wash and wear hair

[raeoflyte]

If you're not born with it, is there anything one can do to get it? I tried straightening it last year, but apparently you're still supposed to blow dry and flat iron...

My hair has just enough wave to make it look like I don't brush it. I just want to look like I tried, without actually having to really try in the mornings.

[Ombud]

I fought waves & curls for years without success. Now I shampoo & condition to accent it. Much easier

[mmhmm]

*chuckle*  I wish I had that problem!  My hair is straight as a board, and fine as frog hair.  Won't hold a style for nuttin'!

[Apple]

I have wavy to curly hair, and know the frustration well.  I fought it for years since I "don't have the personality to pull off the hair".  But finally, I decided "screw it".  I decided to just let it do it's thing, but use a good hair lotion (I used a sunsilk one until they changed their formula, now I use Palmer's Coconut milk hair lotion).  Also, over a year ago I decided to go shampoo-free and wash my hair with baking soda and vinegar, with the occasional egg/oil/honey/vinegar wash or honey rinse.  My hair loves it and for the first time in forever I feel like I have pretty hair.  It's soft, I can run my fingers through it, and it looks so much healthier than it did before.

I think the biggest thing to "wash and wear" is accepting your own hair and going with it.  It took me a while, but I can pull mine off now and can't really imagine it being straight!

[susanb]

Rae, I have naturally wavy hair.  As a wash and wear girl, I have found that taking a shower at night and then putting it in a bun or braid when it is 40% dry leads to pretty beachy waves when I take it down the next day.  Trying to shower in the morning and letting it dry naturally the same day leads to a frizzy mess.  YMMV. 

[Shooby]

  I think the best approach is to just accept your hair for what it is.  My hair is fine, straight and fly away.  It is what it is.   Just find a simple style and go with it.

[Apple]

Thought about this a little more...
Ways you can enhance the waves--you can scrunch them when you go to dry your hair, you can do a few "finger curls" in a few spots when it's still a little wet.

One of the most important things is to not touch it while it's drying if you decide to just let it be natural.  Comb it after your shower, lightly "style it" (for me this is a little hair lotion and scrunching if I feel like having it go curly, combing it straight if I just want a little wave), then let it dry (all touching it will do while it's drying is cause a frizzy mess).  I try not to touch it again until it's dry, then I "fluff" it up to make it not stuck to my head, and try to touch it very little during the day.  Or not, sometimes I can't help but play with it.

I used to braid or put my hair in a bun at night, but I didn't like how it would make part of my hair straight and the rest curly--it did stay soft though.  Maybe it did this because I didn't let it dry at all first.

Now I shower in the morning and always at least rinse it with water.  Even when I still used commercial shampoo, I tried to shampoo it only every other day (rinsing or conditioning every day).  I also used a decent quality shampoo and conditioner (like Sunsilk for curly hair--not the real expensive stuff, but no more V05, etc).

Finally, the hair cut/style can have a lot to do with how wash and wear your hair will be.  I go with a low maintenance cut that works for me (I can't force a "straight style" on my hair, way too much work).

[Cass]

Mine has "personality" too.  I've found it is more difficult after just being washed, that's when it most has a mind of it's own.
I wash and dry at night now.  For some reason sleeping on it (or 12 or so hours of natural oils) helps it behave a bit better.

[Apple]

I love my second day hair sometimes--when it looks good I'll take my shower but not wash it again.  In general I have to wash it in the morning though.

[Cass]

I love my second day hair too- it behaves!  But then it starts to look greasy and needs to be washed again

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2013 6:53:20 GMT -5 Shooby said:

  I think the best approach is to just accept your hair for what it is.  My hair is fine, straight and fly away.  It is what it is.   Just find a simple style and go with it.

[mourningcloak]

I found a good hair dresser and conditioner was the solution to my lengthy routine.  I had to spend forever combing the knots out of my hair until I switched to a new lady who cut tiny layers in my hair to prevent all those knots.  I still like to spend a minute or two with a blow dryer, just to flatten the strays from the top of my hair, but I don't have to completely dry my hair any more.  The conditioner seems to help my hair lay smoother than it used to.  But finding a style that works with your hair instead of against makes a big difference!

[dannylion]

My hair is wavy but not nice wavy.  It's lumpy wavy.  I achieved wash-and-wear hair with a very short haircut. 

[Deleted]

I've given up fighting it too.  I go to a good hair stylist and get it cut in layers so the waves flattering instead of being poofy.  Use a curl cream, comb, and twirl around my fingers for more defined waves and curls and let air dry. 

I also purchased a really good ion/ceramic hair dryer - it's super light and cut the dry time down significantly.  So I'll make a few corkscrews in my hair, lay it on the diffuser, and let it go for a few seconds to really lock in the curl.  Takes less than ten minutes, which I am still too lazy to do most days.

If you like to flat iron your hair you might consider silk pillowcases and dry shampoo.  It can help you go a few days between washings so your straight hair lasts longer.

[marvholly]

I have very coarse, curly hair - read brillo for scrubbing pots.  I MUST blow dry it to get it to lay decently.  I straightened my hair from age 8 to 33 (yep, 25 years).  Gave it up in favor of not having scalp burns every 3 months.  Went to a short do that only takes about 5-7 minutes to blow dry.  Don't wash/dry daily but about every 5 days.

[Cass]

Wow, 5 days.  Mine starts to look greasy on the second!  I have an event today and I washed it last night just in case. 
How often do others wash their hair?

