Does Anyone Else Basically Do "nothing" To Their Hair?

SheenaVee

SheenaVee

Well-Known Member
Kind of a spin off to the 'are leave ins necessary' thread.

When I first started my hair journey my wash day would consist of washing, protein conditioning/conditioning, deep conditioning, putting in a leave in and moisturiser. Then I'd style.

Then I started getting lazy and omitting a lot of those steps till I was only cowashing, deep conditioning, then putting a leave in and/or moisturiser.

Then I got even lazier:look:.

So now all I do to my hair is cowash once or twice a week, sometimes more if I'm not happy with the way my hair is styled. I shampoo around once a month.

I haven't deep conditioned my hair in years. I never use a leave in or moisturiser. I do a protein treatment if my hair feels over moisturised, which is maybe twice a year. I will sometimes use oil to break the gel cast and stop flaking and give my hair shine, but that's it.

So I do nothing special. Wash, basic rinse out conditioner and then styler (which is usually gel). I've been doing this for years and haven't had any dryness or breakage or setbacks from it.

I just think of all that unnecessary time I spent on my hair and money I spent on products that my hair doesn't even need. Makes me wonder if all of those products we use and things we do are even that necessary? Sure, our hair is dryer than other races but I don't think it needs as much 'special' treatment as we think it does.

Does anyone else not really have a hair routine or do 'nothing' to their hair?
 
Well the purpose of me coming on hair boards was to learn techniques as so how to properly care for my hair especially length retention so leaving it and doing nothing is a bit out of the question lol. I will say though, that I've cut down on some things such as prepooing and daily moisturizing & sealing. I've also eliminated some things like baggying and using growth aids. But doing nothing wouldn't work for me in achieving my hair goals.
 
I have also wondered if our hair needs as much as we do. And I think the answer is no. I big chopped my hair five months ago, and at first I did lots of different things. Wash n'gos, gels, co-washing, deep conditioning, blahblahblah. My hair was getting dryer and knottier. Now I am experimenting with banding/african threading. I wet/rinse my hair, add shea butter, then band it. When you remove the bands, the hair is silky smooth and stretched. So, I band my hair and then leave it like that, I wear wigs over it. I maybe remove the bands once a week and reband. Hair stays stretched, so I don't have to deal with knotting or SSKs, and I don't have to style my hair, and I don't even know when I'll wash my hair again.


I just started doing this though. But for years I have done the frequent washing and handling thing, and I stayed bald
 
Use to wash and deep conditioned every week but now I do that every two weeks. However, I consistently moist, seal and twist every night and sleep on a satin scarf. Hopefully this regime will give me the hair I desire.:afro:
 
MileHighDiva said:
Some ladies hair is more resilient than others.

I'm hair lazy, but my hair would die, if I went that minimalist

What is the condition of your hair? How long is your hair?
Click to expand...

The condition of my hair is normal. Feels healthy and soft. It's pretty fine which is why it can get over moisturised and I need to do protein treatments once in a while. I get ssks as normal and I trim if and when I need to.

My hair is around APL now. I cut it to about a neck length bob back in July due to boredom. It was about mid back before I cut it. I've been fully natural for around 7 years now(? lost count) and have cut off my hair to neck length from bra strap/mid back length twice due to boredom and wanting a change. I've cut it to about APL once doing a trim and getting scissor happy. I don't remember how long it was that time.

But, yeah, my hair just grows right back. I used to worry about using gel in my hair all the time because I thought it would dry it out but I've been doing it for years now with no ill effects. I think because I cowash my hair quite frequently it counteracts any possible dryness issues. Also, the protein in gel might be good for my fine strands. I also think the gel helps me retain length. It's some weird form of protective styling. The gel locks my hair and curls in place so they don't get tangled together and they basically just stay like that until I cowash my hair again.
 
@SheenaVee you know that is awesome!!

I am becoming a minimalist and the product junkie day is over I find my hair likes it more with basic ingredients and I use far less products, but I need to be consistent. Not sure I would not say my routine is simple but I have it down so it is no longer time consuming, so it is not shampoo, dc, moisturize and style. It is more like clay/co wash, add oil and rinse, then apply a tea rinse and gel. I still use henna every 4-6 weeks, before I used to make all of these mixes then I would leave it out to set now I use a can of coconut milk add it to henna and indigo then apply it and go to bed. My hair still loves a DC with heat or steam so recently I do it with the green house method so I apply the conditioner warm then go for a run with a wool hat - still a 45-60 minute DC but I am no longer trapped under the dryer.

