How To Minimize Your Natural Hair Regimen And Save Tons Of Time

Everyone’s natural hair regimen is different. It often depends on your hair type, personal style, and the length of your hair. With that said it is important to find a natural hair regimen that works best for your hair and lifestyle.

However, I know how complicated a natural hair regimen can get and how quickly an easy three step hair regimen can turn into a time-consuming ten step hair regimen.

If you’re like me and prefer to spend a minimal amount of time getting ready or if you’re just too busy to keep up with a laborious hair routine, here are some tips that will help you cut minutes to hours off your current hair regimen.

Identify the unnecessary steps to your hair regimen

The quickest way to take time off your hair regimen is to identify which steps are unnecessary. Some experimenting may be required to learn what exactly works best for your hair and what you can do without.

For instance, at one point in my natural hair journey, I used to detangle my hair every evening in the shower. My logic for this was that I was sort of staying on top of the knots by untangling them before they could really form. Sort of makes sense, right? Well, not really.

I was adding an additional 30 to 40 minutes to my hair routine doing something that was pretty unnecessary. Doing so didn’t cause my hair to flourish and I also discovered that by tampering with my hair daily I was increasing the chance that it would tangle up.

I started detangling once a week instead of every day, which led to less stress with my hair routine. Detangling every day may not a part of your hair regimen, but if you’re trying to minimize it, be sure to make sure everything you’re doing is beneficial to the health of your hair and that you are not wasting your time.

Try hairstyles that will typically last a week

Finding and wearing hair styles that typically last five to seven days is a great help in minimizing your natural hair routine.

Also, the less you manipulate your hair during the week, the less potential damage you will cause to it. These styles do not have to be protective styles (although protective styles are an option). For instance, I’ve found ways to maintain a twist out for about a week, which greatly reduces the amount of time I spend on my hair in the morning.

I wash, condition, detangle and twist my hair on Sundays, which altogether takes about two hours. I take out the twists Monday morning and rock the twist out for the rest of the week, spending at most five minutes styling my hair in the morning.

Other options include braid-outs, roller sets, buns, twisted updos and even wash n gos. There are plenty of great YouTube videos about low manipulation hairstyles and how to make them last for days. Try experimenting with these until you find your go to, weeklong, natural hairstyle.

Moisturize your hair daily (between washes)

This doesn’t mean dunking your hair under water daily but it does mean introducing some type of moisture to your hair every day. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is with a spray bottle. It’s a really quick and effective way to moisturize your hair and takes about 45 seconds.

Simply fill the spray bottle with your favorite liquid moisturizer (for instance water or aloe vera juice*), lightly mist your hair and top that off with your favorite oil, serum, or cream moisturizer.

I do this every morning when fluffing my bed hair but a lot of people find this more beneficial to do in the evening before going to bed. How does this help minimize your natural hair regimen?

Well it’s sort of a proactive step. Taking 45 seconds a day to moisturize your hair keeps it from drying out between washes. Dry hair can become matted, break off, or result in excessive tangles. All these things can make the hair harder to manage and style adding minutes or even hours to your natural hair regimen.

Find an All-In-One product that works for your hair

For me, it’s a combination of Jamaican black castor oil* and shea butter*. These two products condition my hair, give me great touchable hold, and seal in moisture like no other.

They also provide a healthy shine, thicken my strands and protect my ends. What I love most about these products is that they are so rich and long lasting.

I only apply them to my hair Sunday, after washing and their effects last the entire week! So, between these two products and water, there’s no need to use much anything else on my hair as far as styling is concerned.

Finding an all-in-one hair product is a great way to minimize your hair routine, it allows you to reduce the amount of products used on your hair, which will save you time and money.

Everyone’s hair and hair experiences are different so you may have to do a little research and experimenting to find a product that really works for you. Aside from black castor oil* and shea butter*, I’ve heard many testimonials about olive oil*, hair grease, coconut oil*, and flaxseed gel.

What are some of the ways you’ve found to cut time off your natural hair regimen?