[Apple]

On commercial shampoo I was doing shampoo every other day, conditioner every day.  Now that I'm "no poo" I use a baking soda mixture every three or four days, followed by a vinegar/water rinse.  Every few weeks/months I'll throw in an egg/oil/vinegar/honey wash.  If it feels a little dry I'll do a honey rinse.  I at least rinse my hair with water daily.  This does great here (clean air) but found it didn't work near as well when I was in London (especially the days we had a lot of time taking the Underground)--I wasn't the only one complaining though, some girls ahead of me in line for the London Eye were talking about how nasty and dirty their hair felt, so even regular shampoo would have taken an adjustment.

If anyone wants to look at that more, I have a thread in Smart Spending here: shampoo free

My hair used to get greasy by the end of the second day.  Now, it doesn't for several days, and if it feels like it's going to, I know it's time to do a vinegar rinse.  My hair looks and feels a lot better than it used to.

[quince]

I've got slightly wavy hair, which means it looks good just brushed but fuzzes up in half an hour. I use a soft hold product after washing and let it dry in a pony tail. Seems to keep it under control without being a lot of work- also just wash every other day, because too clean=too fluffy.

[swamp]

Before I had kids, I had very straight and fine hair. I had to wash it speaks, otherwise it looked greasy. 

After kids, it has now gotten curly and coarse. 

I can only wash it every other day or every 3 days. 

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I have thick, wavy hair which I wear very short ... so it really IS "wash and wear!" I don't even own a blow dryer, curling iron, curlers, flat iron or hair spray. (I wash it daily because I'm prone to oily skin ... but don't worry as much in the summer when I am in and out of the pool 6-8 times a day.)

[zibazinski]

I get keratin treatments and for the first time in my whole life, I love my hair.

[lurkyloo]

I wash my hair every morning and pull it back still wet in a low ponytail (if it's long enough I'll double it over to make a mini-bun at the nape of my neck).  Alternatively I have some clips that I'll use:  first pull it back, then twist, then loop it up against the back of my head and clip it.  If I let it dry while pulled back/restrained it'll be soft, shiny and gently wavy; if I let it dry loose it's a stringy frizzy mess.  And if I try to use a hair dryer it's a frizzy mess and unhealthy to boot.  Sometimes it'd be nice to have a choice about what to do with my hair

[marvholly]

Mar 31, 2013 8:22:58 GMT -5 Cass said:

Wow, 5 days.  Mine starts to look greasy on the second!  I have an event today and I washed it last night just in case. 
How often do others wash their hair?

My hair is SOOO thick that it is really, really dry.  Cannot wash more than every 5 days or scalp starts to flake, also if I go more than 7 days.

[Deleted]

@ apple: Doesn't vinegar stink?

[Apple]

Apr 1, 2013 9:22:05 GMT -5 @bunnysmom said:

@ apple: Doesn't vinegar stink?

You only use a few drops in some water, so it's not enough to stink.  When I first started I accidentally used too much and could smell vinegar the rest of the day (I was off work, so no one else had to smell it).  It did take some trial and error, but I have it down now.

Since I still use a leave-in lotion my hair usually smells like coconut.

[Chocolate Lover]

Vinegar only smells until it dries and you must have used half a bottle to still smell it Apple

I've done the baking soda/vinegar thing. It was ok, my hair didn't do worse than it does with shampoo, but it was such a PITA that I moved on to Conditioner Only washing. You have to make sure to have a silicone free or water soluble silicones only conditioner but it works fine. I haven't put shampoo on my head in ages. And I found a cheaper conditioner with soluble silicones: Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut. 

I did all my reading about that stuff on Naturally Curly's website. There's a book too. I think someone on YM recommended it a while back last time we had a hair discussion.

PS: They sell "Cleansing Conditioners" too (Wen, L'Oreal, etc) but I wasn't paying for Wen and L'oreal's is so strongly scented that I can't take it. 

[naturallyfrugal]

Lurkyloo - we have the same hairstyle....pull back in a low ponytail/bun while wet (I do the mini bun because my hair's long enough).  I was my hair every other day, any longer and it will start looking greasy which is weird since I have dry hair/skin that's not prone to being oily. 

I HATE styling my hair, but do spend a lot to color it and hide the gray. If I let it air dry without pulling it back, it is quite a sight to behold and not in a good way.  I have really thick hair and it takes forever to blow dry so I never do it at home.  

[raeoflyte]

Lots of good ideas-thank you!

The last time I really liked my hair was before my son was born and long enough to sit on. Not stylish, but very pretty. I'd like to get back to that, but have different time constraints so I guess I'll have to experiment with what used to work a d see if I can find something easy that works.

[Cass]

CL- how does conditioner only washing work?

[andi9899]

Mar 29, 2013 20:38:01 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

If you're not born with it, is there anything one can do to get it? I tried straightening it last year, but apparently you're still supposed to blow dry and flat iron...

My hair has just enough wave to make it look like I don't brush it. I just want to look like I tried, without actually having to really try in the mornings.

My hair is wavy.  It looks like I really need a new perm as the waves don't start until about the middle of my head.  I blow dry and straighten it every day.  I have it cut way shorter on top than on the bottom with tons of layers.  When I do wear it curly, I just put some gel in it to make the curls more defined and wear the front of it in a barrette or wear a headband.  I get lots of compliments on my hair so I guess it looks ok.  I don't ever wear it loose though.  It looks weird.