By stufflovely
By Choya Randolph
Keeping your natural hair stretched is one of the most important things we must do as naturals. It also tends to be the most time consuming thing we do. The constant detangling, twisting, blow drying and even silk presses can take a toll. Plus, it makes our arms tired, especially on wash day. What if I told you there’s a tip to keep your hair somewhat stretched when washing? Because our hair reverts back to its texture when wet to show off shrinkage, this may sound impossible. Well I have one word for you: twists.
When our hair is in twists, it’s stretched and even acts as a protective style since it’s tucking our hair away. For all the lazy naturals out there: you can keep your hair in twists, covering it up in headwraps and wigs. But here comes wash day. It’s time to detangle our twists to prepare our hair to be shampooed. But what would happen if you kept your hair in twists? Hear me out.
The point of shampooing your hair is to cleanse the scalp. Washing your hair in twists will not stop you from cleaning those roots. But then there’s all the excess product that has built up on your hair. You want that washed too. Believe it or not, washing your hair in twists will still get rid of any product build up. So you can wash your hair while keeping it in a somewhat stretched state which will make detangling easier.
There is one downside to washing your hair in twists. The twists could possibly matte up giving you an unwanted dread. If you prepoo your hair before washing, this won’t be a problem. If you don’t even know what prepooing is, don’t worry. You can still avoid getting your hair matted by simply paying attention to your hair.
If you’ve had twists in your hair for a long period of time, then your hair may already have started to matte or even get tangled. Washing your hair in this state will only further those tangles unless you choose to detangle in the shower. If that’s the case, you may have to take that L and do some detangling before hopping in the shower. Whether twisted or not, adding water to very tangled hair without detangling could lead to breakage. If you’re putting your hair in twists before washing, then you won’t need to worry about your hair getting matted.
What’s great about washing your hair in twists is that it makes it easier for you to detangle once you’re out of the shower. Not only that, but because the hair is already sectioned in twists, you can apply deep conditioner and products evenly in your hair. Some of us lazy naturals just put the products in our hair without sectioning which means not every strand gets the benefits of the product. When working in twists, everything is distributed evenly, our hair is stretched, and we can create a cute style for us to wear when our hair is dry.
