What If You Are On A HHJ, But Do Not Actually Enjoy Doing Your Hair?

Like many of us, I genuinely enjoy taking care of my hair, always have even before my HHJ.  But now, in particular, I take pride in the fact that it is healthy, retaining length and looking good!

Part of that pride comes from the fact that I am responsible for my hair thriving the way it has over the past two and a half years of my hair journey. Not a stylist or professional, but ME!

However, there are a large number of healthy hair journeyers who desire healthy and long hair, but try as they might just truly do not enjoy doing their own hair.

For these non-traditional healthy hair seekers, it is a chore rather than an enjoyable hobby. But like most chores, these ladies realize it is necessary especially if they wish to grow long, healthy hair.

Ladies that do not enjoy caring for their hair or simply are not good at styling (let’s be honest, not everyone is) may feel like their needs are ignored on a lot of popular blog and hair information sites. Why? Because most of the authors of said sites, myself included ENJOY the process, hence the reason we blog about it!

We take pleasure in prepooing, co-washing, trying new products, attempting different styles, being creative, mixing homemade hair recipes, so on and so forth. But what if you don’t?

If you fall into that category, one option is to visit a salon weekly or bi-weekly and allow them to wash, deep condition and style your hair. Then between visits, you simply must maintain the style with wrapping, pin curling, pineappling or some other heat free method.

Moisturizing and sealing between salon visits is not that extensive either. This is a great solution for what I am referring to as non-traditional HHJ’ers. However – there are several problems with this proposed solution.

One is the cost. To visit a salon weekly or even biweekly is expensive and let’s just face it, times are hard!

Another is fitting it into your lifestyle. I will readily admit that I am less apt to exercise if I have a fresh salon ‘do than when I have styled my hair myself because I always want to feel as if I “got my money’s worth” out of the salon style.

Thirdly, finding a hair care professional who is knowledgeable, practices healthy hair habits, fits within your budget, whom you like and can trust is extremely difficult!

Then, let’s just say you have been blessed to find a person like I just described – they are either eternally booked so making an appointment is difficult, they have poor business sense (run out of supplies, overbook their clients or are always running late), or some other hidden issue.

Now what is the non-traditional HHJ’er to do?!  Is there an easy,  simple regimen that she can follow to achieve her hair goals?  Yes!

► Protective Style:  Wear wigs*, braids, sew-in weaves* to protect and grow your hair and visit a salon or do your hair yourself only on special occasions. You must still wash, deep condition, and moisturize/seal regularly, but the styling is completely taken care of!

Even when wearing wigs, you can cornrow or plait your hair and do all of the above while in those braids.  This is truly an easy regimen anyone can follow.

► Roller set, Wrap, and Go:  Teaching yourself to roller set may be easier than you think. For a lot of ladies, washing and deep conditioning* biweekly is okay provided you do not use a ton of product during those two weeks.

If the traditional roller set is to exhaustive for you, try the ponytail method. Once you’ve set your hair you may wrap it nightly, moisturize and seal regularly, and not be bothered with it until your next wash day.

► Use low manipulation curly styles:  Braid, twist, bantu knot outs or flexirod* sets may not initially appeal to you because at first they can seem too difficult and your first couple attempts may yield less than desirable results.

However, once you perfect just one of those methods, life becomes a lot easier! Wash, deep condition and air dry your hair. Proceed to do a low manipulation curly style and pineapple it nightly to preserve.

Even when the style gets a little worn looking, you can just pin or clip it up until the following week. I must say that this method usually only lasts a week at most, but that is still easier than re-doing it every night right?

Really the basics of having healthy hair is regular washing and deep conditioning* – being sure to maintain a healthy moisture/protein balance for your hair through your choice of conditioners, moisturizing and sealing to ensure your hair does not become dry because then it is prone to breakage, and finding healthy ways to style your hair, whether that is refraining from using heat, limiting your use of direct heat, or protecting it by hiding it away.

We hair enthusiasts may love the results additional hair practices give us such as the prepoos, hot oil treatments, henna* treatments, etc. but if you are the opposite of a hair enthusiast, simple regimens do exist and your hair can continue to grow and be healthy by adopting one.