chantel
5 years ago
Reply to  Phoxxie

The washing isnโ€™t even the hard part for longer hairโ€ฆ itโ€™s the DRYING process that gets me!

Salomรฉ laVisionaria
Salomรฉ laVisionaria
5 years ago
Reply to  Disa Chantel

Wow very interesting the different challenges different hair types or textures or porosities face! for me definitely the washing and detangle is the longest for me but I donโ€™t care about drying as my hiar dries in twists and will dry by the next day usually!

Cosita
Cosita
5 years ago
Reply to  Cheri

My hair is longer and no way I can go two weeks or I would have those same issues.

Anu
Anu
5 years ago

Iโ€™m very interesting in your detangling routine. For me, detangling is always the most difficult and time-consuming part of maintaining natural hair.

melissa
melissa
5 years ago

I am currently going through a regimen change because I dont have time for all the ins and outs of wash day. But I do moisture everyday because my hair is really dry. I will try the deep conditioning before washing thing. I for some reason felt like washing first is better and you wont wash out the effects of deep conditioning (smh am an idiot)โ€ฆThanks for the tips btw. Gorgeous hair.

Tale
Tale
5 years ago

Do you ever detangle?

Leah
Leah
5 years ago

I wear my braided updo for a month then take it done and give it a break for a day with a braid out then I get it rebraided .

Theo Night
Theo Night
5 years ago
Reply to  Leah

Awesome regimen Leah!!!

Purplebutterfly
Purplebutterfly
5 years ago

Same here. Itโ€™s nice to know it wasnโ€™t just me.โ€ฆ

Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Sooo how and when do you detangle? Please help a sister out with details on the fastest possible detangling technique with minimal damage on very tightly coiled type 4 hair

Natural Power of Her Blog

My regimen is the exact same on most weeks. I place my twists in for the week if going somewhere ill take them out. Yes when i donโ€™t have time for my hair this lazy regimen is the way to go

Straight and Curly
Straight and Curly
5 years ago

how about when you sweat? I have straight hair and when I sweat (now that is summer I sweat everyday) My head feels so hot and kind of nasty and unfomfortable. Washing my hair often feels better to clean up the sweat and uncomfortable feeling. Now, my daughter is mixed and has hair similar to yours. She is a child so she runs and sweats a lot. I dont like it when she goes to sleep with sweat hair because I think that she also feel hot and uncomfortable and I want to wash her hair more often but I… Read more »

Salomรฉ laVisionaria
Salomรฉ laVisionaria
5 years ago

maybe instead of going through washing you can just clean her scalp (which is what I do when Iโ€™ve got a long term protective style in like mini twists) with a mixture of Apple Cider Vinegar, aloe vera juice and water. Iโ€™m not sure of the actual amounts but you only need a little. Mix it together and dab into cotton balls and wipe her scalp. very good for cleaning and feels refreshing too! Hope this is a good suggestion ๐Ÿ™‚

Brandis Jackson
Brandis Jackson
5 years ago

I work out and run a lot so I actually wash my hair every time I sweat. I part and twist my hair first, and rinse my scalp without disturbing the hair too much. My actually likes being drenched often, but I twist first to keep the curls defined.

$7275329
$7275329
5 years ago

Iโ€™ve been struggling with my hair for years and finally figured out it was due to health issues that iโ€™m sorting out. I now have hope that my hair will be long and healthy like yours in a few years!

SweetTweet
SweetTweet
5 years ago

Girl, you hair looks good! I go to the shop every other month. In the off month I shampoo, condition and roll (perm rods)or braid (depending on how I feel after the shampoo). The shampooing process gives my arms a workout. Oh, by the way I have locs.

Leah
Leah
5 years ago

Iโ€™m a lazy natural with medium length hair that Iโ€™m growing long and I just protective style with a braided updo mosturize my hair , wash every two weeks , take the braided updo down and itโ€™s a braid out for at least a day , and then get it rebraided . When I want to stop protective styling I would do braid outs all the time .

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