Who knows maybe I will be more like you one day :)
 
I too do not do anything besides wash (I dilute shampoo in water) and detangle, and my detangler doubles as my leave-in as I don't rinse it out. And then I style. I don't do anything else, never done a protein treatment, do not co-wash, no baggying, no supplements or special methods... I dislike moisturizing my whole head in-between washes since wetting the hair means I have to restyle it. I don't DC but since I leave my condish in, the hair does benefit from the penetrating ingredients.. albeit much slower. But the hair got nowhere to go! No reason to rush, IMO :lol:

I haven't yet experienced a set-back, in reality I just leave the hair alone and loose. I'm not into putting the hair in ton of different styles...I twist some hair randomly when it starts looking too big, but in general I try to go from wash to wash with as little moisturizing and rewetting/resetting as possible.
 
SheenaVee said:
. I used to worry about using gel in my hair all the time because I thought it would dry it out but I've been doing it for years now with no ill effects. I think because I cowash my hair quite frequently it counteracts any possible dryness issues....It's some weird form of protective styling. The gel locks my hair and curls in place so they don't get tangled together and they basically just stay like that until I cowash my hair again.
Click to expand...

@SheenaVee Thanks for sharing this info. I've often wondered why I don't hear more about gel as a PS aid. I like eco styler, would you mind telling which one you use and how much you apply? (I use gobs!)
 
Yeah I am lazy when it comes with my hair now that I am natural. I don't have a regimen. I protective style a lot. I do nothing to my hair when in protective style except spray it with a moisturizer or leave in. Now however when I do poo or co wash my hair, I always DC and use leave in!!
 
I keep my hair in cornrows and tighten as needed.

As for hair care I water rinse everyday (my hair loves me for it) and apply no product. When I am taking my shower, let the warm water massage my scalp for 5 minutes. It is heaven. Then nothing else. Just a turban when I get dressed put a little oil wear the bands are and scarves.

I am trying to use up all my products now, so I may be doing oil treatments overnight and clay washes on the weekend in the coming weeks, but it really is not needed. I will see if it optimizes my overall hair health, but just the water alone has my hair soft with little to no breakage, even when I take down.
 
I think that my regi is simpler than my second and third years in as being a natural but probably slightly more complicated than when I first went natural.

I've noticed that the health of my hair continues to improve and my porosity has gone from high to mostly normal which has allowed me to become less complicated with what I do. I don't think that I could have started with this regi and yield the same results. I've gone as simple as water only + a bit of leave in on my ends but it wasn't entirely for me. I do however, wasted only rinse often in between my weekly washes, because I did see some benefits.
 
I shampoo once a week, DC, apply a leave in and cream, then put in twists to air dry. Midweek I usually cowash because I workout so much, but for me, that's basic enough. I did big chop a third time to get rid of color but I know when it gets longer I will still do the same thing. I love doing my hair, especially deep conditioning.
 
When I first start my health hair journey I tried a lot of different products and methods. I believe this would apply to majority of the ladies here since we came to this site because we didn't know anything about our hair. Now I'm at the stage where the only time I touch my hair is when I wash it (once a week). In a sense I do nothing or next to nothing to my hair.
 
I wash my hair loose either every 2 weeks to 4 weeks(pushing 4 more than 2 honestly) which consists of washing, deep conditioning, leave in, moisturizer and sealing. Once I braid my hair, I may co-wash and dc in braids once a week. This regimen is very simple than my first regimen of washing and dcing my hair loose every week.
 
Doing "nothing" is relative. In any race, most people do something to their hair through shampoo or poo+conditioner. Others add oil. This is still pretty minimal unless you style your hair a lot with tools and then you do have to use more protective products. I used to shampoo and go but I was using a very good and conditioning shampoo which I no longer can find.

