My regimen typically consists of weekly washes, daily (or every other day) light moisturizing and mid-weekly scalp oiling. It’s quite flexible, depending on the style I’m wearing or planning to wear, available products, or even my mood. I’ll describe the processes below:

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• Pre-poo: This allows for easy detangling, and I usually like to detangle before washing. Most days I do this in the shower: I wet my hair, then apply coconut oil and an optional conditioner with slip in 6 – 14 sections (I put them in twists if the sections are larger or loose bantu knots if they’re smaller). Once this is done, I choose between three options for detangling: finger detangling alone (I often use this method when I plan on wearing a wash and go), using a wide toothed comb or using a Denman brush. I’m partial to the Denman when I feel I need to get rid of all shed hairs. If I skip a pre-poo, I save the detangling for the (deep) conditioning step. This might seem like a time-saver, but in my experience, it only makes any knots and tangles get worse. I also skip pre-pooing when I’m wearing mini twists without any issues (naturally, I’m not trying to detangle in this style). At the end of the detangling process, my hair is usually in 12 - 14 twists.

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• Shampoo: As much as possible, I do not skip a shampoo. Not only is this important for my low porosity hair as it removes any layers of product build up and dirt that could prevent proper penetration of moisturizing products, it’s also very important for the health of my scalp. When I skip this step, my scalp itches terribly, and deep conditioners are not as effective. I shampoo and condition in the twists from the detangling process. This makes the wash process easy and seamless, and also reduces the amount of time I spend in the shower.

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• Condition: Depending on the state of my hair and the products (and time) I have available, I choose between regular and deep conditioning treatments. Also, since my hair has gotten older, protein treatments feature quite regularly as well, at least once a month. I favour strengthening deep conditioners as they usually also pack a moisturizing punch, which is great as it’s basically double duty deep conditioning. When I’m in a hurry though, I stick with regular rinse-out conditioners. If I don’t condition, my hair dries out very fast over the course of the week, making it breakage-prone.

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• Moisturize: This is where leave in conditioners, oils and butters come in to play. I usually use the LB (leave-in, butter) or LGO (leave-in, gel, oil) methods to keep my hair moisturized. Using a leave-in on wash day helps my hair feel softer for longer over the course of the week; I find that I usually do not need to re-apply unless I’m re-styling.

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• Style: Most of the time, I style weekly. Occasionally, the style may need to be redone midweek, and in such cases I remoisturize my hair (or re-wash if I’m wearing a wash and go) and proceed to style. Sometimes I need a break from weekly styling, so I put my hair in mini-twists for 3-4 weeks.

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• Nightly routine: Over the course of the week, I spray water only, or water followed by a bit of oil before tying my hair up in a satin scarf. I find this to be sufficient because it helps me avoid product build-up on my strands and my scalp.

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• Mid-weekly scalp oiling: I’m not very consistent with this, but it’s a part of my routine. I find that a light application of an oil or butter that contains stimulating essential oils such as peppermint, rosemary or tea tree oil helps reduce scalp itchiness which I’m prone to. It’s also said to help stimulate hair growth.

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• Trimming: I trim every 3-4 months. I usually do this in twists, or on heat straightened hair.

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Some of my favorite hair styles include:

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• Buns

• Twists

• Wash and Gos

• Updos

• Flat Twists

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