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Ever thought about how annoyingly inaccurate the term wash and go is? Maybe for some, it is literally just that; wash your hair and be on your way. Yet for many of us, the process is more like, wash, detangle, apply gel, shingle for 2 hours or until you lose the will to live, dry and then finally go. If you are in the type 4 hair range then this is a weekly reality of styling your hair.

Us black women are willing to put up with a lot when it comes to our hair, we will sit for up to 9 hours to get micro braids installed or spend all day at the hair shop to get our fave stylist to fix our hair. When working with natural hair it is always best to work within your curl confines but we also want to enjoy the versatility of our tresses by rocking twist outs, curly sets or even straight hair without having the style ruined in a couple of hours from sweat or rain.

In my time as a natural, I have learned that when I want my hairstyle to last as long as possible, it’s not just the styling products that I choose at the end that will determine how long the style lasts but also how I approach my wash day from the beginning. For example, something as basic as ensuring my hair already has it’s highest moisture content before flat ironing will mean that it will not try to re-absorb moisture from the atmosphere as soon as I step outside ruining the style almost immediately. The same goes for curly styles like twist outs and perm rod sets.