They say your hair changes every 7 years or so. Now, I shampoo + condition + leave-in...one-two-three. Just the other day, after my Fructis leave-in (a nickel-sized amount), I sealed with a little bit of JBCO to the suggestion of someone in the Random and the dryness is gone. I'll do this all winter. But I do have some grays now so I will henna every few weeks. This is not like some regimes where people are using 10 products and such . I can't with that. It's just too much and I am PJ lol. But I don't use them all at once. They all consist of henna, shampoo, a conditioner and a leave-in/oil. I added a pre-shampoo for my sometimes crusty patch of scalp. I guess I determine "nothing" by how long it takes...5 min. hair from start to finish lol. Incidentally, I can't wait more than 4 days to shampoo and am actually stretching it already at 3 days.
 
I can’t imagine anybody who does less than me:

I go to the hairdresser to get a wet set and deep condition once a month (use MoroccanOil curl cream, chi silk infusion, and mousse for the wet set).
Touch up every 12-15 weeks, depending (w/protein treatment).

Fall/Winter I pin my curls up, spring/summer sometimes I let them down. I never wear it straight (too much work for me).

I LIVE in my satin bonnet. I only take it off when I step outside my car. When I get back in my car, cap goes on. If I’m in the house, cap stays on. I only comb and brush before a wash and set or touch up.

That’s it, cap on, cap off, erryday. No combing, brushing, touching until wash day, unless I need to neaten up my updo and that’s rare.

I am currently brushing waist length.

The funny thing is, everybody always asks me what I do to make my hair grow. They never believe me when I tell them nothing, I just leave it alone…..
 
I get lazy as well.....so lazy that I may not wash for a week or two or I may skip on the moisturizing. My hair paid for it in the end so It pays to stay on top of your routine. I went from APL back to SL being lazy.
 
I think some people need a really complicated routine and other people don't. I can't judge what other people need.
I'm somewhere in between.

My hair and scalp absolutely NEEDS to be washed at least once per week or I have problems. My hair gets rinsed regularly during the week because I workout. Skipping regular protein and deep conditioning treatments is just begging for split ends for me as well. After washing I moisturize, seal and then put my hair in whatever style I plan to do for the week (typically a bun or twists). Done.
HOWEVER, I DON'T need to prepoo, baggy, invert, do the hokey pokey or anything else. I'll occasionally decide to try something else, but I rarely stick with it. I really don't have the time or energy and the few times that I HAVE stuck extra things out for 3-6 months, I can't say that I really saw any difference, so the extra effort wasn't worth for me.
 
spacetygrss said:
I think some people need a really complicated routine and other people don't. I can't judge what other people need.
Click to expand...

This so much. I made the mistake years ago when someone asked me if they needed all the stuff they were doing... because I wasn't doing all that stuff and they liked my hair I said no and told them my routine. They tried it and were pissed because it didn't work for them. I learned that different people want different things from their hair and that's what determines a regimen.
 
:lol: I am extremely hair lazy, especially in the winter. I keep my hair braided during the colder months, so I usually go two weeks between washes and days between moisturizing and sealing (I use a heavy leave in and oil). It works for me because my hair is really low maintenance and doesn't care what I do to it either way.
 
Yeah I try to stay in braids. Then my laziness won't look like I'm being lazy. And my for some reason my hair retains moisture while braided. I hate dealing with my real hair. I'm to the point where I'm losing weight in my face and getting a cute short hair do and keeping it that way forever and just wearing extensions when I want length
 
I realize and learned no matter what I do to my hair..the growth rate is still the same...and my hair likes to be left alone anyway....not only does too much manipulation causes damage to my hair but certain products too
 
There are many levels of "Do nothingness". For me it's about that wash n go life. I use shampoo occasionally but my wng routine is built into my morning shower routine. Conditioner, rinse, leave-in, gel. I try to DC weekly because I KNOW the benefits of doing so and have experienced them before. But more often than not it's a monthly DC after my hair exhibits signs of breakage or extreme thirst.

I haven't been to a hairdresser in 8 yrs...I just don't have time for that. If my hair get's effed up it's completely on me. No hairdresser can or will ever know my hair in the intimate way I have, over the year of my HHJ.
I've had complicated reggies and i've had simple ones. I say do YOU! Do whatever it is that you and your hair need! You will only come to love and cherish your hair the more you handle it. The more you nourish & care for it.
 
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