Don’t Use Lack Of Time As An Excuse For A Poor Hair Regimen

I do not have time to deep condition my hair, really I don’t. I do want to deep condition it  and every week I tell myself the same thing, ‘Em all you have to do is mix the concoction, the rest is just application, and that’s easy”.

The problem is I never ever get to the mixing part! Am I over thinking it? Yes! Quite frankly I am, deep conditioning* does not have to be a mix of something fancy, it can be one simple ingredient or product so why in the world am I sitting here making excuses about what I cannot do for my hair.

*Takes off clothes, grabs 2 minute Aphogee* treatment, add to hair, take bath, wash it out, braid, go to bed* There! I did it, I conditioned my hair for more than the two minutes that the bottle recommends and I even took a shower… Imagine that!

Ladies how many times have we used the age old excuse that we just do not have the time to take care of our hair the way we should?

We are all busy people, we have school, kids, work, social lives, cheating boyfriends you name it we have many distractions to occupy our time with leaving no space for the honey* oil and eggs prepoo thing you recently swore you would start using weekly.

If you really think about it, you will discover that much of what we think we do not have time for is only a bunch of excuses wrapped up in semantics.

With that said everyone can absolutely have a great hair regimen even on a small time budget, and here is how:

1. Use Your Bath Time Wisely

Everyone takes a shower every now and then, if not daily, so why not use that time to get your hair done? In your shower caddy you should have a moisture rich conditioner, some oil and shampoo, that way you can choose your poison at will without fuss.

If your goal is to always pre-poo prior to your co-wash or shampoo then grab the oil, slather your strands and make sure your bathroom is warm and steamy.

Shave your legs while your hair is steaming and once you are done proceed to shampoo, condition and then take your shower.

2. Oil Rinse

We have talked about the epicness of oil rinsing a million two or three times. It happens to be one of the best methods for saving time because it helps to detangle your hair and seal in moisture all at the same time.

Typically oil rinsing involves coating your hair with oil and running warm water over your strands prior to adding your conditioner. If you are in the shower and you have shampooed your hair, add the oil to your hair in sections, run the warm water over the section you are working with and immediately condition and finger detangle.

After you are done put a little more oil in your hands to smooth over your conditioned hair and twist or braid the hair. There will be no need to do anything further to your hair, no leave in conditioners, no sealing you have already done it all prior to hopping out of the tub.

3. Don’t Over Think Your Regimen

We all suffer from over thinking things at times and it can get very difficult when we are not seeing results fast enough or we are looking what another woman is doing to her hair.

It doesn’t matter if you have relaxed or natural hair, break your regimen down to the very basics. This means moisture, protein and protection.

The very basic rules are to add moisture often, add protein when necessary, and protect always. Your hair will flourish if you are diligently doing just those three things.

4. Get To Know Your Hair

This will take a little time, but after you are acquainted, you will find that your process gets so much easier and you spend less time on longer hair in comparison to in the beginning when you probably spent a lot of time on shorter hair.

Here’s the thing, when you know your hair, even if things change in your life that reduces the amount of time you have available for your hair, you will still know how to maneuver and keep your regimen intact anyway.

If you have slacked, you know exactly what to do to zap your strands back into shape. If you are buying products you know exactly what ingredients your hair likes so you are not wasting your time purchasing a bunch of useless expensive hair stuff that may not work anyway.

5. Leave Your Conditioner In

There is nothing more annoying than hopping in and out of the shower on wash day. For some reason even though this might not take as much time as we think, just the fact that you have to re-enter the shower makes everything seems as if it is taking forever.

If you ever are pressed for time but want to deep condition your hair, use something that can be left in your hair like aloe vera juice* and coconut oil* or a light all natural conditioner.

Just shampoo, apply a little of the conditioner to your hair, add a shower cap* to the mix, heat it up with a steam cap, style and walk away. The steam will have infused moisture into your strands which you can then seal later.

6. Make Protective Styling 80% Of Your Regimen

If you are relaxed or natural and find yourself without the time to take care of hair daily then manipulate it less by protecting your hair while it is at its healthiest.

This means after you are satisfied that your hair is thoroughly moisturized and sealed you might choose to wear a wig* or add some braids in for two to three weeks at a time.

The most important thing to remember is that whatever you choose to do, do it in a way that adds value to your regimen rather than takes away from it.

7. Take Advantage Of Your Sleeping Hours

There is really no room for excuses if you sleep at night. Sleep time is one of the best times to get in a couple hours of deep conditioning*, dry hair repair, pre-pooing or drying time.

If you are natural and you like the wash and go idea but you find yourself with no time in the morning to actually wash and go then do majority of it at night.

The wash and go should be easy, it shouldn’t be hours of raking in gel to achieve a curl pattern that your hair knows nothing about. In a practical sense this might mean doing your co wash, sealing with a butter and some gel for hold, twisting your hair and adding a micro fiber towel to speed up drying time and to protect your sheets.

Now we realize that the act of braiding or twisting the hair does not mean wash and go, it means braid out or twists out but again this is just semantics, your results will be fabulous and that is all that matters.

Quick tip – For our ladies who wake up for work early, if you want to steal even more drying time then use the heat of your car and release the twists or braids right before you head into the office for a fabulous full and super defined style.

8. Semantics Is The Root Of All Evil

Relaxed ladies, listen up, stop thinking that your regimen is so much different, easier or more complicated than a woman with natural hair.

The only differences in terms of hair care between your hair strands and her hair strands is that you might need a helluva a lot more protein than the average natural.

This may cause some debate but honestly we need to treat the hair strands the way they should be treated based solely on the state they are in. What does all this mean? Well for instance, relaxed hair needs just as much moisture as natural hair does and can also be co-washed to give it a moisture boost.

Naturals need protein treatments too and excessive heat will lead to breakage regardless of whether you are relaxed or natural. See, very little knowledge goes a long way towards building a quick and simple regimen.

You do not need to spend your entire Saturday morning learning all there is to learn about hair to complicate your regimen even further. Once you have removed all the baggage surrounding what is necessary and what isn’t then building a simple time effective regimen becomes very very easy.